"New" Rap- Complex Numbers

I didn't write any new math raps this week but here is another that I wrote for my Algebra 2 class last semester.

Lookin at the complex numbers,
You say what is that i?
Just give me a second
You’ll say it’s easy as pie.
See i is the square root
Of negative one.
So if it’s on the bottom
Then the problem’s not done.
If it is on the bottom
With an add or subtract.
We must use the conjugate
And that is a fact.
When you simplify the i’s
Just divide it by four.
Because the sequence repeats
When you remember it you’ll soar.
Just know that i is i
And i squared is negative one.
Then i cubed is negative i
Which leaves i fourth as just one.

Organizing Data

My students have heard that I rapped to some classes last semester so now they keep bugging me about rapping.  The problem is that I only have raps that I did for my Algebra 2 class and I'm teaching Statistics.  The only real solution was to make a new one; I wrote one last night and this is it:

When organizing data,
You need to choose the best
Out of all the different graphs
And just forget the rest.
If you look at the data,
And compare it to time.
All you need to do
Is use the graph with a line.
Percentages can help us
When we’re trying to choose.
Just use the circle graph;
And you won’t be confused.
The bar graph is the one
That you’ll use the most.
From Pareto charts to histograms,
You’ll see your fair dose.
If you just choose the right
Type of graph to use.
When the grade comes back
You won’t be singing the blues.

First week is over...after fun with M&Ms...

The first week of the second semester is over and I have an idea of how each class will fold out.  Yesterday, we did statistics with individual bags of M&Ms.  The students counted them and the number of each color.  Then in their group, they found the average of each and predicted the amount in my bag.  The real reason was so that definitions would be learned.  The students had to identify the population, individual, qualitative varibable, and many other pieces of the study.

First day with students

The students started back today. I got comments about my haircut from previous students and was looked at like I am crazy when we started definitions in class. (on the first day!?!) I really think I'm going to like teaching three sections of probability and statistics.

Math Raps- Radical Rap

There are a few raps that I have written in order to help my students learn a concept. Here is the first that I wrote for an Algebra 2 class about radical expressions.

Break it down to the prime numbers
to help you simplify.
Now you wanna know
how to multiply.
Just do the outside by the outside
and the inside by the inside.
Do the same thing
when you gotta divide.
But to add radicals
gotta be exact.
They must be the same
so we can subtract.
And when you're done
make sure it's simplified.
And don't forget
that means rationalized.

The students seemed to like it and asked me to rap it again later. Let me know what you think.

The first day back...

was today for us teachers. It was a day of meetings, finding out information about coming students, planning, and copying the syllabus and information sheets. Students start tomorrow and that's when the real fun begins. I am teaching three classes of probability and statistics which I have really began to love. Last semester was the first time I taught the class but probability has always been something I enjoyed especially with my enjoyment of cards.