Students have been learning how to solve quadratic equations. Using what they knew about factoring, students were able to use the zero product property to solve quadratic equations that are factorable. Students were also able to graph the quadratic functions and discuss how the resulting parabola changes with different changes to the equation. Next, students were presented with quadratic equations that were not able to be factored. They learned how to use the method of completing the square, first using algebra tiles to model it, in order to solve these equations. Using this method, we were able to derive the quadratic formula. Students enjoyed watching videos of parodies of songs in order to remember the quadratic formula. Once students worked on using the quadratic formula to solve quadratic equations, they were ready to look at what happens when taking the square root of a negative number. This began their work with imaginary numbers. Students are now able to solve equations that result in complex numbers as answers, and can perform operations on complex numbers.
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May 2015
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