Circle Geometry Review

We're gearing up for our test tomorrow. Here's a bunch of online quizzes you can use to help get ready.

Have you added any really good links to our del.icio.us box lately? ;-)

You can find circles in the most unusual places ...

• Proof of Congruence (5 questions - refresh the page for more quizzes)


• More Congruence (5 questions - refresh the page for more quizzes)


• Circles (5 questions - refresh the page for more quizzes)


• Arcs &Angles (5 questions - refresh the page for more quizzes)


• Arcs & Chords (5 questions - refresh the page for more quizzes)


• Inscribed Angles (5 questions - refresh the page for more quizzes)


• Tangents (5 questions - refresh the page for more quizzes)


• Polygons (5 questions - refresh the page for more quizzes)

Whew! More quizzes than you can shake a stick at! ;-)

Getting Ready For The Test

How many parabolas do you see? ;-)

Some Reviews
You can read a review of some of what we've learned here. Scroll down towards the bottom of the page to see some neat animations.

We've learned about all sorts of things you can do to the graph and equation of a parabola. We've also spent some time learning how to read the equation of a parabola. This is a good little review of what we've learned. (Scroll down a little bit and you'll see a button marked [click here to start]. It will open a new window that will allow you to see, instantly, how changing the values of a, h and k effect the graph of a parabola. Play with all three sliders.)

Here is another good review of the material we've covered so far. Everything is clearly explained with several examples all of which have detailed solutions. About a third of the way down the page you'll find an applet that you can play with and see the effect it has on the equation of the parabola. The last example includes a carefully explained solution to the area problem we were discussing in class the other day.

Some Movies
I know some of us are still struggling with completeing the square. Well, help is here. I've got a brief video taped lecture you can watch to help you with this material over the weekend if you need it. The movie is of an instructor from the University of Idaho.

In order to watch the video you need to download the free realaudio player from here. (It's a little more than 11 Mb so if you have a slow internet connection this isn't a very good option for you.) After that, just click on the link below for help with completeing the square!

• Solving Quadratic Equations by completing the square
  (9 min. 58 sec.)

Here is another video that covers some of the material we've been studying:

• Sketching the graph of a quadratic function using transformations
    (10 min. 59 sec.)

If you have trouble understanding anything: "Pause ... Rewind ... Repeat ..." until it makes sense. ;-)

Some Quizzes
Here are some online quizzes you can also try to get ready for Monday:

• Graphs and Equations (5 questions)


• More Graphs & Equations (5 questions)


• Graphs and Equatins Again (5 questions)


• All About Parabolas (5 questions)


• More About Parabolas (5 questions)

Those last two you can take over and over again. The questions will keep changing!

Learn Hard!! ;-)

Students Made This!

Blogging is a very public activity. Anything that gets posted on the internet stays there. Forever. Deleting a post simply removes it from the blog it was posted to. Copies of the post may exist scattered all over the internet. I have come across posts from my students on blogs as far away as Sweden! That is why we are being so careful to respect your privacy and using first names only. We do not use pictures of ourselves. If you really want a graphic image associated with your posting use an avatar -- a picture of something that represents you but IS NOT of you.

Two teachers in the U.S.A. worked with their classes to come up with a list of guidelines for student bloggers.

One of them, Bud Hunt, has these suggestions, among others:

1. Students using blogs are expected to treat blogspaces as classroom spaces. Speech that is inappropriate for class is not appropriate for our blog. While we encourage you to engage in debate and conversation with other bloggers, we also expect that you will conduct yourself in a manner reflective of a representative of this school.



2. Never EVER EVER give out or record personal information on our blog. Our blog exists as a public space on the Internet. Don’t share anything that you don’t want the world to know. For your safety, be careful what you say, too. Don’t give out your phone number or home address. This is particularly important to remember if you have a personal online journal or blog elsewhere.



3. Again, your blog is a public space. And if you put it on the Internet, odds are really good that it will stay on the Internet. Always. That means ten years from now when you are looking for a job, it might be possible for an employer to discover some really hateful and immature things you said when you were younger and more prone to foolish things. Be sure that anything you write you are proud of. It can come back to haunt you if you don’t.



4. Never link to something you haven’t read. While it isn’t your job to police the Internet, when you link to something, you should make sure it is something that you really want to be associated with. If a link contains material that might be creepy or make some people uncomfortable, you should probably try a different source.

Another teacher, Steve Lazar, developed a set of guidelines in consultation with his students. You can read them here.

Look over the guidelines and add the ones you like in the comments section below this post; either from one of Steve's students or one of your own. I think Bud's suggestions are excellent. We'll be using the one's I highlighted above as a basis for how we will use our blog.

Cheers,
Mr. K.