Algebra Pretest Wednesday!

We will have practice test on Wednesday, April 30. It will include vocabulary, identifying and extending patterns and solving algebraic equations. No worries!

Today's Test review in Computer class:

Go to the intro to algebra page at Math is Fun. Read the page carefully and do the test at the bottom.

First, join Mathopolis! Then work through the problems. Don't just guess the multiple choice answers! If you get an answer wrong, the website provides a thorough explanation of the correct procedure.

Next, go to this link in order to review and practice multiplication with algebra. Do the quiz at the bottom. You will be ready for the test!

For a couple of the questions you will see 3(x+5) = 24 or a similar question. To solve it you would use the distributive law to solve: 

• 3(x + 5)  = 24
•  3(x) + (3)(5) = 24
•  3x + 15 =24 
• Now just solve the way we have practiced 2 step equations. 

Click on the following links for an explanation about the distributive law

• Distributive law 1
• Distributive law 2

You will responsible to define the terms: expression, equation, coefficient, variable and constant. See this link.

Study the terms, then open a Word Document.

• Type the names of each of the terms as headings in the word document
• Study the definitions at Math is Fun
• Try to type the definitions into the Word Document without looking.
• Repeat

Addicted to Learning--Getting Hooked on Dopamine: The Body's Natural Drug

Here is a great passage from John Coates excellent book, The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: 

What else besides drugs of abuse* can create a dopamine-driven craving? If dopamine fuels a desire for information and unexpected reward, perhaps it also fills us with a burning curiosity. Perhaps curiosity itself, the need to know, is a form of addiction, making us race to the end of a good mystery novel, or driving scientists to work day and night until they discover insulin, say, or decode the structure of DNA, scientific breakthrough being the ultimate hit of information. When the Theory of General Relativity dawned on Einstein, he must have had the mother of all dopamine rushes.

Learning new math and science can give you this rush as a student. Dopamine: the body's natural drug. Get hooked on it!


*Drug abuse fools your brain and gets it to release extreme amounts of dopamine. Then it ruins your dopamine system and you never find that high again.

Stanley Knowles Students Overwhelmed by Algebra Fun!

As we have begun our algebra unit, I took a trip to the Millennium Library to pick up some algebra books for both you and me. So we will be teaching algebra the meaning of the word respect.

Algebra books from Millennium Library

 Remember! Algebra is designed to make math easier and to be fun! We will meet the Manitoba Provincial outcomes for grade 7 algebra!

Welcome to the Unofficial Blog of Stanley Knowles Mathematics

This is the blog that hopefully will make math fun and easy for students at Stanley Knowles. It will be a hub for discussion and links to great math sites that will help you master math.