This week we finished chapter 3 and moved on to chapter 4.
In class we discussed completing the square to solve quadratic equations.
Step 5 of the procedure requires you to use the square root method to solve
quadratic equations. If you're not comfortable using the square root method,
Make sure to review these videos first.
There are two videos for completing the square. The first goes through steps 3 and 4 of the general procedure and the second goes throught the entire procedure when a = 1. For those going on to precalculus you should also do the textbook problems in 3.5.4.
Then we went to chapter 4. Everyone should complete 4.1 which is a review of operations on square roots that have variable radicands. Next, we worked on 4.2.1 which began generalizing operations on roots to expressions where the index was greater than 2.
Next week we'll begin with 4.2.2.
If you're interested in improving your test 2 score by taking the small factoring test next week, here's a sample test with answers. The test isn't mandatory, but everyone is eligable to add up to another 25 points to their test 2 score.