POWS 

These pows (problems of the week) we do once a week. They are always really difficult but are great extra credit for our grade and are also really fun!

If you want to read a pow write up and explanation click here 

 Unit 1 The Pit and The Pendulum

   In this unit story a man is being held captive at the bottom of a pit while a razor sharp pendulum is swinging back and forth coming toward him. In the end he got out before the pendulum got to him but we had to find out if this was actually possible. We did this by swinging pendulums many times and collecting lots of data. We then added different length, weight and angle to the pendulum. After collecting multiple days of data we found out that weight affects the pendulum and concluded that the man did in fact have time to escape. I gained lots of different skills from this unit as well. We learn how to find the mean, median, and range. We learned how to do a normal curve fit and recapped on percentages. To complete this unit we did a curve fit and used a square root function to find out that the man had time to escape.

Unit 2 Alice and exponents  

      In this unit we really focused on exponents. We learned how to make negative exponents positive and every law about exponents imaginable. We put in the context of Alice and wonderland and how much cake Alice would need to eat to grow and how much drink Alice would need to shrink. This topic included logarithms, exponential notation, and laws of exponents. Before I was taught this unit I thought that it was simple but I learned that they can be made into negative numbers and fractions. I've learned a lot in this unit and I will use these exponents throughout my life.

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The Shadow Unit  

In this unit we had to figure out how long a shadow was. We did this by using Sohcahtoa, proportions, similar triangles, pythagorean theorem, inverse trig, and angle measurements. In this unit we had to use algebra to solve for unknown angles and triangle sides. This helped me grow my algebra skills and helped me better understand algebra as we were doing it almost everyday. Because we used trigonometry everyday I now can memorize what makes up sine, cosine, and tangent. This unit also helped me with word problems. I have always had a problem almost decoding word problems but we did so many of them this unit they have become so much easier for me. Although I have learned a lot I have never enjoyed these topics so this wasn't my favorite unit.

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PIG unit 

In this unit we studied strategies with the hope of figuring out the best strategy for the game pig. We learned how to make rugs and find percentages. We learned how to find probability and did projects like what are the chances of pulling the 10 dollar bill in a bag of 5 dollar bills? Or what is the most likely number to roll on a dice? In the end of the project we figured out that the best strategy for winning the game pig is to stop rolling once you reach 20 points. 

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