Section 2.2

This section came relatively easy to me. Most of what got me was the memorization of each of the parent graphs. But the shifts and shrinks/stretches was one of my strong points back in college-prep. I actually fairly enjoyed this section to be honest. My previous math teacher Mr. Collier once gave me this analogy to help me remember a specific rule of X always goes the opposite way. "When you and your ex break up, she's usually frustrated at you and tells alot of lies about you two. So you always have to warn your friend named 'Graff' that your 'Ex always lies'."

Section 2.1

Most of what got me on this Section was the domains and ranges of the functions. Sure I understand most of what the domain and range are, but its more or less trying to find out WHAT they are that's getting to me. The next thing that gets me is when they throw in TWO functions. But after a bit of studying and long picks at my brain, I think I finally understand it.

Section 1.5

Big memorization part about this chapter is the Factorizings

Difference of two squares: a^2 - b^2 = (a - b)( a + b)

Difference of two cubes: a^3 - b^3 = (a - b)(a^2 + ab + b^2)

Sum of two cubes: a^3 + b^3 = (a + b)(a^2 - ab + b^2)

  A tough part I felt I had trouble with in this section was the rationalization of the numerator. It felt odd to try and do it. Like it shouldn't have worked but in the end it did somehow.

Section 1.4

The most difficult part of this chapter to me was completing the square.  It's not so much the steps to do it, it's how it ends up as the (x,y) coordinates at the end. But the other items in the chapter are fairly simple.

Section 1.3

Inequalites in a rectangular coordinate graph is fairly simple yet kind of complicated for me. The thing that mostly got me was trying to find on which side of the line to shade in. If we could go into more explanation about that it'd be greatly appreciated. I know how to do it... I just don't remember how...

Section 1.2

This section was about absolute values and solving them.
It didnt really make sense why there were 2 equations from an absolute value, I'd like to know more in-depth about it. Like why |x-3|=5 is x-3=5 or x-3=-5.

Other than that the section was pretty understandable.

Section 1.1 (The Real Line)

  Alot of this section's beginning felt like it was mostly just memorization of the different types of numbers. It consists of counting (1 2 3 4...), whole (0 1 2 3 4...), integers (...-2 -1 0 1 2 3...), rational (any fraction that's decimal ends), and (never ending number fractions) irrational numbers. It's gonna be hard to memorize them all, but I'll get a hold of them eventually. Next came solving linear inequalities. This part was actually fairly easy for me, it was basically College prep all over again. Basically to solve it, you have to get X alone by working with the properties of inequalities.

PROPERTIES OF INEQUALITIES (how I understand it)
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Suppose 'a' and 'b' are real numbers and 'c' is a nonzero real number.
Then the inequality a < b is equivalent to:
   (i) a + c < b + c    (what you do to one side of the inequality you HAVE to do to the other)
   (ii) ac < bc,    for  c > 0. (same as [i] but with multiplication)
  (iii) ac > bc,    for  c < 0. (you have to flip the inequality sign if it's less than 0.)
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     So, today in my math class, I was asked to start a blog to state what I do and don't understand, and I have to do it everyday. (Or I think everyday that I have class/homework.) So here we are, this is it. In this first post is an "about me". I am a very creative thinker, math is somewhat of a strong point for me, but in some instances I slip up a bit, It's very helpful to me when there's alot of visualizations and explanations of how certain things work in the math world. My last pre-cal teacher didn't do that what-so-ever. He just slapped the equation on the board and expected us to use the equations he gave us to figure it out for ourselves. No examples or anything. Another thing about me though, on a completely different note, is that I like to draw. Drawing is one of my biggest hobbies next to programming and creative writing. But other than that, there's not too much to say about me. I hope to have a fun semester in class, and also hope to get alot out of it.