Three math raps...

"Ya'll done slept on Mr. Mikulski, now look atcha!"

Thanks to the few students who made the last day of school enjoyable by helping me write and perform some fun math rap songs. For your viewing pleasure:

Math rap #1 from Mr. Mikulski on Vimeo.

Math rap #2 from Mr. Mikulski on Vimeo.

Math rap #3 from Mr. Mikulski on Vimeo.

Enjoy the summer while it lasts... you'll be back in the wonderful learning environment that is Wendell Phillips before you know it :)

Mr. MadStylz-M

Last student-created questions...

Sorry for the lateness -- here you can find the problems that will be on the final:

FinalExamPrecalc

Good luck!

Round 1: Student finals selections...

The student-selected part of the final will have the following problems contained in it so far:

Round1

These are the 'winners', so these students will get some extra credit applied to their test. The first three pages of the document are for Advanced Algebra; the last two pages are for Precalculus.

Finals Week!

Your Precalculus final is this Friday, June 3rd. We are coming up with the problems for the final in class, so it is imperative (translation: "very, very important!")that you not miss a single day this week. It is also imperative that you check the website daily, to see which types of problems I am selecting from students to be on the final. Finally, please understand that you will NOT be able to retake the final exam.

Please, for your sake and your grade's sake, take this huge opportunity to review your skills seriously.

HW#7b -- Thursday, May 26

HW#7a -- Tuesday, May 24th

Make-up for limits QUIZ

If you were not happy with your first performance on this test, you can do the make-up at home. Here are the questions. Simply answer all three parts, including a well-sketched graph for each, and then turn it in to Mr. Mikulski no later than Tuesday, May 30.

HW#6a -- Monday, May 16th

No HW... instead, STUDY/PRACTICE

...you should instead take some time to practice for re-taking the Ellipses+Hyperbolas test, which is worth 120 points. One great way to practice is, if you didn't try the homework for the past two weeks... TRY IT... and then see where you are still getting confused. You can then ask me to look at your attempted practice during lunch, before or after school, and I can help you where you need it.

As always, you can use the PCs in my room after school if you want to do your homework here.

Remember, the last day to re-take this test for a better grade is tomorrow (Tuesday, the 17th).

HW#5b -- Wednesday, May 11th

HW#5a -- Tuesday, May 10th

A word on the mid-quarter test... and, a BONUS HW

The test last Friday (May 6th) is worth 120 points -- the biggest test grade so far. It is IMPERATIVE that you re-take it if you are not satisfied with your grade. Get any "N" fixed to at least a "check". The last day to retake it will be Tuesday, May 17th.

Also, to help students improve upon their poor practice grades, I am assigning an EXTRA CREDIT HW PACKET. Be careful; it is the equivalent of about four weeks of HW assignments, but if you turn it in COMPLETED before June 10, you can get a "120/120 points" grade added to your practice grade. This will bring your overall grade up anywhere from 6-15 percent, depending on how low it was to start with. So for example, a student with an 85% would be brought up to a 92%, maybe higher.

The focus of this bonus HW is setting up and using trigonometric functions. You can find the packet here (click for link).

HW#4b -- Tuesday, May 3rd

Apparently there was a problem uploading this image yesterday; sorry that it is only appearing today (Wednesday):

HW#4a -- Monday, May 2nd

HW#3b -- Friday, Apr. 29th

Sorry, I had meant to upload this Tuesday, after we had just practiced dealing with ellipses... nothing new, this is just based off our notes from Tuesday:

HW#3a -- Monday, April 25th

WELCOME BACK!

Welcome back from spring break! I hope you are all as excited about getting back to learning as I am excited about getting back to helping you learn! Remember, we only have a little over a month left to learn new things, to expand our math skills... let's make the most of it!

Also a friendly reminder, we will still be checking/going over the homework from the week before break -- April 11-15th -- this week. Because of testing, we will do that and the notebook check on Friday.

- Mr. Mikulski

HW#2b -- Tuesday, April 12th

HW#2a -- Monday, April 11th

HW#1c -- Friday, April 8th

HW#1b -- Tuesday, Apr. 5th

HW#1a -- Monday, Apr. 4th

As I announced in class today, HW will not be accepted late starting in the fourth quarter (starting today!). I will check for completion the following Wednesday (the same day we do binder checks), and then we will spend part of Wednesday's lesson reviewing the problems and 'grading' our own papers.

Students who had turned in HW from the last two weeks (March. 21-25 and March. 28-Apr.1) will get that work applied to their Q4 grade as a bit of extra credit.

Please look below for the first assignment of the new quarter!

- Mr. Mikulski

HW for Tuesday, March 29

HW for Thursday, Mar. 24

HW for Tuesday, March 22

HW for Wednesday, March 16

HW for Tuesday, March 15

HW for Friday, March 11

HW for Wednesday, March 9th

HW for Tuesday, March 8th

Solve each word problem by writing an exponential decay function y=a(1-r)^x. These are easier than the ones we did in class, and DO NOT require use of a graphing calculator. A plain calculator can be used. Follow these steps:

1) find the initial value (a)
2) find the rate (r)
3) write the equation and use it to solve the problem

I) Older televisions have electrical parts in them called 'capacitors,' which store large amounts of electricity even after the t.v. has been unplugged from the wall. (This makes them dangerous for the average person to try to repair!) A capacitor starts out with 400 volts of electricity stored in it, but loses 10% of the voltage every hour that the t.v. is unplugged. How many volts are in the capacitor after 5 hours?

II) The temperature of a cup of coffee is 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The cup is losing heat to its surroundings at a rate of 4% every minute. How hot is the coffee after 15 minutes?

III) BONUS: Identify and explain the flaw in the exponential temperature model suggested by problem #II [hint - consider other times that you might want to find the temperature for...]

HW for Friday, March 4th

HW for Thursday, March 3rd

HW for Thursday, Feb. 24

This HW was uploaded late (on early Friday). I apologize for this, and will move the due date back one day (to Thursday, Mar. 3).

HW for Tuesday, Feb. 22

HW for Tues., Feb. 15

HW for Monday, Feb. 14

There was no homework last week (Feb. 7-11)

I apologize for not posting HW for last week. I had meant to post an assignment on Friday that would review what we did in class, but I never uploaded the images. Therefore, you will not be graded for HW/lack of it, for Feb. 7-11.

The homework for today reflects topics from today and Friday, so it will be a good review.

HW for Friday, Feb. 4th

HW for Monday, Jan. 31st

HW for Tues., Jan. 25

HW for Monday, Jan. 24

No new homework for week of Jan. 18-21!

There are no new homework assignments for this week. The idea is to leave you with more time for studying... as now is the time when final exams are given.

HW for Wednesday, Jan. 12th

HW for Tuesday, Jan. 11th

HW for Monday, Jan. 10th

HW for Tuesday, Jan. 4th

HW for Monday, Jan. 3rd

Extra Credit -- math HW for over the break!

To get the extra credit for this extra homework assignment, you must show all the work that you need to for each problem, and get at least 50% of the problems in each section correct. The link to the assignment can be found below:

ExtraCredit_WinterBreak_HW

HW for Dec. 16 (Thurs)

There was no homework posted yesterday (15th), as we used this day as a make-up day for missing or incomplete assignments. For the 16:

HW for Dec. 14 (Tues)

1) Graph the quadratic function y = -4x^2 + 4x - 8 on an x-y coordinate, plane by hand. Label each point that you use to draw the curve. DO NOT simply sketch the graph you see after plugging the equation into a calculator.

[hint: first build an x-y table, using x = -3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,]

2) Use the graph of the equation above to estimate where the function's x-intercepts are. (recall that this is where the function crosses the x axis)

3) Explain in your own words why the graph of a quadratic function containing an "x^2" term (like the one above) can never be a straight line.

HW for Dec. 13 (Mon)

In case you haven't noticed...

Those of you actually trying out the HW for our class may have noticed that I have not posted any new problems for this week (Dec. 6-10). The idea was to give the large number of students who have fallen behind an 'amnesty week'; a week that they can focus on making up any of the first 4 weeks of online problems.

There will be one more week of homework before the break, for the week of Dec. 13-17 -- so be sure to check back starting next Monday. Also, I will probably post some review problems as an extra credit HW assignment, for students that can put in the effort and do some extra practice over break.

HW for Dec. 2 (Thurs)

HW for Nov. 30 (Tues)

HW for Nov. 29 (Mon)

HW for Nov. 23 (Tues)

HW for Nov. 22 (Mon)

HW for Nov. 17 (Wed)

1) If you turn ______ degrees, you will end up facing the same way.

2) How many angles exist that are coterminal to 50 degrees?

3) A 90 degree angle intersects the unit circle at what (x,y) coordinate?

4) A 240 degree angle lies in the III quadrant. What would the sign of the coordinates be, at the place where this angle intersects the unit circle?

(+,+)
(+,-)
(-,+)
(-,-)

HW for Nov. 16 (Tues)

HW for Nov. 15 (Mon)

HW for Nov. 10 (Wed)

1) What is the reference angle for a 120 degree angle?

2) What is the reference angle for a 285 degree angle?

3) What is the reference angle for a 40 degree angle?

4) What is the reference angle for a -45 degree angle? (HINT: think negative=moving clockwise, NOT counterclockwise, from the positive x-axis)

5) What geometric shape does the reference angle help us to make?

HW for Nov. 9 (Tues)

1) If we travel 60 degrees into the third (III) quadrant, what angle would we be at? (answer with " _____ degrees")

2) If we travelled 45 degrees into quadrant II...

3) If we travelled 30 degrees into quadrant IV...

HW for Nov. 8 (Mon)

1) Which trig functions take an angle as an input, and give you a ratio of side lengths as an output? (there are three)

2) and 3) Finish through problem #6 of the 'sighted angle' word problems that we were working on in class. Show your work.

Homework for Nov. 3 (Wednesday)

We took a pop-quiz today, so no new math for the HW... instead:

1) When is the last day to make up any missing ("mi") assignments, before Q1 grades go in?

2) When is the last day to retake the pop-quiz that we took today?

3) What is so special about getting at least a 'check' on your e-homework for this first week (Nov. 1-5)?

Homework for Nov. 2 (Tuesday)

Homework for Nov. 1 (Monday)