MathHandbook

ofFormulas,ProcessesandTricks
(www.mathguy.us)

AlgebraandPreCalculus

Preparedby:EarlL.Whitney,FSA,MAAA
Version2.8
April19,2016

Copyright200816,EarlWhitney,RenoNV.AllRightsReserved

Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Page

Description

9
10
11
12
13
14

Chapter1:Basics
OrderofOperations(PEMDAS,ParentheticalDevice)
GraphingwithCoordinates(Coordinates,PlottingPoints)
LinearPatterns(Recognition,ConvertingtoanEquation)
IdentifyingNumberPatterns
CompletingNumberPatterns
BasicNumberSets(SetsofNumbers,BasicNumberSetTree)

15
16

Chapter2:Operations
OperatingwithRealNumbers(AbsoluteValue,Add,Subtract,Multiply,Divide)
PropertiesofAlgebra(Addition&Multiplication,Zero,Equality)

18
19

Chapter3:SolvingEquations
SolvingMultiStepEquations
TipsandTricksinSolvingMultiStepEquations

20
21
22
23

Chapter4:Probability&Statistics
ProbabilityandOdds
ProbabilitywithDice
Combinations
StatisticalMeasures

24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34

Chapter5:Functions
IntroductiontoFunctions(Definitions,LineTests)
SpecialIntegerFunctions
OperationswithFunctions
CompositionofFunctions
InversesofFunctions
TransformationTranslation
TransformationVerticalStretchandCompression
TransformationHorizontalStretchandCompression
TransformationReflection
TransformationSummary
BuildingaGraphwithTransformations

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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Page

Description

35
36
37
38
39
40
41

Chapter6:LinearFunctions
SlopeofaLine(MathematicalDefinition)
SlopeofaLine(RiseoverRun)
SlopesofVariousLines(8Variations)
VariousFormsofaLine(Standard,SlopeIntercept,PointSlope)
SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines
Parallel,PerpendicularorNeither
Parallel,CoincidentorIntersecting

42
43
44
45
46
47
48

Chapter7:Inequalities
PropertiesofInequality
GraphsofInequalitiesinOneDimension
CompoundInequalitiesinOneDimension
InequalitiesinTwoDimensions
GraphsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
AbsoluteValueFunctions(Equations)
AbsoluteValueFunctions(Inequalities)

49
50
51
52
53
54
55

Chapter8:SystemsofEquations
GraphingaSolution
SubstitutionMethod
EliminationMethod
ClassificationofSystemsofEquations
LinearDependence
SystemsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
ParametricEquations

56
57
58
59

Chapter9:Exponents(Basic)andScientificNotation
ExponentFormulas
ScientificNotation(Format,Conversion)
AddingandSubtractingwithScientificNotation
MultiplyingandDividingwithScientificNotation

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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Page

Description

60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72

Chapter10:PolynomialsBasic
IntroductiontoPolynomials
AddingandSubtractingPolynomials
MultiplyingBinomials(FOIL,Box,NumericalMethods)
MultiplyingPolynomials
DividingPolynomials
FactoringPolynomials
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions(PerfectSquares)
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions(DifferencesofSquares)
FactoringTrinomialsSimpleCaseMethod
FactoringTrinomialsACMethod
FactoringTrinomialsBruteForceMethod
FactoringTrinomialsQuadraticFormulaMethod
SolvingEquationsbyFactoring

73
74
75
76
77
79

Chapter11:QuadraticFunctions
IntroductiontoQuadraticFunctions
CompletingtheSquare
TableofPowersandRoots
TheQuadraticFormula
QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable
FittingaQuadraticthroughThreePoints

80
81
82
83
84
85

Chapter12:ComplexNumbers
ComplexNumbersIntroduction
OperationswithComplexNumbers
TheSquareRootofi
ComplexNumbersGraphicalRepresentation
ComplexNumberOperationsinPolarCoordinates
ComplexSolutionstoQuadraticEquations

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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Page

Description

86
87
88
89

Chapter13:Radicals
RadicalRules
SimplifyingSquareRoots(ExtractingSquares,ExtractingPrimes)
SolvingRadicalEquations
SolvingRadicalEquations(PositiveRoots,TheMissingStep)

90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100

Chapter14:Matrices
AdditionandScalarMultiplication
MultiplyingMatrices
MatrixDivisionandIdentityMatrices
Inverseofa2x2Matrix
CalculatingInversesTheGeneralCase(GaussJordanElimination)
DeterminantsTheGeneralCase
CramersRule2Equations
CramersRule3Equations
AugmentedMatrices
2x2AugmentedMatrixExamples
3x3AugmentedMatrixExample

101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
114
115
116
117

Chapter15:ExponentsandLogarithms
ExponentFormulas
LogarithmFormulas
e
TableofExponentsandLogs
ConvertingBetweenExponentialandLogarithmicForms
ExpandingLogarithmicExpressions
CondensingLogarithmicExpressions
CondensingLogarithmicExpressionsMoreExamples
GraphinganExponentialFunction
FourExponentialFunctionGraphs
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction
FourLogarithmicFunctionGraphs
GraphsofVariousFunctions
ApplicationsofExponentialFunctions(Growth,Decay,Interest)
SolvingExponentialandLogarithmicEquations

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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Page

Description

118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128

Chapter16:PolynomialsIntermediate
PolynomialFunctionGraphs
FindingExtremawithDerivatives
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomialsSumandDifferenceofCubes
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomialsVariableSubstitution
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomialsSyntheticDivision
ComparingSyntheticDivisionandLongDivision
ZerosofPolynomialsDevelopingPossibleRoots
ZerosofPolynomialsTestingPossibleRoots
IntersectionsofCurves(GeneralCase,TwoLines)
IntersectionsofCurves(aLineandaParabola)
IntersectionsofCurves(aCircleandanEllipse)

129
130
131
131
132
133
135
137
138
139

Chapter17:RationalFunctions
DomainsofRationalFunctions
HolesandAsymptotes
GraphingRationalFunctions
SimpleRationalFunctions
SimpleRationalFunctionsExample
GeneralRationalFunctions
GeneralRationalFunctionsExample
OperatingwithRationalExpressions
SolvingRationalEquations
SolvingRationalInequalities

140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154

Chapter18:ConicSections
IntroductiontoConicSections
ParabolawithVertexattheOrigin(StandardPosition)
ParabolawithVertexatPoint(h, k)
ParabolainPolarForm
Circles
EllipseCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
EllipseCenteredatPoint(h, k)
EllipseinPolarForm
HyperbolaCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
HyperbolaCenteredatPoint(h, k)
HyperbolainPolarForm
HyperbolaConstructionOvertheDomain:0to2
GeneralConicEquationClassification
GeneralConicFormulaManipulation(Steps,Examples)
ParametricEquationsofConicSections

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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Page

Description

155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169

Chapter19:SequencesandSeries
IntroductiontoSequencesandSeries
FibonacciSequence
SummationNotationandProperties
SomeInterestingSummationFormulas
ArithmeticSequences
ArithmeticSeries
PythagoreanMeans(Arithmetic,Geometric)
PythagoreanMeans(Harmonic)
GeometricSequences
GeometricSeries
AFewSpecialSeries(,e,cubes)
PascalsTriangle
BinomialExpansion
GammaFunctionandn !
GraphingtheGammaFunction

170

Index

UsefulWebsites
Mathguy.usDevelopedspecificallyformathstudentsfromMiddleSchooltoCollege,basedonthe
author'sextensiveexperienceinprofessionalmathematicsinabusinesssettingandinmath
tutoring.Containsfreedownloadablehandbooks,PCApps,sampletests,andmore.
http://www.mathguy.us/

WolframMathWorldPerhapsthepremiersiteformathematicsontheWeb.Thissitecontains
definitions,explanationsandexamplesforelementaryandadvancedmathtopics.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

PurpleMathAgreatsitefortheAlgebrastudent,itcontainslessons,reviewsandhomework
guidelines.Thesitealsohasananalysisofyourstudyhabits.TaketheMathStudySkillsSelf
Evaluationtoseewhereyouneedtoimprove.
http://www.purplemath.com/

Math.comHasalotofinformationaboutAlgebra,includingagoodsearchfunction.
http://www.math.com/homeworkhelp/Algebra.html

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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents

SchaumsOutlines
AnimportantstudentresourceforanyhighschoolmathstudentisaSchaumsOutline.Eachbook
inthisseriesprovidesexplanationsofthevarioustopicsinthecourseandasubstantialnumberof
problemsforthestudenttotry.Manyoftheproblemsareworkedoutinthebook,sothestudent
canseeexamplesofhowtheyshouldbesolved.
SchaumsOutlinesareavailableatAmazon.com,Barnes&Noble,Bordersandotherbooksellers.

Note: This study guide was prepared to be a companion to most books on the subject of High
School Algebra. In particular, I used the following texts to determine which subjects to include
in this guide.

Algebra 1 , by James Schultz, Paul Kennedy, Wade Ellis Jr, and Kathleen Hollowelly.

Algebra 2 , by James Schultz, Wade Ellis Jr, Kathleen Hollowelly, and Paul Kennedy.
Although a significant effort was made to make the material in this study guide original, some
material from these texts was used in the preparation of the study guide.

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Algebra
OrderofOperations

Tothenonmathematician,theremayappeartobemultiplewaystoevaluateanalgebraic
expression.Forexample,howwouldoneevaluatethefollowing?
347

65

Youcouldworkfromlefttoright,oryoucouldworkfromrighttoleft,oryoucoulddoany
numberofotherthingstoevaluatethisexpression.Asyoumightexpect,mathematiciansdo
notlikethisambiguity,sotheydevelopedasetofrulestomakesurethatanytwopeople
evaluatinganexpressionwouldgetthesameanswer.

PEMDAS
Inordertoevaluateexpressionsliketheoneabove,mathematicianshavedefinedanorderof
operationsthatmustbefollowedtogetthecorrectvaluefortheexpression.Theacronymthat
canbeusedtorememberthisorderisPEMDAS.Alternatively,youcouldusethemnemonic
phrasePleaseExcuseMyDearAuntSallyormakeupyourownwaytomemorizetheorderof
operations.ThecomponentsofPEMDASare:

P
E
M
D
A
S

AnythinginParenthesesisevaluatedfirst.

Usuallywhentherearemultiple
operationsinthesamecategory,
forexample3multiplications,
theycanbeperformedinany
order,butitiseasiesttowork
fromlefttoright.

ItemswithExponentsareevaluatednext.
Multiplicationand
Divisionareperformednext.
Additionand
Subtractionareperformedlast.

ParentheticalDevice.Ausefuldeviceistouseapplyparenthesestohelpyouremember
theorderofoperationswhenyouevaluateanexpression.Parenthesesareplacedaroundthe
itemshighestintheorderofoperations;thensolvingtheproblembecomesmorenatural.
UsingPEMDASandthisparentheticaldevice,wesolvetheexpressionaboveasfollows:
InitialExpression:

3 4 7

65

Addparentheses/brackets:

347

SolveusingPEMDAS:

84

6 25

150

84

FinalAnswer

234

Version 2.8

6 5

Page 9 of 178

Note:Anyexpressionwhichis
ambiguous,liketheoneabove,is
poorlywritten.Studentsshouldstrive
toensurethatanyexpressionsthey
writeareeasilyunderstoodbyothers
andbythemselves.Useofparentheses
andbracketsisagoodwaytomake
yourworkmoreunderstandable.
April 19, 2016

Algebra
GraphingwithCoordinates

Graphsintwodimensionsareverycommoninalgebraandareoneofthemostcommon
algebraapplicationsinreallife.
y

Coordinates
Theplaneofpointsthatcanbegraphedin2dimensionsis
calledtheRectangularCoordinatePlaneortheCartesian
CoordinatePlane(namedaftertheFrenchmathematician
andphilosopherRenDescartes).

Quadrant2

Quadrant1
x

Quadrant3

Quadrant4

Twoaxesaredefined(usuallycalledthexandyaxes).

Eachpointontheplanehasanxvalueandayvalue,writtenas:(xvalue,yvalue)

Thepoint(0,0)iscalledtheorigin,andisusuallydenotedwiththeletterO.

Theaxesbreaktheplaneinto4quadrants,asshownabove.TheybeginwithQuadrant1
wherexandyarebothpositiveandincreasenumericallyinacounterclockwisefashion.

PlottingPointsonthePlane
Whenplottingpoints,

thexvaluedetermineshowfarright(positive)orleft(negative)oftheoriginthepointis
plotted.

Theyvaluedetermineshowfarup(positive)ordown(negative)fromtheoriginthepointis
plotted.

Examples:
Thefollowingpointsareplottedinthefigureto
theright:
A=(2,3)
B=(3,2)
C=(2,2)
D=(4,1)
O=(0,0)

Version 2.8

inQuadrant1
inQuadrant2
inQuadrant3
inQuadrant4
isnotinanyquadrant

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Algebra
LinearPatterns

RecognizingLinearPatterns
Thefirststeptorecognizingapatternistoarrangeasetofnumbersinatable.Thetablecan
beeitherhorizontalorvertical.Here,weconsiderthepatterninahorizontalformat.More
advancedanalysisgenerallyusestheverticalformat.
Considerthispattern:
xvalue
yvalue

0
6

1
9

2
12

3
15

4
18

5
21

Toanalyzethepattern,wecalculatedifferencesofsuccessivevaluesinthetable.Theseare
calledfirstdifferences.Ifthefirstdifferencesareconstant,wecanproceedtoconvertingthe
patternintoanequation.Ifnot,wedonothavealinearpattern.Inthiscase,wemaychoose
tocontinuebycalculatingdifferencesofthefirstdifferences,whicharecalledsecond
differences,andsoonuntilwegetapatternwecanworkwith.
Intheexampleabove,wegetaconstantsetoffirstdifferences,whichtellsusthatthepattern
isindeedlinear.
xvalue
yvalue

FirstDifferences

0
6

1
9
3

2
12
3

3
15
3

4
18
3

5
21
3

ConvertingaLinearPatterntoanEquation
Creatinganequationfromthepatterniseasyifyouhave
constantdifferencesandayvalueforx=0.Inthiscase,
Theequationtakestheform
,where
mistheconstantdifferencefromthetable,and
bistheyvaluewhenx=0.
Intheexampleabove,thisgivesustheequation:

Note:Ifthetabledoesnothavea
valueforx=0,youcanstillobtain
thevalueofb.Simplyextendthe
tableleftorrightuntilyouhavean
xvalueof0;thenusethefirst
differencestocalculatewhatthe
correspondingyvaluewouldbe.
Thisbecomesyourvalueofb.

Finally,itisagoodideatotestyourequation.Forexample,if
4,theaboveequationgives
34
6 18,whichisthevalueinthetable.Sowecanbeprettysureourequationis
correct.
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ADVANCED

Algebra
IdentifyingNumberPatterns
Whenlookingatpatternsinnumbers,isisoftenusefultotakedifferencesofthenumbersyou
areprovided.Ifthefirstdifferencesarenotconstant,takedifferencesagain.
n
3
1
1
3
5
7

n
2
5
10
17
26
37

3
5
7
9
11

2
2
2
2

2
2
2
2
2

Whenfirstdifferencesareconstant,thepatternrepresentsa
linearequation.Inthiscase,theequationis:y=2x5 .The
constantdifferenceisthecoefficientofxintheequation.

Whenseconddifferencesareconstant,thepatternrepresentsa
quadraticequation.Inthiscase,theequationis:y=x 2 +1 .The
constantdifference,dividedby2,givesthecoefficientofx2inthe
equation.

Whentakingsuccessivedifferencesyieldspatternsthatdonotseemtolevelout,thepattern
maybeeitherexponentialorrecursive.
n
5
7
11
19
35
67

n
2
3
5
8
13
21

Version 2.8

2
4
8
16
32

2
4
8
16

1
2
3
5
8

1
1
2
3

Inthepatterntotheleft,noticethatthefirstandsecond
differencesarethesame.Youmightalsonoticethatthese
differencesaresuccessivepowersof2.Thisistypicalforan
exponentialpattern.Inthiscase,theequationis:y=2 x +3 .

Inthepatterntotheleft,noticethatthefirstandsecond
differencesappeartoberepeatingtheoriginalsequence.When
thishappens,thesequencemayberecursive.Thismeansthat
eachnewtermisbasedonthetermsbeforeit.Inthiscase,the
equationis:y n =y n1 +y n2 ,meaningthattogeteachnewterm,
youaddthetwotermsbeforeit.

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ADVANCED

Algebra
CompletingNumberPatterns
Thefirststepincompletinganumberpatternistoidentifyit.Then,workfromtherighttotheleft,fillingin
thehighestorderdifferencesfirstandworkingbackwards(left)tocompletethetable.Belowaretwo
examples.
Example1

Example2

n
1
6
25
62
123
214
n
1
6
25
62
123
214
n
1
6
25
62
123
214

7
19
37
61
91

12
18
24
30

6
6
6

7
19
37
61
91

12
18
24
30

1
7
6
19
25
37
62
61
123
91
214
127
341
169
510
217
727

6
6
6
6
6
6

12
18
24
30
36
42
48

6
6
6
6
6
6

Considerintheexamplesthesequencesofsix
numberswhichareprovidedtothestudent.Youare
askedtofindtheninthtermofeachsequence.

n
2
3
5
8
13
21

Step1:Createatableofdifferences.Takesuccessive
differencesuntilyougetacolumnofconstant
differences(Example1)oracolumnthatappearsto
repeatapreviouscolumnofdifferences(Example2).

n
2
3
5
8
13
21

Step2:Inthelastcolumnofdifferencesyoucreated,
continuetheconstantdifferences(Example1)orthe
repeateddifferences(Example2)downthetable.
Createasmanyentriesasyouwillneedtosolvethe
problem.Forexample,ifyouaregiven6termsand
askedtofindthe9thterm,youwillneed3(=96)
additionalentriesinthelastcolumn.

n
2
3
5
8
13
21

Step3:Workbackwards(fromrighttoleft),fillingin
eachcolumnbyaddingthedifferencesinthecolumn
totheright.

n
2
3
5
8
13
21
34
55
89

Intheexampletotheleft,thecalculationsare
performedinthefollowingorder:
2
Column :30+6=36;36+6=42;42+6=48

Column:91+36=127;127+42=169;169+48=217
Columnn:214+127=341;341+169=510;510+217=727

1
2
3
5
8

1
1
2
3

0
1
1

1
2
3
5
8

1
1
2
3

1
2
3
5
8
13
21
34

1
1
2
3
5
8
13

0
1
1
2
3
5

0
1
1
2
3
5

Thefinalanswerstotheexamplesaretheninthitemsineachsequence,theitemsinboldred.
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Algebra
BasicNumberSets

NumberSet

Definition

Examples

NaturalNumbers(or,
CountingNumbers)

Numbersthatyouwouldnormally
countwith.

1,2,3,4,5,6,

WholeNumbers

Addthenumberzerotothesetof
NaturalNumbers

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,

Integers

Wholenumbersplusthesetof
negativeNaturalNumbers

3,2,1,0,1,2,3,

Anynumberthatcanbeexpressed

Allintegers,plusfractionsand
mixednumbers,suchas:

intheform ,whereaandbare

RationalNumbers

integersand

4
2 17
,
, 3
3
6
5

0.

Anynumberthatcanbewrittenin
decimalform,evenifthatformis
infinite.

RealNumbers

Allrationalnumbersplusroots
andsomeothers,suchas:
2,12,,e

BasicNumberSetTree

RealNumbers

Rational

Irrational

Integers
Fractionsand
MixedNumbers

Whole
Numbers

Natural
Numbers

Version 2.8

Negative
Integers

Zero

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Algebra
OperatingwithRealNumbers

AbsoluteValue

Theabsolutevalueofsomethingisthedistanceitisfromzero.Theeasiestwaytogetthe
absolutevalueofanumberistoeliminateitssign.Absolutevaluesarealwayspositiveor0.

| 5| 5 |3| 3

|0| 0

|1.5| 1.5

AddingandSubtractingRealNumbers

AddingNumberswiththeSameSign:

AddingNumberswithDifferentSigns:

Addthenumberswithoutregard
tosign.
Givetheanswerthesamesignas
theoriginalnumbers.
Examples:
6
3
9
12 6 18

Ignorethesignsandsubtractthe
smallernumberfromthelargerone.
Givetheanswerthesignofthenumber
withthegreaterabsolutevalue.
Examples:
6
3
3
7
11 4

SubtractingNumbers:

Changethesignofthenumberornumbersbeingsubtracted.
Addtheresultingnumbers.
Examples:
6
3
6
3
3
13 4 13
4
9

MultiplyingandDividingRealNumbers

NumberswiththeSameSign:

Version 2.8

NumberswithDifferentSigns:

Multiplyordividethenumbers
withoutregardtosign.
Givetheanswera+sign.
Examples:
6 3
18 18
12 3
4 4

Multiplyordividethenumberswithout
regardtosign.
Givetheanswerasign.
Examples:
6 3
18
12
3
4

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Algebra
PropertiesofAlgebra

PropertiesofAdditionandMultiplication.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:

Property

DefinitionforAddition

ClosureProperty

isarealnumber

IdentityProperty

DefinitionforMultiplication
isarealnumber

0,

InverseProperty
CommutativeProperty

AssociativeProperty

DistributiveProperty

PropertiesofZero.Foranyrealnumbera:
0

Multiplicationby0

0DividedbySomething

0,

is undefined even if a

Divisionby0

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Algebra
PropertiesofAlgebra

OperationalPropertiesofEquality.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:

Property

Definition

AdditionProperty

SubtractionProperty

MultiplicationProperty

0,

DivisionProperty

OtherPropertiesofEquality.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:

Property

Definition

ReflexiveProperty

SymmetricProperty

TransitiveProperty
SubstitutionProperty

If

, then either can be substituted for the

other in any equation (or inequality).

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Algebra
SolvingMultiStepEquations

ReversePEMDAS
OnesystematicwaytoapproachmultistepequationsisReversePEMDAS.PEMDASdescribes
theorderofoperationsusedtoevaluateanexpression.Solvinganequationistheoppositeof
evaluatingit,soreversingthePEMDASorderofoperationsseemsappropriate.
Theguidingprinciplesintheprocessare:

Eachstepworkstowardisolatingthevariableforwhichyouaretryingtosolve.
EachstepundoesanoperationinReversePEMDASorder:
Subtraction

Inverses

Division

Inverses

Multiplication

Exponents

Inverses

Logarithms

Parentheses

Inverses

RemoveParentheses(andrepeatprocess)

Addition

Note:Logarithmsarethe
inverseoperatortoexponents.
Thistopicistypicallycoveredin
thesecondyearofAlgebra.

Thelistaboveshowsinverseoperationrelationships.Inordertoundoanoperation,you
performitsinverseoperation.Forexample,toundoaddition,yousubtract;toundodivision,
youmultiply.Hereareacoupleofexamples:
Example1

Example2

Solve:

Step1:Add4

3
4
4

Result:

3
Step2:Divideby3 3

Result:

14
4

Solve:

Step1:Add3

18
3

Result:

2 2
Step2:Divideby2 2

2
2

Result:

2
Step3:Removeparentheses

5
5

1
5

Noticethatweaddandsubtractbeforewe
multiplyanddivide.ReversePEMDAS.

Result:

Step4:Subtract5

2 2

5
3
3

5
3

Result:

2
6
Withthisapproach,youwillbeableto
Step5:Divideby2
2
2
solvealmostanymultistepequation.As
Result:

3
yougetbetteratit,youwillbeabletouse
someshortcutstosolvetheproblemfaster.
Sincespeedisimportantinmathematics,learningafewtipsandtrickswithregardtosolving
equationsislikelytobeworthyourtime.

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Algebra
TipsandTricksinSolvingMultiStepEquations

FractionalCoefficients
Fractionspresentastumblingblocktomanystudentsinsolvingmultistepequations.When
stumblingblocksoccur,itisagoodtimetodevelopatricktohelpwiththeprocess.Thetrick
shownbelowinvolvesusingthereciprocalofafractionalcoefficientasamultiplierinthe
solutionprocess.(Rememberthatacoefficientisanumberthatismultipliedbyavariable.)

Example1

Multiplyby :

Solve:

Result:

Explanation:Since isthereciprocalof ,
whenwemultiplythem,weget1,and
1
.Usingthisapproach,wecanavoid
dividingbyafraction,whichismoredifficult.
12

Example2
Solve:

Explanation: 4isthereciprocalof

Multiplyby 4:
Result:

,so

whenwemultiplythem,weget1.Notice
theuseofparenthesesaroundthenegative
numbertomakeitclearwearemultiplying
andnotsubtracting.

AnotherApproachtoParentheses
IntheReversePEMDASmethod,parentheses
arehandledafterallotheroperations.
Sometimes,itiseasiertooperateonthe
parenthesesfirst.Inthisway,youmaybeable
torestatetheprobleminaneasierformbefore
solvingit.
Example3,atright,isanotherlookatthe
probleminExample2onthepreviouspage.
Usewhicheverapproachyoufindmosttoyour
liking.Theyarebothcorrect.

Version 2.8

Example3
Solve:

2 2
Step1:Eliminateparentheses

Result:

4
Step2:Combineconstants

10

7
7

Result:

Step3:Subtract7
Result:

Step4:Divideby4
Result:

Page 19 of 178

4
4

5
7
12
4
3

April 19, 2016

Algebra
ProbabilityandOdds

Probability

Probabilityisameasureofthelikelihoodthataneventwilloccur.Itdependsonthenumberof
outcomesthatrepresenttheeventandthetotalnumberofpossibleoutcomes.Inequationterms,

Example1:Theprobabilityofaflippedcoinlandingasaheadis1/2.Therearetwoequallylikelyevents
whenacoinisflippeditwillshowaheadoritwillshowatail.So,thereisonechanceoutoftwothat
thecoinwillshowaheadwhenitlands.

Example2:Inajar,thereare15bluemarbles,10redmarblesand7greenmarbles.Whatisthe
probabilityofselectingaredmarblefromthejar?Inthisexample,thereare32totalmarbles,10of
whicharered,sothereisa10/32(or,whenreduced,5/16)probabilityofselectingaredmarble.

10
32

10
32

16

Odds

Oddsaresimilartoprobability,exceptthatwemeasurethenumberofchancesthataneventwilloccur
relativetothenumberofchancesthattheeventwillnotoccur.

Intheaboveexamples,

1
10
10
5
1

1
22
22 11
1

Notethatthenumeratorandthedenominatorinanoddscalculationaddtothetotalnumberof
possibleoutcomesinthedenominatorofthecorrespondingprobabilitycalculation.

Tothebeginningstudent,theconceptofoddsisnotasintuitiveastheconceptofprobabilities;
however,theyareusedextensivelyinsomeenvironments.

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
ProbabilitywithDice

SingleDie
Probabilitywithasingledieisbasedonthenumberofchancesofaneventoutof6possible
outcomesonthedie.Forexample:

TwoDice
Probabilitywithtwodiceisbasedonthenumberofchancesofaneventoutof36possible
outcomesonthedice.Thefollowingtableofresultswhenrolling2diceishelpfulinthisregard:
1stDie
2ndDie

10

10

11

10

11

12

Theprobabilityofrollinganumberwithtwodiceisthenumberoftimesthatnumberoccursin
thetable,dividedby36.Herearetheprobabilitiesforallnumbers2to12.
2

Version 2.8

10

Page 21 of 178

11

12

April 19, 2016

Algebra
Combinations

SingleCategoryCombinations

Thenumberofcombinationsofitemsselectedfromaset,severalatatime,canbecalculated
relativelyeasilyusingthefollowingtechnique:

Technique:Createaratiooftwoproducts.Inthenumerator,startwiththenumberof
totalitemsintheset,andcountdownsothetotalnumberofitemsbeingmultipliedis
equaltothenumberofitemsbeingselected.Inthedenominator,startwiththe
numberofitemsbeingselectedandcountdownto1.

Example:Howmany
combinationsof3itemscan
beselectedfromasetof8
items?Answer:

876
56
321

Example:Howmany
combinationsof4itemscan
beselectedfromasetof13
items?Answer:

13 12 11 10
715
4321

Example:Howmany
combinationsof2itemscan
beselectedfromasetof30
items?Answer:

30 29
435
21

MultipleCategoryCombinations

Whencalculatingthenumberofcombinationsthatcanbecreatedbyselectingitemsfrom
severalcategories,thetechniqueissimpler:

Technique:Multiplythenumbersofitemsineachcategorytogetthetotalnumberof
possiblecombinations.

Example:Howmanydifferent
pizzascouldbecreatedifyou
have3kindsofdough,4kinds
ofcheeseand8kindsof
toppings?
Answer:

3 4 8 96

Example:Howmanydifferent
outfitscanbecreatedifyou
have5pairsofpants,8shirts
and4jackets?

Answer:

5 8 4 160

Example:Howmanydesigns
foracarcanbecreatedifyou
canchoosefrom12exterior
colors,3interiorcolors,2
interiorfabricsand5typesof
wheels?Answer:

12 3 2 5 360

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
StatisticalMeasures

Statisticalmeasureshelpdescribeasetofdata.Adefinitionofanumberoftheseisprovidedinthetablebelow:
Concept

Description

Calculation

Example1

Example2

DataSet

Numbers

35,35,37,38,45

15,20,20,22,25,54

Average

Addthevaluesand
dividethetotalbythe
numberofvalues

Median

Middle

Arrangethevaluesfrom
lowtohighandtakethe
middlevalue(1)

37

21(1)

Mode

Most

Thevaluethatappears
mostofteninthedata
set

35

20

Size

Thedifferencebetween
thehighestandlowest
valuesinthedataset

4535=10

5415=39

Oddballs

Valuesthatlookvery
differentfromtheother
valuesinthedataset

none

54

Mean

(1)

Range

(2)

Outliers

35

35

37
5

38

45

38

15

18

22

22

25

54

26

Notes:
(1) Ifthereareanevennumberofvalues,themedianistheaverageofthetwomiddlevalues.InExample2,themedianis21,
whichistheaverageof20and22.
(2) Thequestionofwhatconstitutesanoutlierisnotalwaysclear.Althoughstatisticiansseektominimizesubjectivityinthe
definitionofoutliers,differentanalystsmaychoosedifferentcriteriaforthesamedataset.
Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
IntroductiontoFunctions
Definitions

ARelationisarelationshipbetweenvariables,usuallyexpressedasanequation.
Inatypicalxyequation,theDomainofarelationisthesetofxvaluesforwhichy

valuescanbecalculated.Forexample,intherelation
0
thedomainis
becausethesearethevaluesofxforwhichasquarerootcanbetaken.
Inatypicalxyequation,theRangeofarelationisthesetofyvaluesthatresultforall

valuesofthedomain.Forexample,intherelation
0because
therangeis
thesearethevaluesofythatresultfromallthevaluesofx.
AFunctionisarelationinwhicheachelementinthedomainhasonlyone
correspondingelementintherange.
AOnetoOneFunctionisafunctioninwhicheachelementintherangeisproducedby
onlyoneelementinthedomain.

FunctionTestsin2Dimensions
VerticalLineTestIfaverticallinepassesthroughthegraphofarelationinanytwolocations,
itisnotafunction.Ifitisnotpossibletoconstructaverticallinethatpassesthroughthegraph
ofarelationintwolocations,itisafunction.
HorizontalLineTestIfahorizontallinepassesthroughthegraphofafunctioninanytwo
locations,itisnotaonetoonefunction.Ifitisnotpossibletoconstructahorizontallinethat
passesthroughthegraphofafunctionintwolocations,itisaonetoonefunction.

Examples:

Figure1:

Figure2:

Notafunction.

Figure3:

Failsverticallinetest.

Isafunction,butnotaone
toonefunction.

Passesverticallinetest.

Passesverticallinetest.

Passeshorizontallinetest.

Version 2.8

Isaonetoonefunction.

Failshorizontallinetest.

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
SpecialIntegerFunctions
GreatestIntegerFunction
AlsocalledtheFloorFunction,thisfunctiongivesthe
greatestintegerlessthanorequaltoanumber.There
aretwocommonnotationsforthis,asshowninthe
examplesbelow.

Notationandexamples:
3.5

2.7

2.4

7.1

Inthegraphtotheright,noticethesoliddotsontheleftofthesegments(indicatingthepointsare
included)andtheopenlinesontherightofthesegments(indicatingthepointsarenotincluded).

LeastIntegerFunction
AlsocalledtheCeilingFunction,thisfunctiongivesthe
leastintegergreaterthanorequaltoanumber.The
commonnotationforthisisshownintheexamples
below.

Notationandexamples:
3.5

2.7

Inthegraphtotheright,noticetheopendotsonthe
leftofthesegments(indicatingthepointsarenotincluded)andthecloseddotsontherightofthe
segments(indicatingthepointsareincluded).

NearestIntegerFunction
AlsocalledtheRoundingFunction,thisfunctiongives
thenearestintegertoanumber(roundingtotheeven
numberwhenavalueendsin.5).Thereisnoclean
notationforthis,asshownintheexamplesbelow.

Notationandexamples:

3.5

2.7

Inthegraphtotheright,noticetheopendotsonthe
leftofthesegments(indicatingthepointsarenot
included)andthecloseddotsontherightofthesegments(indicatingthepointsareincluded).
Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
OperationswithFunctions
FunctionNotation

Functionnotationreplacesthevariableywithafunctionname.Thexinparenthesesindicates
thatxisthedomainvariableofthefunction.Byconvention,functionstendtousethelettersf,
g,andhasnamesofthefunction.

OperationswithFunctions
Thedomainofthecombination
offunctionsistheintersection
ofthedomainsofthetwo
individualfunctions.Thatis,
thecombinedfunctionhasa
valueinitsdomainifandonlyif
thevalueisinthedomainof
eachindividualfunction.

AddingFunctions
SubtractingFunctions

MultiplyingFunctions

DividingFunctions

Examples:
Let:

1Then:

1,

Notethatin

thereistherequirement

1.Thisisbecause

0inthe

denominatorwouldrequiredividingby0,producinganundefinedresult.

OtherOperations
Otheroperationsofequalityalsoholdforfunctions,forexample:

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
CompositionofFunctions
InaCompositionofFunctions,firstonefunctionisperformed,andthentheother.The
.Inbothofthesenotations,
notationforcompositionis,forexample:
or
thefunctiongisperformedfirst,andthenthefunctionfisperformedontheresultofg.
Alwaysperformthefunctionclosesttothevariablefirst.

DoubleMapping
Acompositioncanbethoughtofasadoublemapping.Firstgmapsfromitsdomaintoits
range.Then,fmapsfromtherangeofgtotherangeoff:

Rangeofg

Domainofg

Rangeoff

Domainoff

TheWordsMethod

Example:Let

and

Then:
And:

Intheexample,
Thefunction sayssquaretheargument.
Thefunction saysadd1totheargument.

Sometimesitiseasiertothinkofthefunctionsin
wordsratherthanintermsofanargumentlikex.
saysadd1first,thensquaretheresult.
sayssquarefirst,thenadd1totheresult.

Usingthewordsmethod,

Calculate:

g:add1toit 12
f:squareit

Version 2.8

12

Calculate:

f:squareit

g:add1toit 4

Page 27 of 178

4
1

April 19, 2016

Algebra
InversesofFunctions
Inorderforafunctiontohaveaninverse,itmustbeaonetoonefunction.Therequirement
forafunctiontobeaninverseis:

Thenotation

isusedfortheInverseFunctionof

Anotherwayofsayingthisisthatif

,then

forall inthedomainof .

DerivinganInverseFunction
Thefollowingstepscanbeusedtoderiveaninversefunction.Thisprocessassumesthatthe
originalfunctionisexpressedintermsof
.

Makesurethefunctionisonetoone.Otherwiseithasnoinverse.Youcanaccomplish
thisbygraphingthefunctionandapplyingtheverticalandhorizontallinetests.
Substitutethevariableyfor
.
Exchangevariables.Thatis,changeallthexstoysandalltheystoxs.
Solveforthenewyintermsofthenewx.
(Optional)Switchtheexpressionsoneachsideoftheequationifyoulike.
Replacethevariableywith the function notation
.
Checkyourwork.

Examples:

Substitute for

Exchangevariables:

Subtract2:

Multiplyby3:
Switchsides:

6
3

Version 2.8

Exchangevariables:

Add1:

Divideby2:

Switchsides:

ChangeNotation:

Tochecktheresult,notethat:

Tochecktheresult,notethat:

ChangeNotation:
1
3
3

Substitute for

Derivetheinverseof:

Derivetheinverseof:

Page 28 of 178

1
2

1
2

April 19, 2016

Algebra
TransformationTranslation
ATranslationisamovementofthegraphofarelationtoadifferentlocationintheplane.It
preservestheshapeandorientationofthegraphonthepage.Alternatively,atranslationcan
bethoughtofasleavingthegraphwhereitisandmovingtheaxesaroundontheplane.
InAlgebra,thetranslationsofprimaryinterestaretheverticalandhorizontaltranslationsofa
graph.

VerticalTranslation
Startingform:

VerticalTranslation:

Ateachpoint,thegraphofthetranslationis unitshigheror
lowerdependingonwhether ispositiveornegative.The
letter isusedasaconventionwhenmovingupordown.In
algebra, usuallyrepresentsayvalueofsomeimportance.
Note:
Apositive shiftsthegraphup.
Anegative shiftsthegraphdown.

HorizontalTranslation
Startingform:

HorizontalTranslation:

Ateachpoint,thegraphofthetranslationis unitsto
theleftorrightdependingonwhether ispositiveor
negative.Theletter isusedasaconventionwhen
movingleftorright.Inalgebra, usuallyrepresentsan
xvalueofsomeimportance.
Note:
Apositive shiftsthegraphtotheleft.
Anegative shiftsthegraphtotheright.
Forhorizontaltranslation,thedirectionofmovementofthegraphiscounterintuitive;be
carefulwiththese.

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
TransformationVerticalStretchandCompression
AVerticalStretchorCompressionisastretchorcompressionintheverticaldirection,relative
tothexaxis.Itdoesnotslidethegrapharoundontheplanelikeatranslation.Analternative
viewofaverticalstretchorcompressionwouldbeachangeinthescaleoftheyaxis.

VerticalStretch
Startingform:

VerticalStretch:

Ateachpoint,thegraphisstretchedverticallybyafactorof
.Theresultisanelongatedcurve,onethatexaggeratesall
ofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.

VerticalCompression
Startingform:

VerticalCompression:

Ateachpoint,thegraphiscompressedverticallybya
factorof .Theresultisaflattenedoutcurve,onethat
mutesallofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.

Note:Theformsoftheequations
forverticalstretchandvertical
compressionarethesame.The
onlydifferenceisthevalueof" ".

Valueof" "in

reflection

xaxis
1

Version 2.8

ResultingCurve

compression

originalcurve

stretch

Page 30 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
TransformationHorizontalStretchandCompression
AHorizontalStretchorCompressionisastretchorcompressioninthehorizontaldirection,
relativetotheyaxis.Itdoesnotslidethegrapharoundontheplanelikeatranslation.An
alternativeviewofahorizontalstretchorcompressionwouldbeachangeinthescaleofthex
axis.

HorizontalStretch
Startingform:

HorizontalStretch:

Ateachpoint,thegraphisstretchedhorizontally
byafactorof .Theresultisawidenedcurve,one
thatexaggeratesallofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.

HorizontalCompression
Startingform:

HorizontalCompression:

Ateachpoint,thegraphiscompressedhorizontallybya
factorof .Theresultisaskinniercurve,onethatmutes

Note:Theformsoftheequations
forthehorizontalstretchandthe
horizontalcompressionarethe
same.Theonlydifferenceisthe
valueof" ".

allofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.

Valueof" "in

reflection
horizontal line

ResultingCurve

stretch

originalcurve

compression

Note:Forhorizontalstretchandcompression,thechangeinthegraphcausedbythevalue
ofbiscounterintuitive;becarefulwiththese.

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
TransformationReflection
AReflectionisaflipofthegraphacrossamirrorintheplane.Itpreservestheshapethe
graphbutcanmakeitlookbackwards.
InAlgebra,thereflectionsofprimaryinterestarethereflectionsacrossanaxisintheplane.

XAxisReflection

Startingform:

xaxisReflection:

Notethefollowing:

Version 2.8

YAxis Reflection

Startingform:
yaxisReflection:

Notethefollowing:

Ateachpoint,thegraphis
reflectedacrossthexaxis.
Theformofthetransformationis
thesameasaverticalstretchor
compressionwith
.
Theflipofthegraphoverthex
axisis,ineffect,avertical
transformation.

Page 32 of 178

Ateachpoint,thegraphis
reflectedacrosstheyaxis.
Theformofthetransformationis
thesameasahorizontalstretch
orcompressionwith
.
Theflipofthegraphoverthey
axisis,ineffect,ahorizontal
transformation.

April 19, 2016

Algebra
TransformationsSummary
Startingform:

Forpurposesofthefollowingtable,thevariableshandkarepositivetomaketheformsmore
likewhatthestudentwillencounterwhensolvingproblemsinvolvingtransformations.
TransformationSummary
FormofTransformation

ResultofTransformation

Verticaltranslationupkunits.
Verticaltranslationdownkunits.

Horizontaltranslationlefthunits.
Horizontaltranslationrighthunits.

,
,

Verticalstretchbyafactorof .
Verticalcompressionbyafactorof .

1
1

Horizontalcompressionbyafactorof .
1

Horizontalstretchbyafactorof .
Reflectionacrossthexaxis(vertical).
Reflectionacrosstheyaxis(horizontal).

Transformationsbasedonthevalues
ofaandb(stretches,
compressions,reflections)canbe
representedbythesegraphics.

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
BuildingaGraphwithTransformations
Thegraphofanequationcanbebuiltwithblocksmadeupoftransformations.Asanexample,
wewillbuildthegraphof
2
3
4.

Step1:Startwiththebasic
quadraticequation:

Step2:Translate3unitsto
therighttogetequation:

Step3:Stretchverticallyby
afactorof2togetequation:

Step5:Translateup4
unitstogetequation:

FinalResult:Showthegraph
ofthefinalequation:

Step4:Reflectoverthe
xaxistogetequation:

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
SlopeofaLine

Theslopeofalinetellshowfastitrisesorfallsasitmovesfromlefttoright.Iftheslopeis
rising,theslopeispositive;ifitisfalling,theslopeisnegative.Thelettermisoftenusedas
thesymbolforslope.

Thetwomostusefulwaystocalculatetheslopeofalinearediscussedbelow.

MathematicalDefinitionofSlope
Thedefinitionisbasedontwopointswith
coordinates ,
and ,
.Thedefinition,
then,is:

Comments:

Youcanselectany2pointsontheline.

Atablesuchastheoneatrightcanbehelpfulfordoing
yourcalculations.

Notethat

Point2

Point1

impliesthat

So,itdoesnotmatterwhichpointyouassignasPoint1
andwhichyouassignasPoint2.Therefore,neitherdoes
itmatterwhichpointisfirstinthetable.

xvalue

Difference

yvalue

ItisimportantthatonceyouassignapointasPoint1andanotherasPoint2,thatyouuse
theircoordinatesintheproperplacesintheformula.

Examples:
Forthetwolinesinthefigureabove,wegetthefollowing:
GreenLine

xvalue

yvalue

PointA

PointC

Difference

RedLine

xvalue

yvalue

PointD

PointB

Difference

GreenLine:
Version 2.8

RedLine:

Page 35 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
SlopeofaLine(contd)

RiseoverRun
Anequivalentmethodofcalculatingslopethatismore
visualistheRiseoverRunmethod.Underthis
method,ithelpstodrawverticalandhorizontallines
thatindicatethehorizontalandverticaldistances
betweenpointsontheline.
Theslopecanthenbecalculatedasfollows:

Theriseofalineishowmuchitincreases(positive)ordecreases(negative)betweentwo
points.Therunishowfarthelinemovestotheright(positive)ortheleft(negative)between
thesametwopoints.
Comments:

Youcanselectany2pointsontheline.

Itisimportanttostartatthesamepointinmeasuringboththeriseandtherun.

Agoodconventionistoalwaysstartwiththepointontheleftandworkyourwaytothe
right;thatway,therun(i.e.,thedenominatorintheformula)isalwayspositive.Theonly
exceptiontothisiswhentheruniszero,inwhichcasetheslopeisundefined.

Ifthetwopointsareclearlymarkedasintegersonagraph,theriseandrunmayactuallybe
countedonthegraph.Thismakestheprocessmuchsimplerthanusingtheformulaforthe
definitionofslope.However,whencounting,makesureyougettherightsignfortheslope
oftheline,e.g.,movingdownasthelinemovestotherightisanegativeslope.

Examples:
Forthetwolinesinthefigureabove,wegetthefollowing:

GreenLine:

RedLine:

Version 2.8

Page 36 of 178

Noticehowsimilarthe
calculationsintheexamples
areunderthetwomethods
ofcalculatingslopes.

April 19, 2016

Algebra
SlopesofVariousLines

5
lineissteepandgoingdown
2

lineisvertical
Whenyoulookataline,you
shouldnoticethefollowing
aboutitsslope:

Whetheritis0,positive,
negativeorundefined.

Ifpositiveornegative,
whetheritislessthan1,
about1,orgreaterthan1.

1
linegoesdownata45angle

Thepurposeofthegraphson
thispageistohelpyougetafeel
forthesethings.

Thiscanhelpyoucheck:

Givenaslope,whetheryou
drewthelinecorrectly,or

Givenaline,whetheryou
calculatedtheslope
correctly.

2
lineissteepandgoingup
3

1
linegoesupata45angle

17

lineisshallowandgoingdown

11
lineisshallowandgoingup

Version 2.8

0
lineishorizontal

Page 37 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
VariousFormsofaLine

TherearethreeformsofalinearequationwhicharemostusefultotheAlgebrastudent,each
ofwhichcanbeconvertedintotheothertwothroughalgebraicmanipulation.Theabilityto
movebetweenformsisaveryusefulskillinAlgebra,andshouldbepracticedbythestudent.

StandardForm
TheStandardFormofalinearequationis:

whereA,B,andCarerealnumbersandAandBarenotbothzero.
Usuallyinthisform,theconventionisforAtobepositive.

StandardFormExamples
3

14

Why,youmightask,isthisStandardForm?Onereasonisthatthisformiseasilyextendedto
additionalvariables,whereasotherformsarenot.Forexample,infourvariables,theStandard
Formwouldbe:
.Anotherreasonisthatthisformeasilylendsitself
toanalysiswithmatrices,whichcanbeveryusefulinsolvingsystemsofequations.

SlopeInterceptForm
TheSlopeInterceptFormofalinearequationistheonemost
familiartomanystudents.Itis:

SlopeInterceptExamples
3
3
4

6
14

wheremistheslopeandbistheyinterceptoftheline(i.e.,the
valueatwhichthelinecrossestheyaxisinagraph).mandbmustalsoberealnumbers.

PointSlopeForm
ThePointSlopeFormofalinearequationistheoneusedleastby
thestudent,butitcanbeveryusefulincertaincircumstances.In
particular,asyoumightexpect,itisusefulifthestudentisaskedfor
theequationofalineandisgiventhelinesslopeandthe
coordinatesofapointontheline.Theformoftheequationis:

PointSlopeExamples
3

isanypointontheline.Onestrengthofthisformisthat
wheremistheslopeand ,
equationsformedusingdifferentpointsonthesamelinewillbeequivalent.

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines

ParallelLines
Twolinesareparalleliftheirslopesareequal.

In
thesame.

form,ifthevaluesof are

Example:

3
1

and

InStandardForm,ifthecoefficientsof and
areproportionalbetweentheequations.
Example:3
6

2
2

2
4

and
7

Also,ifthelinesarebothvertical(i.e.,their
slopesareundefined).
Example:
3 and

PerpendicularLines
Twolinesareperpendiculariftheproductoftheir
slopesis .Thatis,iftheslopeshavedifferent
signsandaremultiplicativeinverses.

In
form,thevaluesof
multiplytoget 1..
Example:

and
3

InStandardForm,ifyouaddtheproductof
thexcoefficientstotheproductofthey
coefficientsandgetzero.
Example:4

6
2

4 and
5because 4 3

Also,ifonelineisvertical(i.e., isundefined)andonelineishorizontal(i.e.,
Example:
6 and

Version 2.8

Page 39 of 178

0).

April 19, 2016

Algebra
Parallel,PerpendicularorNeither
Thefollowingflowchartcanbeusedtodeterminewhetherapairoflinesareparallel,
perpendicular,orneither.

First,putbothlinesin:
form.

Arethe
slopesofthe
twolinesthe
same?

yes

Result:The
linesare
parallel.

yes

Result:Thelines
are
perpendicular.

no

Isthe
productof
thetwo
slopes =1?

no

Version 2.8

Result:The

linesare
neither.

Page 40 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
Parallel,CoincidentorIntersecting
Thefollowingflowchartcanbeusedtodeterminewhetherapairoflinesareparallel,
coincident,orintersecting.Coincidentlinesarelinesthatarethesame,eventhoughtheymay
beexpresseddifferently.Technically,coincidentlinesarenotparallelbecauseparallellines
neverintersectandcoincidentlinesintersectatallpointsontheline.

First,putbothlinesin:
form.

Arethe
slopesofthe
twolinesthe
same?

Arethey
interceptsof
thetwolines
thesame?

yes

yes

Result:The
linesare
coincident.

no

no

Result:The
linesare
intersecting.

Result:The
linesare
parallel.

Theintersectionofthetwolinesis:

Forintersectinglines,thepointofintersection.

Forparallellines,theemptyset, .

Forcoincidentlines,allpointsontheline.

Version 2.8

Page 41 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
PropertiesofInequality

Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:

Property

Definition

Addition
Property

Subtraction
Property

Multiplication For
Property

Division
Property

For

0,

For

0,

0,

For

0,

Note:allpropertieswhichholdfor<alsoholdfor,andallpropertieswhichholdfor>
alsoholdfor.
Thereisnothingtoosurprisingintheseproperties.Themostimportantthingtobeobtained
fromthemcanbedescribedasfollows:Whenyoumultiplyordivideaninequalitybya
negativenumber,youmustflipthesign.Thatis,<becomes>,>becomes<,etc.
Inaddition,itisusefultonotethatyoucanfliparoundanentireinequalityaslongasyoukeep
thepointypartofthesigndirectedatthesameitem.Examples:

isthesameas

isthesameas

Version 2.8

Onewaytorememberthis
isthatwhenyoufliparound
aninequality,youmustalso
fliparoundthesign.

Page 42 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
GraphsofInequalitiesinOneDimension

Inequalitiesinonedimensionaregenerallygraphedonthenumberline.Alternatively,ifitis
clearthatthegraphisonedimensional,thegraphscanbeshowninrelationtoanumberline
butnotspecificallyonit(examplesofthisareonthenextpage).

OneDimensionalGraphComponents

Theendpoint(s)Theendpointsfortherayorsegmentinthegraphareshownaseither
openorclosedcircles.
o Ifthepointisincludedinthesolutiontotheinequality(i.e.,ifthesignisor),the
circleisclosed.
o Ifthepointisnotincludedinthesolutiontotheinequality(i.e.,ifthesignis<or>),
thecircleisopen.

ThearrowIfallnumbersinonedirectionofthenumberlinearesolutionstothe
inequality,anarrowpointsinthatdirection.
o For<orsigns,thearrowpointstotheleft().
o For>orsigns,thearrowpointstotheright().

Thelineinasimpleinequality,alineisdrawnfromtheendpointtothearrow.Ifthereare
twoendpoints,alineisdrawnfromonetotheother.

Examples:

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
CompoundInequalitiesinOneDimension

Compoundinequalitiesareasetofinequalitiesthatmustallbetrueatthesametime.Usually,
therearetwoinequalities,butmorethantwocanalsoformacompoundset.Theprinciples
describedbeloweasilyextendtocaseswheretherearemorethantwoinequalities.
CompoundInequalitieswiththeWordAND
AnexampleofcompoundinequalitieswiththewordANDwouldbe:

12
2
(SimpleForm)

1
(CompoundForm)

or

Thesearethesameconditions,
expressedintwodifferentforms.

Graphically,ANDinequalitiesexistatpointswherethegraphsoftheindividualinequalities
overlap.Thisistheintersectionofthegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.Belowaretwo
examplesofgraphsofcompoundinequalitiesusingthewordAND.

AtypicalANDexample:Theresultisa
segmentthatcontainsthepointsthatoverlap

thegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.

ANDcompoundinequalitiessometimesresult
intheemptyset.Thishappenswhenno
numbersmeetbothconditionsatthesametime.

CompoundInequalitieswiththeWordOR
Graphically,ORinequalitiesexistatpointswhereanyoftheoriginalgraphshavepoints.This
istheunionofthegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.Belowaretwoexamplesofgraphsof
compoundinequalitiesusingthewordOR.

AtypicalORexample:Theresultisapairof
raysextendinginoppositedirections,witha
gapinbetween.

Version 2.8

ORcompoundinequalitiessometimesresultin
thesetofallnumbers.Thishappenswhenevery
numbermeetsatleastoneoftheconditions.

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
InequalitiesinTwoDimensions
Graphinganinequalityintwodimensionsinvolvesthefollowingsteps:

Graphtheunderlyingequation.

Makethelinesolidordottedbasedonwhethertheinequalitycontainsan=sign.
o Forinequalitieswith<or>thelineisdotted.
o Forinequalitieswithorthelineissolid.

Determinewhethertheregioncontainingthesolutionsetisabovethelineorbelowthe
line.
o Forinequalitieswith>ortheshadedregionisabovetheline.
o Forinequalitieswith<ortheshadedregionisbelowtheline.

Shadeintheappropriateregion.

Example:
Graphthesolutionsetofthefollowingsystemofinequality:

Step1:Graphtheunderlying
equation.

Step2:Determinewhethertheline
shouldbesolidordotted:
1 the>signdoesnot
contain=,sothelineisdotted

Step3:Determinetheregiontobe
shadedbasedonthesigninthe
equation:
1 the>signindicates
shadingabovetheline

Thesolutionsetistheshadedarea.

Version 2.8

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Algebra
GraphsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions

DashedLine
BelowtheLine

DashedLine
AbovetheLine

SolidLine
BelowtheLine

SolidLine
AbovetheLine

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
AbsoluteValueFunctions

Equations
GraphsofequationsinvolvingabsolutevaluesgenerallyhaveaVpattern.Wheneveryousee
aVinagraph,thinkabsolutevalue.Ageneralequationforanabsolutevaluefunctionisof
theform:
|
|
|
|

where,

the sign indicates whether the graph opens up ( sign) or down ( sign).

| |istheabsolutevalueoftheslopesofthelinesinthegraph.

(h,k)isthelocationofthevertex(i.e.,thesharppoint)inthegraph.

Examples:

Equation:

1|

Vertex = 1, 2
1; |slopes|

Graph opens up

Vertex =

| 2

Equation:

1 |

1, 3

2; |slopes|

Graph opens up

Equation:
Vertex =

3
,3

; |slopes|
Graph opens down

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Algebra
AbsoluteValueFunctions(contd)

Inequalities
Sinceapositivenumberandanegativenumbercanhavethesameabsolutevalue,inequalities
involvingabsolutevaluesmustbebrokenintotwoseparateequations.Forexample:
3

3|

Thefirstnewequationissimplytheoriginal
equationwithouttheabsolutevaluesign.

4
3

Signthatdetermines
useofANDorOR

Inthesecondnewequation,twothings
change:(1)thesignflips,and(2)thevalueon
therightsideoftheinequalitychangesitssign.

Atthispointtheabsolutevalueproblemhasconvertedintoapairofcompoundinequalities.
Equation1

Equation2

Solve:

Step1:Add3

Result:

3
3

4
3

Solve:

Step1:Add3

Result:

3
3

4
3
1

Next,weneedtoknowwhethertouseANDorORwiththeresults.Todecidewhichword
touse,lookatthesignintheinequality;then

UsethewordANDwithlessthandsigns.
UsethewordORwithgreatorsigns.

Note:theEnglishispoor,butthemath
iseasiertorememberwiththistrick!

Thesolutiontotheaboveabsolutevalueproblem,then,isthesameasthesolutiontothe
followingsetofcompoundinequalities:

Thesolutionsetisallxintherange(1,7)

Note:thesolutionsettothisexampleisgiveninrangenotation.Whenusingthisnotation,
useparentheses()wheneveranendpointisnotincludedinthesolutionset,and
usesquarebrackets[]wheneveranendpointisincludedinthesolutionset.
Alwaysuseparentheses()withinfinitysigns( ).
Examples:

Version 2.8

Therange:

Notation: 2, 6

Therange:
Notation:

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2
, 2

April 19, 2016

Algebra
SystemsofEquations
Asystemofequationsisasetof2ormoreequationsforwhichwewishtodetermineall
solutionswhichsatisfyeachequation.Generally,therewillbethesamenumberofequations
asvariablesandasinglesolutiontoeachvariablewillbesought.However,sometimesthereis
eithernosolutionorthereisaninfinitenumberofsolutions.

Therearemanymethodsavailabletosolveasystemofequations.Wewillshowthreeofthem
below.

GraphingaSolution
Inthesimplestcases,asetof2equationsin2unknownscanbesolvedusingagraph.Asingle
equationintwounknownsisaline,sotwoequationsgiveus2lines.Thefollowingsituations
arepossiblewith2lines:

Theywillintersect.Inthiscase,thepointofintersectionistheonlysolution.
Theywillbethesameline.Inthiscase,allpointsonthelinearesolutions(note:thisis
aninfiniteset).
Theywillbeparallelbutnotthesameline.Inthiscase,therearenosolutions.

Examples

SolutionSet:

Thepointofintersection
canbereadoffthegraph;

thepoint(2,0).

Version 2.8

SolutionSet:

SolutionSet:

Theemptyset;
theseparallellines
willnevercross.

Allpointsontheline.
Althoughtheequationslook
different,theyactually
describethesameline.

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Algebra
SystemsofEquations(contd)
SubstitutionMethod
IntheSubstitutionMethod,weeliminateoneofthevariablesbysubstitutingintooneofthe
equationsitsequivalentintermsoftheothervariable.Thenwesolveforeachvariableinturn
andchecktheresult.Thestepsinthisprocessareillustratedintheexamplebelow.
Example:Solveforxandyif:

and:2
.

Step1:Reviewthetwoequations.Lookforavariablethatcanbesubstitutedfromone
equationintotheother.Inthisexample,weseeasingleyinthefirstequation;thisisaprime
candidateforsubstitution.

Wewillsubstitute

fromthefirstequationfor inthesecondequation.

Step2:Performthesubstitution.

becomes:

Step3:Solvetheresultingequationforthesinglevariablethatisleft.

Step4:Substitutetheknownvariableintooneoftheoriginalequationstosolveforthe
remainingvariable.

Afterthisstep,thesolutionistentativelyidentifiedas:
,
,meaningthepoint(3,1).

Step5:ChecktheresultbysubstitutingthesolutionintotheequationnotusedinStep4.Ifthe
solutioniscorrect,theresultshouldbeatruestatement.Ifitisnot,youhavemadeamistake
andshouldcheckyourworkcarefully.

Version 2.8

Sincethisisatruemathematical
statement,thesolution(3,1)can
beacceptedascorrect.

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Algebra
SystemsofEquations(contd)
EliminationMethod
IntheSubstitutionMethod,wemanipulateoneorbothoftheequationssothatwecanadd
themandeliminateoneofthevariables.Thenwesolveforeachvariableinturnandcheckthe
result.Thisisanoutstandingmethodforsystemsofequationswithuglycoefficients.The
stepsinthisprocessareillustratedintheexamplebelow.Notetheflowofthesolutiononthe
page.
Example:Solveforxandyif:
and:2

Step1:Rewritetheequationsin

standardform.

.
Step2: Multiplyeachequationbyavalue
selectedsothat,whentheequationsareadded,
avariablewillbeeliminated.

(Multiplyby2)

(Multiplyby1)

Step3: Addtheresultingequations.

Step5:Substitutetheresultinto
oneoftheoriginalequationsand
solvefortheothervariable.

Step4: Solveforthevariable.

Step6:Checktheresultbysubstituting
thesolutionintotheequationnotusedin
Step5.Ifthesolutioniscorrect,the
resultshouldbeatruestatement.Ifitis
not,youhavemadeamistakeandshould
checkyourwork.

Version 2.8

Sincethisisatruemathematicalstatement,the
solution(3,1)canbeacceptedascorrect.

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Algebra
SystemsofEquations(contd)
ClassificationofSystems
Therearetwomainclassificationsofsystemsofequations:Consistentvs.Inconsistent,and
Dependentvs.Independent.

Consistentvs.Inconsistent

ConsistentSystemshaveoneormoresolutions.

InconsistentSystemshavenosolutions.Whenyoutrytosolveaninconsistentsetof
equations,youoftengettoapointwhereyouhaveanimpossiblestatement,suchas
1 2.Thisindicatesthatthereisnosolutiontothesystem.

Dependentvs.Independent

LinearlyDependentSystemshaveaninfinitenumberofsolutions.InLinearAlgebra,a
systemislinearlydependentifthereisasetofrealnumbers(notallzero)that,when
theyaremultipliedbytheequationsinthesystemandtheresultsareadded,thefinal
resultiszero.

LinearlyIndependentSystemshaveatmostonesolution.InLinearAlgebra,asystemis
linearlyindependentifitisnotlinearlydependent.Note:sometextbooksindicatethat
anindependentsystemmusthaveasolution.Thisisnotcorrect;theycanhaveno
solutions(seethemiddleexamplebelow).Formoreonthis,seethenextpage.

Examples

OneSolution
Consistent
Independent

NoSolution
Inconsistent
Independent

InfiniteSolutions
Consistent
Dependent

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ADVANCED

Algebra
LinearDependence
LineardependenceisaconceptfromLinearAlgebra,andisveryusefulindeterminingif
solutionstocomplexsystemsofequationsexist.Essentially,asystemoffunctions isdefined
tobelinearlydependentifthereisasetofrealnumbers (notallzero),suchthat:

0or,insummationnotation,

Ifthereisnosetofrealnumbers ,suchthattheaboveequationsaretrue,thesystemissaid
tobelinearlyindependent.
iscalledalinearcombinationofthefunctions .The
Theexpression
importanceoftheconceptoflineardependenceliesintherecognitionthatadependent
systemisredundant,i.e.,thesystemcanbedefinedwithfewerequations.Itisusefultonote
thatalinearlydependentsystemofequationshasadeterminantofcoefficientsequalto0.
Example:
Considerthefollowingsystemofequations:

Noticethat:
.
Therefore,thesystemislinearly
dependent.

Checkingthedeterminantofthecoefficientmatrix:
3
1
1

2
1
0

1
2
5

2
1

1
2

3
1

1
2

3
1

2
1

0 7

5 1

0.

ItshouldbenotedthatthefactthatD 0issufficienttoprovelineardependenceonlyifthere
arenoconstanttermsinthefunctions(e.g.,iftheprobleminvolvesvectors).Ifthereare
constantterms,itisalsonecessarythatthesetermscombineproperly.Thereareadditional
techniquestotestthis,suchastheuseofaugmentedmatricesandGaussJordanElimination.
MuchofLinearAlgebraconcernsitselfwithsetsofequationsthatarelinearlyindependent.If
thedeterminantofthecoefficientmatrixisnonzero,thenthesetofequationsislinearly
independent.

Version 2.8

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Algebra
SystemsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
Systemsofinequalitiesaresetsofmorethanoneinequality.Tographasystemofinequalities,
grapheachinequalityseparately(includingshadingintheappropriateregion).Thesolutionset,
then,iseithertheoverlapoftheregionsoftheseparateinequalities(ANDSystems)orthe
unionoftheregionsoftheseparateinequalities(ORSystems).

Examples:
Graphthesolutionsetofthefollowingsystemofinequalities:
2

(a)

3AND

(b)

3OR

Step1:Graphtheunderlyingequations.
Step2:Determinewhethereachlineshouldbe
solidordotted:

2
3thesigncontains=,sothe
lineissolid

1the>signdoesnotcontain=,
sothelineisdotted

Step3:Determinetheregionstobeshadedbasedonthesignsintheequations:

3thesignindicatesshadingbelowtheline
1the>signindicatesshadingabovetheline

Step4:Determinethefinalsolutionset.

(a) IftheproblemhasanANDbetween
theinequalities,thesolutionsetisthe
overlapoftheshadedareas(i.e.,the
greenpartinthegraphbelow).

Version 2.8

Page 54 of 178

(b) IftheproblemhasanORbetween
theinequalities,thesolutionsetisthe
unionofalloftheshadedareas(i.e.,
thebluepartinthegraphbelow).

April 19, 2016

Algebra
ParametricEquations
ParametricEquationsin2dimensionsarefunctionsthatexpresseachofthetwokeyvariables
intermsofaoneormoreothers.Forexa
intermsofaoneormoreothers.Forexample,
mple,

Parametricequationsaresometimesthemostusefulwaytosolveaproblem.

PythagoreanTriples
Asanexample,thefollowingparametricequationscanbeusedtofindPythagoreanTriples:
Let , berelativelyprimeintegersandlet
.Then,thefollowingequationsproduceaset
ofintegervaluesthatsatisfythePythagoreanTheorem:

Examples:

12

13

12

13

24

25

24

25

21

20

29

21

20

29

16

30

34

16

30

34

PythagoreanRelationship

CreatingaStandardEquationfromParametricEquations
Tocreateastandardequationfromasetof
parametricequationsintwodimensions,

Solveoneparametricequationfort.
Substitutethisvalueoftintotheother
equation.
Cleanuptheremainingexpressionas
necessary.

Note:anyothermethodofsolving
simultaneousequationscanalsobeusedfor
thispurpose.

Example:Createastandardequationforthe
parametricequations:

Solvingfortinthefirstequation,weget:

Substitutingintothesecondequationgives:

Cleaningthisup,wegetthesolutionweseek:
seek:

Version 2.8

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Algebra
ExponentFormulas
Word Description

Math Description

Limitations

of Property

of Property

on variables

Product of Powers

Examples

Quotient of Powers

Power of a Power

Anything to the zero power is 1

, if , ,

Negative powers generate the

reciprocal of what a positive
power generates

Power of a product

Power of a quotient
Converting a root to a power

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
ScientificNotation

Format
Anumberinscientificnotationhastwoparts:

Anumberwhichisatleast1andislessthan10(i.e.,itmusthaveonlyonedigitbefore
thedecimalpoint).Thisnumberiscalledthecoefficient.
Apowerof10whichismultipliedbythefirstnumber.

Hereareafewexamplesofregularnumbersexpressedinscientificnotation.
32

3.2

1,420,000

0.00034

10

1.42

10

3.4

1000

10
10

1
450

10
4.5

10

Howmanydigits?Howmanyzeroes?
Thereareacoupleofsimplerulesforconvertingfromscientificnotationtoaregularnumberor
forconvertingfromaregularnumbertoscientificnotation:

Ifaregularnumberislessthan1,theexponentof10inscientificnotationisnegative.
Thenumberofleadingzeroesintheregularnumberisequaltotheabsolutevalueof
thisexponent.Inapplyingthisrule,youmustcountthezerobeforethedecimalpointin
theregularnumber.Examples:

OriginalNumber

Action

Conversion

0.00034

Count4zeroes

3.4x104

6.234x108

Add8zeroesbeforethedigits

0.00000006234

Ifthenumberisgreaterthan1,thenumberofdigitsafterthefirstoneintheregular
numberisequaltotheexponentof10inthescientificnotation.

OriginalNumber

Action

Conversion

4,800,000

Count6digitsafterthe4

4.8x106

9.6x103

Add3digitsafterthe9

9,600

Asageneralrule,multiplyingbypowersof10movesthedecimalpointoneplacefor
eachpowerof10.
o Multiplyingbypositivepowersof10movesthedecimaltotheright.
o Multiplyingbynegativepowersof10movesthedecimaltotheleft.

Version 2.8

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Algebra
AddingandSubtractingwithScientificNotation
Whenaddingorsubtractingnumbersinscientificnotation:

Adjustthenumberssotheyhavethesamepowerof10.Thisworksbestifyouadjust
therepresentationofthesmallernumbersothatithasthesamepowerof10asthe
largernumber.Todothis:
o Callthedifferencebetweentheexponentsof10inthetwonumbersn.
o Raisethepowerof10ofthesmallernumberbyn,and
o Movethedecimalpointofthecoefficientofthesmallernumbernplacesto
theleft.
Addthecoefficients,keepingthepowerof10unchanged.
Iftheresultisnotinscientificnotation,adjustitsothatitis.
o Ifthecoefficientisatleast1andlessthan10,theanswerisinthecorrectform.
o Ifthecoefficientis10orgreater,increasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheleft.
o Ifthecoefficientislessthan1,decreasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheright.

Examples:

3.2

10

0.32 10

9.9

10

9.90

10

10. 22

10

1.022

10

Explanation:Aconversionofthesmaller
numberisrequiredpriortoaddingbecausethe
exponentsofthetwonumbersaredifferent.
Afteradding,theresultisnolongerinscientific

notation,soanextrastepisneededtoconvertit
intotheappropriateformat.

6.1

10

6.1

10

2.3

10

2.3

10

8. 4

10

1.2

10

1.20

10

4.5

10

0.45

10

0.75

10

Explanation:Noconversionisnecessary
becausetheexponentsofthetwonumbersare
thesame.Afteradding,theresultisinscientific
notation,sonoadditionalstepsarerequired.

Version 2.8

7.5

10

Explanation:Aconversionofthesmaller
numberisrequiredpriortosubtractingbecause
theexponentsofthetwonumbersaredifferent.
Aftersubtracting,theresultisnolongerin
scientificnotation,soanextrastepisneededto
convertitintotheappropriateformat.

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Algebra
MultiplyingandDividingwithScientificNotation

Whenmultiplyingordividingnumbersinscientificnotation:

Multiplyordividethecoefficients.

Multiplyordividethepowersof10.Rememberthatthismeansaddingorsubtracting
theexponentswhilekeepingthebaseof10unchanged.
o Ifyouaremultiplying,addtheexponentsof10.
o Ifyouaredividing,subtracttheexponentsof10.

Iftheresultisnotinscientificnotation,adjustitsothatitis.
o Ifthecoefficientisatleast1andlessthan10,theanswerisinthecorrectform.
o Ifthecoefficientis10orgreater,increasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheleft.
o Ifthecoefficientislessthan1,decreasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheright.

Examples:

10

10

20

10

2.0

10

1.2

10

2.0

10

2. 4

10

3.3

10

Explanation:Thecoefficientsaremultipliedand
theexponentsareadded.Aftermultiplying,the
resultisnolongerinscientificnotation,soan
extrastepisneededtoconvertitintothe
appropriateformat.

Explanation:Thecoefficientsaremultipliedand
theexponentsareadded.Aftermultiplying,the
resultisinscientificnotation,sonoadditional
stepsarerequired.

5.5

10

0.6

10

Version 2.8

6.0

10

Explanation:Thecoefficientsaredividedand
theexponentsaresubtracted.Afterdividing,
theresultisnolongerinscientificnotation,so
anextrastepisneededtoconvertitintothe
appropriateformat.

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Algebra
IntroductiontoPolynomials

WhatisaPolynomial?
Apolynomialisanexpressionthatcanbewrittenasatermorasumofterms,eachofwhichis
theproductofascalar(thecoefficient)andaseriesofvariables.Eachofthetermsisalsocalled
amonomial.
Examples(allofthesearepolynomials):
3

Monomial
2

Binomial
Trinomial
4

Other

4
8

15

12
7

3
3

Definitions:
Scalar:Arealnumber.
Monomial:Polynomialwithoneterm.
Binomial:Polynomialwithtwoterms.
Trinomial:Polynomialwiththreeterms.

DegreeofaPolynomial
Thedegreeofamonomialisthesumoftheexponentsonitsvariables.
Thedegreeofapolynomialisthehighestdegreeofanyofitsmonomialterms.
Examples:
Polynomial

Degree

15

Polynomial
6

Degree

12
7

Version 2.8

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Algebra
AddingandSubtractingPolynomials

Problemsaskingthestudenttoaddorsubtractpolynomialsareoftenwritteninlinearform:
2

Add: 3

Theproblemismuchmoreeasilysolvediftheproblemiswrittenincolumnform,witheach
polynomialwritteninstandardform.

Definitions
StandardForm:Apolynomialinstandardformhasitstermswrittenfromhighestdegreeto
lowestdegreefromlefttoright.

Example:Thestandardformof

4 is 3

LikeTerms:Termswiththesamevariablesraisedtothesamepowers.Onlythenumerical
coefficientsaredifferent.

, 6

Example:2

,and

areliketerms.

AdditionandSubtractionSteps
Step1:Writeeachpolynomialinstandardform.Leaveblankspacesformissingterms.For
example,ifadding 3
2
4 ,leavespaceforthemissing term.
Step2:Ifyouaresubtracting,changethesignofeachtermofthepolynomialtobesubtracted
andaddinstead.Addingismucheasierthansubtracting.
Step3:Placethepolynomialsincolumnform,beingcarefultolineupliketerms.
Step4:Addthepolynomials.

Examples:

: 3

Solution:

Version 2.8

: 3

Solution:

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10

April 19, 2016

Algebra
MultiplyingBinomials

Thethreemethodsshownbelowareequivalent.Usewhicheveroneyoulikebest.

FOILMethod
FOILstandsforFirst,Outside,Inside,Last.TomultiplyusingtheFOILmethod,youmakefour
separatemultiplicationsandaddtheresults.
Example:Multiply 2
First:

2 3

Outside:

Inside:

3 3

Last:

3 3
6

Theresultisobtainedbyaddingtheresultsof
the4separatemultiplications.

4
9
4

3 3

FOIL
4

12

12

12

BoxMethod
TheBoxMethodisprettymuchthesameastheFOILmethod,exceptforthepresentation.In
theboxmethod,a2x2arrayofmultiplicationsiscreated,the4multiplicationsareperformed,
andtheresultsareadded.
Example:Multiply 2
Multiply

3x

2x

+3

3 3

4
Theresult isobtainedbyaddingtheresultsof
the4separatemultiplications.

3 3

12

12

12

StackedPolynomialMethod
Athirdmethodistomultiplythebinomials
likeyouwouldmultiply2digitnumbers.

Thenamecomesfromhowthetwo
polynomialsareplacedinastackin
preparationformultiplication.

Example:Multiply 2

Version 2.8

3 3

2
3

8
9

3
4
12
12

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
MultiplyingPolynomials

Ifthepolynomialstobemultipliedcontainmorethantwoterms(i.e.,theyarelargerthan
binomials),theFOILMethodwillnotwork.Instead,eithertheBoxMethodortheStacked
PolynomialMethodshouldbeused.Noticethateachofthesemethodsisessentiallyawayto
applythedistributivepropertyofmultiplicationoveraddition.

Themethodsshownbelowareequivalent.Usewhicheveroneyoulikebest.

BoxMethod
TheBoxMethodisthesameforlargerpolynomialsasitisforbinomials,excepttheboxis
bigger.Anarrayofmultiplicationsiscreated;themultiplicationsareperformed;andliketerms
areadded.
2

Example:Multiply
Multiply

3 2

Results:

2
2

12

3 2

StackedPolynomialMethod

Results:

IntheStackedPolynomialMethod,the
polynomialsaremultipliedusingthesame

techniquetomultiplymultidigitnumbers

Onehelpfultipistoplacethesmaller

polynomialbelowthelargeroneinthe

stack.

Version 2.8

12

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17

12

April 19, 2016

Algebra
DividingPolynomials

Dividingpolynomialsisperformedmuchlikedividinglargenumberslonghand.

LongDivisionMethod
Thisprocessisbestdescribedbyexample:
Thisproce
ssisbestdescribedbyexample:
Example: 2

Step1:Setupthedivisionlikeatypicallonghand
divisionproblem.
Step2:Dividetheleadingtermofthedividendby
theleadingtermofthedivisor.Placetheresult
abovethetermoflikedegreeofthedividend.
2

Step3:Multiplythenewtermontopbythedivisor
andsubtractfromthedividend.
andsubtractfromthedividend.
2

Thisprocessresultsinthefinalanswerappearing
abovethedividend,sothat:
5

22

22

22
2

Step4:Repeatsteps2and3ontheremainderof
thedivisionuntiltheproblemiscompleted.

22
2

5
2

5
2
5
4

5
4

2
2
2

Remainders

0
Iftherewerearemainder,itwouldbeappendedto
theresultoftheproblemintheformofafraction,justlikewhendividingintegers.For
theresultoftheproblemintheformofafraction,justlikewhendividingintegers.For
example,intheproblemabove,iftheremainderwere3,thefraction

wouldbeaddedto

theresultofthedivision. 2

Alternatives
Thisprocesscanbetedious.Fortunately,therearebettermethodsfordividingpolynomials
thanlongdivision.TheseincludeFactoring,whichisdiscussednextandelsewhereinthis
Guide,andSyntheticDivision,whichisdiscussedinthechapteronPolynomialsIntermediate.

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Algebra
FactoringPolynomials

Polynomialscannotbedividedinthesamewaynumberscan.Inordertodividepolynomials,it
isoftenusefultofactorthemfirst.Factoringinvolvesextractingsimplertermsfromthemore
complexpolynomial.

GreatestCommonFactor
TheGreatestCommonFactorofthetermsofapolynomialisdeterminedasfollows:
Step1:FindtheGreatestCommonFactorofthecoefficients.
Step2:FindtheGreatestCommonFactorforeachvariable.Thisissimplyeachvariabletaken
tothelowestpowerthatexistsforthatvariableinanyoftheterms.
Step3:MultiplytheGCFofthecoefficientsbytheGCFforeachvariable.
Example:
42

FindtheGCFof 18

30

TheGCFofthecoefficientsandeachvariableareshown
intheboxtotheright.TheGCFofthepolynomialisthe
productofthefourindividualGCFs.

GCF 18, 42, 30

GCF

GCF

,1

GCF

, ,

So,GCF polynomial

FactoringSteps
Step1:FactoroutofalltermstheGCFofthepolynomial.
Step2:Factoroutoftheremainingpolynomialanybinomialsthatcanbe
extracted.
Step3:Factoroutoftheremainingpolynomialanytrinomialsthatcan
beextracted.

Note:Typicallyonly
steps1and2are
neededinhighschool
algebraproblems.

Step4:Continuethisprocessuntilnofurthersimplificationispossible.
Examples:

Factor:

18

27

Thefactoringofthebluetrinomial(2ndline)into
thesquareofabinomialistheresultof
recognizingthespecialformitrepresents.Special
formsareshownonthenexttwopages.

Version 2.8

Factor:

24

4
2

Thefactoringofthebluebinomial(2ndline)into
binomialsoflowerdegreeistheresultof
recognizingthespecialformitrepresents.Special
formsareshownonthenexttwopages.

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Algebra
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions

Itishelpfultobeabletorecognizeacouplespecialformsofquadraticfunctions.Inparticular,
ifyoucanrecognizeperfectsquaresanddifferencesofsquares,yourworkwillbecomeeasier
andmoreaccurate.

PerfectSquares
Perfectsquaresareoftheform:

IdentificationandSolution
Thefollowingstepsallowthestudenttoidentifyandsolveatrinomialthatisaperfectsquare:
Step1:Noticethefirsttermofthetrinomialisasquare.Takeitssquareroot.
Step2:Noticethelasttermofthetrinomialisasquare.Takeitssquareroot.
Step3:Multiplytheresultsofthefirst2stepsanddoublethatproduct.Iftheresultisthe
middletermofthetrinomial,theexpressionisaperfectsquare.
Step4:Thebinomialinthesolutionisthesumordifferenceofthesquarerootscalculatedin
steps1and2.Thesignbetweenthetermsofthebinomialisthesignofthemiddle
termofthetrinomial.

Example:

Identifythetrinomialasaperfectsquare:

Noticethatthemiddletermisdoubletheproduct
ofthetwosquareroots( and ).Thisisa
telltalesignthattheexpressionisaperfectsquare.

Takethesquarerootsofthefirstandlastterms.Theyare2 and3 .

Testthemiddleterm.Multiplytherootsfromthepreviousstep,thendoubletheresult:
2 3 2 12 .Theresult(witha signinfront)isthemiddletermofthe
originaltrinomial.Therefore,theexpressionisaperfectsquare.

Toexpressthetrinomialasthesquareofabinomial:

Thesquarerootsofthefirstandlastterms 2 and3 makeupthebinomialweseek.

Wemaychoosethesignofthefirstterm,soletschoosethe sign.

Havingchosenthe signforthefirstterm,thesecondtermofthebinomialtakesthe
signofthemiddletermoftheoriginaltrinomial( ).Therefore,theresultis:

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Algebra
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions
DifferencesofSquares

Differencesofsquaresareoftheform:

Thesearemucheasiertorecognizethantheperfectsquaresbecausethereisnomiddleterm
toconsider.Noticewhythereisnomiddleterm:

thesetwo
termscancel

Identification

Toseeifanexpressionisadifferenceofsquares,youmustansweryestofourquestions:
1. Arethereonlytwoterms?
2. Istherea signbetweenthetwoterms?
3. Isthefirsttermasquare?Ifso,takeitssquareroot.
4. Isthesecondtermasquare?Ifso,takeitssquareroot.
Thesolutionistheproductofa)thesumofthesquarerootsinquestions3and4,andb)the
differenceofthesquarerootsinsteps3and4.
Note:Atelltalesignofwhenanexpressionmightbethedifferenceof2squaresiswhenthe
coefficientsonthevariablesaresquares:1,4,9,16,25,36,49,64,81,etc.
Examples:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

ADVANCED:Overthefieldofcomplexnumbers,itisalsopossibletofactorthesumof2squares:

Thisisnotpossibleoverthefieldofrealnumbers.

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Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsSimpleCaseMethod

AcommonprobleminElementaryAlgebraisthefactoringofatrinomialthatisneithera
perfectsquarenoradifferenceofsquares.
Considerthesimplecasewherethecoefficientof

is1.Thegeneralformforthiscaseis:

sign1

sign2

coefficient
ofx

constant

Inordertosimplifytheillustrationoffactoringapolynomialwherethecoefficientof is1,we
willusetheorangedescriptorsaboveforthecomponentsofthetrinomialbeingfactored.

SimpleCaseMethod

Example:Factor

Step1:Setupparenthesesforapairofbinomials.Putxinthe
lefthandpositionofeachbinomial.

Step2:Putsign1inthemiddlepositionintheleftbinomial.

Step3:Multiplysign1andsign2togetthesignfortheright
binomial.Remember:

Step4:Findtwonumbersthat:

Fillin:
(a)Multiplytogettheconstant,and ___ ___ ___
(b)Addtogetthecoefficientof
___
___ ___

Step5:Placethenumbersinthebinomialssothattheirsigns
matchthesignsfromSteps2and3.Thisisthefinal
answer.

Step6:Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthetwobinomialstosee
ifyougettheoriginaltrinomial.

Thenumbersweseekare
4and 7because:
4 7
28,and
4 7
3

7
4

4
7

28
28

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Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsACMethod

Therearetimeswhenthesimplemethodoffactoringatrinomialisnotsufficient.Primarilythis
occurswhenthecoefficientof isnot1.Inthiscase,youmayusetheACmethodpresented
here,oryoumayuseeitherthebruteforcemethodorthequadraticformulamethod
(describedonthenextcoupleofpages).

ACMethod
TheACMethodderivesitsnamefromthefirststepofthe
process,whichistomultiplythevaluesof and fromthe
generalformofthequadraticequation:

Step1:Multiplythevaluesof and .

Example:Factor

Step2:Findtwonumbersthat:

(a) Multiplytogetthevalueof
and

Fillin:
___ ___ ___

___
___ ___
(b)Addtogetthecoefficientof

Step3:Splitthemiddletermintotwoterms,withcoefficients
equaltothevaluesfoundinStep2.(Tip:ifonlyoneof
thecoefficientsisnegative,putthattermfirst.)

Step4:Groupthetermsintopairs.

Step5:Factoreachpairofterms.

Step6:Usethedistributivepropertytocombinethe
multipliersofthecommonterm.Thisisthefinal
answer.
Step7:Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthetwobinomialsto
seeifyougettheoriginaltrinomial.

12

4 3
4

12

2 3

1 3

1 3
4

6
6

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3

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2

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Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsBruteForceMethod

Whenthecoefficientof isnot1,thefactoringprocessbecomesmoredifficult.Therearea
numberofmethodsthatcanbeusedinthiscase.
Ifthequestionbeingaskedistofindrootsoftheequation,andnottofactorit,thestudentmay
wanttousethequadraticformulawheneverthecoefficientof isnot1.Evenifyouare
requiredtofactor,andnotjustfindroots,thequadraticformulamaybeaviableapproach.

BruteForceMethod
Thismethodisexactlywhatitsoundslike.Multipleequationsarepossibleandyoumusttry
eachofthemuntilyoufindtheonethatworks.Herearethestepstofindingwhichequations
arecandidatesolutions:
Example:Factor

Step1:Findallsetsofwholenumbersthatmultiplyto
getthecoefficientofthefirstterminthe
trinomial.Ifthefirsttermispositive,youneed
onlyconsiderpositivefactors.
Step2:Findallsetsofwholenumbersthatmultiplyto
getthecoefficientofthelastterminthe
trinomial.Youmustconsiderbothpositiveand
negativefactors.

Combinationsthatproduceaproduct
of4are:
1and4or2and2
Combinationsthatproduceaproduct
of 3are:
1and3or1and 3

Step3:Createallpossibleproductsofbinomialsthat
containthewholenumbersfoundinthefirst
twosteps.

Step4:Multiplythebinomialpairsuntilyoufindone
thatresultsinthetrinomialyouaretryingto
factor.

2
2

2
2

1
1
3
3
1
1

1 4
1 4
3 4
3 4
1 2
1 2

3
3
1
1
3
3

4
4
4
4
2
2

3
3
1
1
3
3

4
4
4
4
4
4

Step5:Identifythecorrectsolution.

11
11
4
4

3
3
3
3
3
3

NoticethepatternsinthecandidatesolutionsinStep4.Eachpairofequationsisidenticalexceptfor
thesignofthemiddletermintheproduct.Therefore,youcancutyourworkinhalfbyconsideringonly
oneofeachpairuntilyouseeamiddletermcoefficientthathastherightabsolutevalue.Ifyouhave
everythingrightbutthesignofthemiddleterm,switchthesignsinthebinomialstoobtainthecorrect
solution.Remembertocheckyourwork!
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Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsQuadraticFormulaMethod

QuadraticFormulaMethod
TheQuadraticFormulaisdesignedspecificallytofindrootsofaseconddegreeequation.
However,itcanalsobeusedasabackdoormethodtofactorequationsofseconddegree.The
stepsare:
Step1:Applythequadraticformulatodeterminetherootsoftheequation.
0.

Step2:Puteachrootintotheform:

Step3:Showthetwo
binomialsasaproduct.Notethatthesebinomialsmay
containfractions.Wewilleliminatethefractions,ifpossible,inthenextstep.
Step4:MultiplythebinomialsinStep3bythecoefficientof
(a) Breakthecoefficientof

thefollowingway:

intoitsprimefactors.

(b) Allocatetheprimefactorstothebinomialsinawaythateliminatesthefractions.
Step5:Checkyourwork.
Example:
Factor:

Step1:

or
0and

Step2:Thetwoequationscontainingrootsare:
Step3:

0.

Step4:Thecoefficientof intheoriginalequationis4,and4 2 2.Aninspectionofthe

binomialsinStep3indicatesweneedtomultiplyeachbinomialby2inorderto
eliminatethefractions:

Sothat:

and

infactoredform

Step5:Check(usingFOIL) 2
3 2
1
4
whichistheequationweweretryingtofactor.

3,

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Algebra
SolvingEquationsbyFactoring

Thereareanumberofreasonstofactorapolynomialinalgebra;oneofthemostcommon
reasonsistofindthezeroesofthepolynomial.Azeroisadomainvalue(e.g.,xvalue)for
whichthepolynomialgeneratesavalueofzero.Eachzeroisasolutionofthepolynomial.
Infactoredform,itismucheasiertofindapolynomialszeroes.Considerthefollowing:
2

3 isthefactoredformofapolynomial.

Ifanumberofitemsaremultipliedtogether,theresultiszerowheneveranyoftheindividual
itemsiszero.Thisistrueforconstantsandforpolynomials.Therefore,ifanyofthefactorsof
thepolynomialhasavalueofzero,thenthewholepolynomialmustbezero.Weusethisfact
tofindzeroesofpolynomialsinfactoredform.
Example1:
2

Findthezeroesof

3 .

Step1:Settheequationequaltozero.
Step1:Settheequationequaltozero.

Step2:Thewholeequationiszerowheneveranyofitsfactorsiszero.Fortheexample,this
occurswhen:

2
0,or
Thesolutionset,then,is:
4

0,or

0,or

2, 4, 8, , 3
or,moreconventionally,thexvaluesareput
innumericalorderfromsmallesttolargest:

0,or

4, 3, 2, , 8

SetNotation: Wemaylisttheset
ofsolutionstoaproblemby
placingthesolutionsinbraces{},
separatedbycommas.

Example2:
7

Findthezeroesof

6
0

6
1

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0
6

0
1

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Thesolutionsetcontainsthetwo
domainvaluesthatmaketheoriginal
equationzero,namely:
1, 6

April 19, 2016

Algebra
IntroductiontoQuadraticFunctions
StandardFormofaQuadraticFunction
TheStandardFormofaseconddegreepolynomialis:
with

Anequationofthisformiscalledaquadraticfunction.
Thegraphofthisequationiscalledaparabola.

Upordown?
Thedirectioninwhichtheparabolaopensonagraphis
basedonthesign( or )of intheequation.

If

0,theparabolapointsdownanditopensup.

If

0,theparabolapointsupanditopensdown.

Ifyouforgetthisrule,justrememberthatupordown
dependsonthesignof ,anddoaquickgraphof
,
where
1 onyourpaper.

VertexandAxisofSymmetry
InStandardForm,thevertexoftheparabolahascoordinates:

whereyiscalculated

forxintheequation.Thevertexiseitherthehighestpointonthegraph

bysubstituting

(calledamaximum)orthelowestpointonthegraph(calledaminimum).Italsoliesontheaxis
ofsymmetryofthegraph.
Theequation

iscalledtheaxisofsymmetryoftheparabola.

VertexFormofaQuadraticFunction
Asecondusefulformofaquadraticfunctionisbasedonthevertex,andiscalledVertexForm:
where h, k is the vertex of the parabola
ItispossibletoconvertfromStandardFormtoVertexFormandfromVertexFormtoStandard
Form.Bothareequallycorrect.

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Algebra
CompletingtheSquare

AveryusefulmethodforsolvingquadraticequationsisCompletingtheSquare.Infact,thisis
themethodusedtoderivethequadraticformulafromthegeneralquadraticequationin
StandardForm.ThestepsinvolvedinCompletingtheSquareandanexampleareprovided
below:
Considerthestartingequation:

Step1:Modifytheequationsothatthecoefficientof
wholeequationbythevalueof .

is1.Todothis,simplydividethe

Example:

Considertheequation:

18

21

Divideby3toget:

Step2:Getridofthepeskyconstant.Wewillgenerateourown.
Example:

Add 7tobothsides:

Step3:Calculateanewconstant.Therequiredconstantisthesquareofonehalfofthe
coefficientof .Addittobothsidesoftheequation.
6

Example:

Result:

Halfit,thensquaretheresult:
6

3,3

9.

Step4:Recognizethelefthandsideoftheequationasaperfectsquare.Afterall,thatwasthe
reasonweselectedthenewconstantthewaywedid.

16

Example:

Step5:Takethesquarerootofbothsides.Rememberthe signontheconstantterm.

Example:

16
4

Step6:Breaktheresultingequationintotwoseparateequations,andsolve.
Example:

4
1
,

Solution:

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7

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
TableofPowersandRoots

Square Root

Number

Square

Cube

4th Power

1.000

1.414

16

1.732

27

81

2.000

16

64

256

2.236

25

125

625

2.449

36

216

1,296

2.646

49

343

2,401

2.828

64

512

4,096

3.000

81

729

6,561

10

3.162

10

10

100

1,000

10

10,000

10

11

3.317

11

11

121

11

1,331

11

14,641

12

3.464

12

12

144

12

1,728

12

20,736

13

3.606

13

13

169

13

2,197

13

28,561

14

3.742

14

14

196

14

2,744

14

38,416

15

3.873

15

15

225

15

3,375

15

50,625

16

4.000

16

16

256

16

4,096

16

65,536

17

4.123

17

17

289

17

4,913

17

83,521

18

4.243

18

18

324

18

5,832

18

104,976

19

4.359

19

19

361

19

6,859

19

130,321

20

4.472

20

20

400

20

8,000

20

160,000

21

4.583

21

21

441

21

9,261

21

194,481

22

4.690

22

22

484

22

10,648

22

234,256

23

4.796

23

23

529

23

12,167

23

279841

24

4.899

24

24

576

24

13,824

24

331,776

25

5.000

25

25

625

25

15,625

25

390,625

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Algebra
TheQuadraticFormula

TheQuadraticFormulaisoneofthefirstdifficultmathformulasthatstudentsareaskedto
memorize.Masteringtheformula,thoughdifficult,isfullofrewards.Byknowingwhyitworks
andwhatthevariouspartsoftheformulaare,astudentcangeneratealotofknowledgeina
shortperiodoftime.

Foraquadraticfunctionoftheform:

Theformulafortheroots(i.e.,wherey=0)is:

Quadratic
Formula

HowManyRealRoots?
Thediscriminantisthepartundertheradical:

Ifthediscriminantisnegative,thequadraticfunctionhas0realroots.Thisisbecausea
negativenumberundertheradicalresultsinimaginaryrootsinsteadofrealroots.In
thiscasethegraphthegraphwillnotcrossthexaxis.Itwillbeeitherentirelyabovethe
xaxisorentirelybelowthexaxis,dependingonthevalueofa.

Ifthediscriminantiszero,thequadraticfunctionhas1realroot.Thesquarerootof
zeroiszero,sotheradicaldisappearsandtheonlyrootis

.Inthiscase,the

graphwillappeartobounceoffthexaxis;ittouchesthexaxisatonlyonespotthe
valueoftheroot.

Ifthediscriminantispositive,thequadraticfunctionhas2realroots.Thisisbecausea
realsquarerootexists,anditmustbeaddedintheformulatogetonerootand
subtractedtogettheotherroot.Inthiscase,thegraphwillcrossthexaxisintwo
places,thevaluesoftheroots.

WherearetheVertexandAxisofSymmetry?
Thexcoordinateofthevertexisalsoeasilycalculatedfromthequadraticformulabecausethe
vertexishalfwaybetweenthetworoots.Ifweaveragethetworoots,the portionofthe
formuladisappearsandtheresultingxvalueis

.Theyvalueofthevertexmuststill

becalculated,butthexvaluecanbereaddirectlyoutofthequadraticformula.
Also,oncethexvalueofthevertexisknown,theequationfortheaxisofsymmetryisalso
known.Itistheverticallinecontainingthevertex:

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Algebra
QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable
Note:Thesameprocessworksfor
inequalitieswith<,,or>signs.

Solvetheinequalityoftheform:

Step1:If" "isnegative,multiplythewholeinequalityby" 1".Thiswillmaketheproblem

easiertoworkwith.Dontforgettochangethesignoftheinequality.
3

Example:convert

0 to 3

Step2:Factoroutanyscalarsthatdivideintoallofthetermsoftheinequality.Thiswillalso
maketheproblemeasiertoworkwith.

Example:factor 3

0 to 3
3

thendivideby3toget:[

Step3:Solvetheequationthatcorrespondstotheinequality.Thesolutionsoftheequation
arethecriticalvaluesinthesolutionoftheinequality.
3

Example:solve[

0 ,whichgives:

1,

Thesolutiontotheinequality,whenshownonanumberline,mustbeeitheroutside
thesolutionsorbetweenthesolutions.Thatis,either:

1 or

1 and

2
2

But,whichone?

12

Step4:Orvs.And.Lookattheinequalityyouareworkingwith(attheendofStep2).Asin
solvinginequalitieswithabsolutevalues,usethefollowingtricktorememberifthe
answerusesOrvs.And.

Iftheinequalitycontainsa sign,useand.Think:lessthand

Iftheinequalitycontainsa sign,useor.Think:greator

Dontforgettouse , insteadof , iftheyareintheoriginalinequality.

Example:Usingthismethod,westartwith
3
2 0 andnotethe partof
theinequality.Thismeanstheresultintheexamplewouldbe
.
Inintervalnotationthissolutionsetisshownas:
Insetnotation,thissolutionisshownas:

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Algebra
QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable(contd)

Step5:CheckingyourOrvs.Anddecision.ThesolutionstotheequationinStep3break
thenumberlineinto3distinctpieces;intheexample:
Lessthan1

a bc
Between1and2
Morethan2
12

Testtoseeiftheoriginalinequalityiscorrectforanumberineachofthesesegmentsof
thenumberline.Althoughyoucouldtestaderivationoftheoriginalinequality(e.g.,
afterSteps1or2),itisbesttoworkwiththeoriginalwhencheckingyourwork.
So,youmighttestvalueslikethefollowing:
a. Lessthan1:trythevalue0
b. Between1and2:trythevalue
c. Morethan2:trythevalue3
Intheexample,youfindthat works,but0and3donotwork.Theanswermustthen
beinthemiddleinterval.ThismatchestheanswerobtainedinStep4.

Step5Alternative:Anotherwaytocheckyourwork.

Analternativewaytocheckyourworkistographthe
equationcorrespondingtotheinequality.

3
2
0fromStep2
Usetheequation
onlyifyouaresureyouperformedSteps1and2
correctly.
Thegraphofthecorrespondingequationisatright.
Noticethattheportionofthegraphthatisbelow
zeroistheportionbetween1and2.
Becausethesignincludestheequalssign,the
endpointsoftheintervalsareincludedinthesolutionset.
Therefore,thesolutionoftheinequalityis:
|

Theportionofthegraphbelowthe axis
iswherethe
3
2
0

ThismatchestheanswerobtainedinStep4.

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ADVANCED

Algebra
FittingaQuadraticEquationthroughThreePoints
Ittakesthreepointstodefineaquadraticequation,justlikeittakes2pointstodefinealine.In
general,ittakes(n+1)pointstodefineapolynomialofdegreen.
Startingwith:

thebasicquadraticequation:

threepoints:

,and
,

itispossibletocalculatethecoefficientsofthequadraticequationbysubstitutinginthexand
yvaluesofthe3pointstocreateasystemof3equationsin3unknowns:

Now,thatsalotofsymbols,soletslookatanexample.
Example:
Findthequadraticequationthatpassesthroughthethreepoints:

1, 8 , 1, 4 , 2, 13

Usingthebasicquadraticequation,andsubstitutinginxvaluesandyvalues,weget3
equationsin3unknowns:

13 4
2

These3equationscanbesolvedbyeliminatingvariablesorbyusingCramersRule,whichever
thestudentfindsmorecomfortable.Solvingbyeithermethodgives:
,
Sothat:

Theoddthingaboutthisprocessisthatinmostalgebraproblemsthestudentisaskedtosolve
for or ,butthatisnotthecaseincurvefitting.Instead,thestudentisaskedtoderivea
quadraticequationgiven3setsof sand s,whichrequiressolvingfor , ,and instead.

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Algebra
ComplexNumbersIntroduction

Definitions
1.
ImaginaryNumberAnynumberthatcanbeexpressedintheform whereaisreal.
Examples: 7,6 , 23,3

ComplexNumberAnynumberthatcanbeexpressedintheform
2 , 6

Examples:6

wherea,barereal.

Note:allrealnumbersandallimaginarynumbersarealsocomplexnumbers.
Intheform

iscalledtherealpartofthecomplexnumber,and

iscalledtheimaginarypartofthecomplexnumber.

AbsoluteValueofaComplexNumber
Theabsolutevalueofacomplexnumberisalsocalleditsmagnitude.Algebraically,itis:
|

ConjugateofaComplexNumber
Theconjugateofacomplexnumber
Examples:

ComplexNumber
2

isdenoted

Conjugate

ComplexNumber
6

.
Conjugate
6

2
3

2
7

2
3

Commentsaboutconjugates:
1. Theconjugateofaconjugateisthenumberyoustatedwith.
,

2. Theproductofconjugatesisarealnumber.

3. Conjugatenumbershavethesameabsolutevalue.
|

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Algebra
OperationswithComplexNumbers

AddingandSubtracting
AddorsubtractboththeRealandImaginaryparts:

Example:

Multiplying
Step1:Multiplylikeyoumultiplybinomials.
Step2:Substitute 1for andsimplify.

Example:
1 3 3 6
3 6
9
18

9
18
3 6

15 15

Dividing
Step1:Multiplybyafractionwhosenumeratoranddenominatoraretheconjugateofthe
originalexpressionsdenominator.
Step2:Substitute 1for andsimplify.

Theresultingcomplexnumberwillhaveadenominatorthatisfreeofimaginarynumbers.
Rememberthemethod,nottheformula!

Example:
1 3
3 6

Version 2.8

1 3

3 6
3

6
9

9
36

18

3
3

6
6
21 3
45

6
9

9
36

18

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ADVANCED

Algebra
TheSquareRootofi

If

,whatis ?

Thisisaninterestingquestionandsolvingitwillillustrateaveryusefulmethodinworkingwith
complexnumbers.Youcanusethismethodtocalculatethesquarerootofanycomplex
number.

Recallthateachcomplexnumberisoftheform
,whereaandbarereal.
Wewantacomplexnumberthat,whensquared,generates .

So,wewanttocalculateaandbsuchthat

Letssolvethatequation:

Now,breakthisinto2equations,onefortherealpart,andonefortheimaginarypart.

Substitutingfor ,

0and2

Herearethe2equations:

and

0,and isreal,

Since

Since

or

So,ourcandidatesfor are:
Letstrythem:

or

or

or

or

Results:

So,wehavefoundnotonlythetwosquarerootsof ,but

alsothetwosquarerootsof .

Version 2.8

2
2
2
2

2
2
2
2

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Algebra
ComplexNumbersGraphicalRepresentation
Complexnumbersoftheform
canberepresentedonasetofaxesthatrepresentReal
andImaginarynumbersinsteadof and .Considerthecomplexnumber3 4 .Itwould
looklikethisonasetofReal(R)andImaginary(I)axes:

I
4i

Graphical
representationof
3 4

PolarCoordinates
Representedinthismanner,complexnumbershaveinterestingproperties(seethenextpage
forsomeofthese).Eachcomplexnumbercanbethoughtofasnotonlyapairofrectangular
coordinates,e.g.,(3,4),butalsoasasetofpolarcoordinateswithmagnitude(i.e.,length) and
angle .Then,tomultiplycomplexnumbers,youmultiplytheirmagnitudesandaddtheir
angles.

Powersofi
Thisisausefulbitofinformationforseeingthevalueof ingraphicalterms.Since
1,
algebraically,wehave:

1etc.
1

Since hasmagnitude1,allpowers alsohavemagnitude1.Eachsucceedingpowerof ,

then,resultsonlyinachangeoftheangle,andcanbeconsidereda90rotationinthe
coordinateplanecontainingtheRealandImaginaryaxes,likeso:

I
I
I
I
R
R
R
R

Thisshowstherotatingpatterninthevaluesofthepowersof every4increments.After4
rotationsyoureturntowhereyoustarted.

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ADVANCED

Algebra
ComplexNumberOperationsinPolarCoordinates

PolarCoordinates
Ifacomplexnumberisexpressedintermsofitspolarcoordinates,manycalculationsaremade
mucheasier.First,letsinvestigatetherelationshipbetweenapointsrectangularcoordinates
, anditspolarcoordinates , .
Themagnitude,, isthedistanceofthepointfromthe
origin:
Theangle,,istheanglethelinefromthepointtothe
originmakeswiththepositiveportionofthexaxis.
Generally,thisangleisexpressedinradians,notdegrees.

tan

or

tan

Conversionfrompolarcoordinatestorectangularcoordinatesisstraightforward:

cos and
sin

Example:Intheillustrationabove,thepointshownhas:
Rectangularcoordinates:
4, 4

PolarCoordinates:

42,

ComplexNumberFormulas:
Toseehowusefulthiscanbe,considerthefollowingformulasforcomplexnumbers:
,

Multiplication:

So,tomultiplycomplexnumbers,youmultiplytheirmagnitudesandaddtheirangles.
Division:

So,todividecomplexnumbers,youdividetheirmagnitudesandsubtracttheirangles.
Powers:

Noteon :

Thisresultsdirectlyfromthemultiplicationrule.

Roots:

Thisresultsdirectlyfromthepowerruleifthe
exponentisafraction.

Sinceiinpolarcoordinatesis 1,
1,

Usingtherootformula,

Inrectangularcoordinates,then,

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Algebra
ComplexSolutionstoQuadraticEquations
Overthefieldofrealnumberstherearenorootstoaquadraticfunctionifthediscriminantis
lessthanzero.Overthefieldofcomplexnumbers,however,suchaquadraticfunctionhastwo
roots.

QuadraticRefresher
Foraquadraticfunctionoftheform:

Theformulafortheroots(i.e.,wherey=0)is:

Thediscriminantisthepartundertheradical:

Quadratic
Formula

HowManyRoots?
Thefollowingtabletellsushowmanyrealorcomplexrootsexistforafunction,basedonits
discriminant:

ValueofDiscriminant

NumberofRoots

2complex

1real

2real

Note:becauseofthe signinthequadraticformula,whenthereare2complexrootsthey
areconjugates.
Example1:Solve

10

Example2:Solve2

7
4

0
4 1 10
2
2 1

36
2

6
2

210
4

0
4
4 2 7
2 2

40
4

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Algebra
RadicalRules

SimpleRulesInvolvingRadicals

GeneralRadicalRule

RuleforSquareRoots

Example

4 3

12
5
4

5
4

23
5

Notealsothat:

,sotherulesforexponentsalsoapplyforroots.

e.g.,

RationalizingtheDenominator

Mathematiciansprefertokeepradicalsoutofthedenominator.Herearetwo
methodstoaccomplishthis,dependingonwhatsinthedenominator.

Case1:Simpleradicalinthedenominator.Solution:multiplythebeginning
expressionbyafractionwhichistheoffendingradicaldividedbyitself.

Example:

Case2:Numberandradicalinthedenominator.Solution:multiplybythe
beginningexpressionbyafractionwhichisdesignedtoeliminatetheradicalfrom
thedenominator.Thenumeratoranddenominatorofthefractionarecreatedby
changingthesignbetweenthenumberandtheradicalinthedenominator.

Example:

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Algebra
SimplifyingSquareRootsTwoMethods

Method1:ExtractingSquares

Inthismethod,youpullsquaresoutfromundertheradical.Thisisthequickest
methodifyouarecomfortablewithwhatthesquaresareandwithdividingthem
outoflargernumbers.
1
1
11
121

Examples: (1)98

49 2

72

(2)9600

100 96

100 16 6

10 4 6

406

Method2:ExtractingPrimeNumbers

IfyouarenotcomfortablewithMethod1,youcanpull
primenumbersoutfromundertheradicalandpairthem
uptosimplifythesquareroot.

12

144

13

169

16

14

196

25

15

225

36

16

256

49

17

289

64

18

324

81

19

361

100

20

400

10

Example:

54

Version 2.8

2 27

Method2maytakealotlongerthan
Method1,butitworks.Agoodusefor
Method2iswhenyoutryusingthe
quickerMethod1butgetstuckthen
workingwithprimescangetyouback
ontracktowardsolvingtheproblem.

2 3 9
2 3 3 3
2 3 3 3
2 3 3
3 2 3
Notethatthelaststepis torecombineroots
3 6
thatdonotcomeinpairs.

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Algebra
SolvingRadicalEquations
Whenanequationinvolvesradicals,theradicalsmustbeeliminatedinordertoobtaina
solution.Theonespecialthingabouttheseequationsisthat,intheprocessofeliminatingthe
radical,itispossibletoaddanothersolutionthatisnotasolutiontotheoriginalproblem.
SolutionsthatareaddedbytheprocessusedtosolvetheproblemarecalledExtraneous
Solutions.Attheendoftheproblem,wemustcheckforextraneoussolutionsandeliminate
them.

SolvingaRadicalEquation
Thestepstosolvinganequationinvolvingradicalsare:

Isolatetheradicalononesideoftheequation.Todothis,addorsubtractanyvariables
orconstantsthatareonthesamesideoftheequationastheradical.

Iftheradicalisasquareroot,squarebothsidesoftheequation.Iftheradicalisacube
root,cubebothsides,etc.Thisshouldgetridoftheradical.

Ifthereareanyradicalsremainingintheproblem,repeatthefirsttwostepsuntilthey
aregone.

Solvetheequationthatremains.

Checkallsolutionstotheproblemusingtheequationintheoriginalstatementofthe
problem.

Discardextraneousroots.
5

Example:Solve4

Subtract1frombothsides:

Squarebothsides:

StartingProblem:

Subtract
Factor:

0
1

1, 5

asasolution:

Test asasolution:

4 5

Version 2.8

IdentifythefinalSolutionSet:

ObtainPreliminarySolutions:
Test

frombothsides:

6
5

1 ?

Ifweallowed
to
be2,theequationwould
workand1wouldworkasa
solution.However,the
squarerootofanumberis
definedtobethepositive
rootonly.So,1failsasa
solutiontotheproblem.

5 ?9

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Algebra
SolvingRadicalEquations(contd)
WhyOnlyPositiveSquareRoots?
Itisgenerallytaughtinhighschoolalgebrathatsquarerootshavebothpositiveandnegative
roots.Sowhyarewenowsayingthatthesquarerootofanumberisdefinedtobeapositive
numberonly?
Theanswerliesinthemissingstep,whichisoftennottaughttohighschoolstudents.What
youlearnisthis:
,

.And,thatiscorrect,butnotbecause

whichitdoesnot!

TheMissingStep
Intheboxtotherightisthedevelopmentwiththe
missingstepincluded.Noticethat:

StartingProblem:

Takesquareroots: | |

Whenwetakesquareroots,wehavepositive
numbersoneachsideoftheresultingequation.
Both| |and2arepositive.

Solveforx:

Thetwopossiblevaluesforxcomefromsolvingthemiddleequation| |

| |

Thissolvestheapparentarbitrarinessofwhenarootisonlypositiveandwhenitisboth
positiveandnegative.

Inequalities
Themissingstepalsoprovidesanexplanationforthemethodusedtosolveinequalities.
9.Theprocessforsolvingthiswiththemissingstepincludedis:
Considertheinequality:
StartingProblem:
Takesquareroots:
Casei

3
3

and
and

Solution:

| |

9
3

Caseii

3
3
3

Noticethat| |convertsto inCaseIandto

inCaseii.Bytheendoftheproblem,you
seethatthesigninCaseiihasbeenflipped
aroundfromtheoriginalproblem.Thisisnot
magic;itistheresultofTheMissingStep
beingappliedinallitsmathematicalglory!

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Algebra
MatrixAdditionandScalarMultiplication

WhatisaMatrix?

Amatrixisanorderedsetofnumberssetupina2dimensionalarray.Matricesareveryuseful
inalgebra,statisticsandotherapplicationsbecausetheyprovideaconcisewaytocarryout
morecomplexmathematicalmethodsandprocesses.

Matriceshavedimensions,expressedasthenumberofrowsxthenumberofcolumns.For
example,a2x3matrix(read2by3matrix)has2rowsand3columns.Knowingthe
dimensionsofamatrixisimportantbecausemanymatrixoperationscanonlyoccuron
matriceswithcertaindimensions.

AddingMatrices

Eachnumberinamatrixiscalledanelement.Matricesareaddedbyaddingthecorresponding
elementsinthematrices.Matricesmusthavethesamedimensionstobeadded.

Example:
2
3 1
1 2 4
1
1 5

5 1
2
2 1 0
3 2
2

1strow,1stcolumn:2 + (1) = 1

1strow,2ndcolumn:(3) + 2 = 1

ScalarMultiplication

Multiplyingamatrixbyascalar(i.e.,anumber)isaccomplishedbymultiplyingeachelementin
thematrixbythescalar.Thetermscalarsimplyreferstoscalingthematrixbymakingits
valueslargerorsmaller.Scalarmultiplicationcanbeperformedonmatricesofanydimensions.

Example:
1 2 4
3 6 12

2 1 0
6 3 0

1strow,1stcolumn:3 (1) = 3

1strow,2ndcolumn:3 2 = 6

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Algebra
MatrixMultiplication

MultiplyingMatrices

Multiplicationofmatricesisamorecomplexprocess.Althoughthestudentmayfinditdifficult
atfirst,itisapowerfultoolthatisusefulinmanyfieldsofmathematicsandscience.

Matrixmultiplicationcanbeperformedonlyonmatricesthatareconformable(i.e.,compatible
insize).Inorderfortwomatricestobemultipliedtogether,thenumberofcolumnsinthefirst
matrixmustequalthenumberofrowsinthesecondmatrix.Ifanm x nmatrixismultipliedby
ann x pmatrix,theresultisanm x pmatrix.Thisisillustratedasfollows:
mustmatch

sizeofresultingmatrix

Tomultiplymatrices,youmultiplytheelementsinarowofonematrixbythecorresponding
elementsinacolumnoftheothermatrixandaddtheresults.Ifrowiinthefirstmatrixis
multipliedbyrowjinthesecondmatrix,theresultisplacedinrowi,columnjoftheresulting
matrix.Theelementinpositioni, jofamatrixisoftendenoted , .

Example1:

2
5

3
1

1
1
2
2
3

2
1
1

1
1

13

Noticethatmultiplyinga2x3
matrixbya3x2matrixresults
ina2x2matrix.

Example2:

1strow,1stcolumn:[ 2 1] + [ (3) 2] + [ 1 3] = 1
1strow,2ndcolumn:[ 2 (2) ] + [ (3) (1) ] + [ 1 1] = 0
2ndrow,1stcolumn:[ 5 1] + [ 1 2] + [ (2) 3] = 1
2ndrow,2ndcolumn:[ 5 (2) ] + [ 1 (1) ] + [ (2) 1] = 13

1
2
3

2
2
1
5
1

3
1

1
2

8
1
11

5
7
8

5
4
1

Noticethatmultiplyinga3x2
matrixbya2x3matrixresults
ina3x3matrix.

Fromtheexamples,itisclearthatmatrixmultiplicationisnotcommutative.Thatis,ifwe
nametwomatricesAandB,itisnotnecessarilytruethatAB=BA.Further,ifmatricesare
notsquare(i.e.,havingthesamenumberofrowsandcolumns),matrixmultiplicationisnever
commutative;thatisABBA.

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Algebra
MatrixDivisionandIdentityMatrices

Multiplicationanddivisionareinverseprocesseswithwhichthestudentisfamiliarwhen
workingwithrealnumbers.Multiplicationofmatrices,asdescribedaboveismuchmore
complexthanmultiplicationofrealnumbers.So,howdoyoudividematrices?

Divisionofrealnumberscanbeconsideredtheprocessofmultiplyinganumberbytheinverse
ofthenumberbywhichyouwanttodivide.Forexample:

12

4(i.e.,12dividedby3isthesameas12times ;theresultis4eitherway)

dividingby3isthesameamultiplyingbytheinverseof3,whichis

3and aremultiplicativeinversesbecausewhenmultiplied,theyresultin1,whichis
calledthemultiplicativeidentity

Matrixdivisionworksinasimilarfashion.First,weneedtoidentifyanidentitymatrix,thenwe
needtodeterminehowtocalculateaninversematrixwhich,whenmultipliedbytheoriginal
matrix,resultsintheidentitymatrix.Onlysquarematriceshaveinverses.Identitymatrices
mustalso,bydefinition,besquare.

IdentityMatrices

Identitymatricesexistforeachsquaredimension.Identitymatriceshave1sdownthediagonal
and0sineveryotherlocation.Forexample,thefollowingareidentitymatrices,generally
denotedbytheletter" ":

1 0 0 0
1 0 0
1 0
0 1 0 0

0 1 0
0 0 1 0
0 1
0 0 1
0 0 0 1

Whenamatrixismultipliedbyanidentitymatrix,theresultistheoriginalmatrix.

Example:Ifwenameamatrix

2 1
1
1 0
3
2 1 0 1
4 0
3
0 0

Version 2.8

,then
0
0
1

asfollows:

1 0 0
2
0 1 0 3
0 0 1
4

Page 92 of 178

1
2
0

1
1
3

2
3
4

1
2
0

1
1
3

April 19, 2016

Algebra
Inverseofa2x2Matrix

Usingmatrixnotation:
Lettheidentitymatrixofsize becalled
Letan matrixbecalled
Letthedeterminantofmatrix bedenoted| |
Lettheinverseofmatrix bedenoted 1
1
Then, 1

Notallsquarematriceshaveinverses.Inorderforamatrixtohaveaninverse,itsdeterminant
mustbenonzero.Thatis,matrix hasaninverseifandonlyif:| |
.

FormulafortheInverseofa2x2Matrix

Ifa2x2matrixhaselements , , andd,suchthat

,then:

Inwords,theinverseiscalculatedasfollows:
Fromtheoriginalmatrix,switchelementsaandd,andchangethesignsofbandc.
Dividetheresultingmatrixbythedeterminantoftheoriginalmatrix.(Note:the
determinantofamatrixisascalar).

,iscalculatedas| |

Thedeterminantofmatrix

Example:2x2MatrixInverseCalculation

Let:

Then: | |

So:

Finally,checktomakesure:

Version 2.8

and

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Algebra
CalculatingInversesTheGeneralCase

ADVANCED

Thecalculationoftheinverseofamatrixofsizegreaterthan2x2canbeperformedbya
processcalledGaussJordanElimination.Theprocessisalsocalled,moregenerically,Row
Reduction.Inthisprocess,youbeginwithtwosidebysidematrices,theoneyouwantto
invert(thesubjectmatrix)andtheidentitymatrixofthesamesize.Operationsareperformed
onbothmatrices,graduallyconvertingtheoriginalmatrixtotheidentityMatrix.

Allowableoperationsare:
Multiplyingordividingarowbyascalar(i.e.,anumber).
Switchingrows.
Addingorsubtractingamultipleofonerowtoorfromanother.

Whenthisprocessiscomplete,theoriginalidentitymatrixhasbeenconvertedtotheinverse
matrix.Belowisanexampleofthedevelopmentofaninverseofa3x3matrixusingthis
process:

Startwiththeidentity
matrixtotherightofthe
originalsubjectmatrix.

Eachoperation
performedontheoriginal
subjectmatrixisalso
performedontheoriginal
identitymatrix.

Endwiththeinverse
matrixtotherightofthe
newidentitymatrix.

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ADVANCED

Algebra
DeterminantsTheGeneralCase

Determinantsareveryusefulinmatrixoperations.Thedeterminantofa2x2matrixisdefinedtobe:

| |

Inwords,thediagonalsaremultipliedandtheproductofseconddiagonalissubtractedfromthe
productofthefirstdiagonal.Thisprocessisgeneralizedindeterminantsoflargermatricesusingwhat
arereferredtoasminors.Aminoriswhatisleftofadeterminantwhentherowandcolumnofthe
elementareeliminated.
Thedeterminantofamatrixcanbecalculatedbyselectingarowandmultiplyingeachelementofthe
rowbyitscorrespondingminor.Theresultsarealternatelyaddedandsubtractedtogetthevalueofthe
determinant.Thesignoftheeachtermisdeterminedbytherowandcolumninwhichitresides.The
.Thefollowingmatricesofsignsshowhow

signfortheelementinrowmandcolumnnis
theyareappliedtoeachrowelement:

2x2:

3x3:

4x4:

Usingminorsofthefirstrowtoevaluatea3x3matrix,

Or,usingminorsofthesecondcolumntoevaluatethesame3x3matrix,

Theresultsofthecalculationwillbethesame,regardlessofwhichrowisselected,becauseofthepower
ofmatricesanddeterminants.
Examplefora3x3matrixusingminorsofthefirstrow:
3
1
2

1
2
2

1
1
3

2
3
2

1
3

1
1
2

1 1

1
3

1
1
2

Note:thisisthematrixthatforms
thedenominatorinthesolutionof
thesystemofequationsinthe
CramersRuleexample.

Thesameprocessisfollowedforlargerdeterminants.Forexample,a5x5determinantisfirstreduced
toasumoffiveelementseachmultipliedbytheir4x4minors.Eachofthe4x4minorsisreducedtoa
sumoffourelementseachmultipliedbytheir3x3minors,etc.Theprocessiscalculationintensive;
todayitwouldtypicallybeperformedusingacomputer.
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Algebra
CramersRule2Equations

CramersRuleprovidesapowerfulandsimplewaytosolvesystemsoftwoorthreelinear
equations.Inlargersystemsofequations,itisausefulwaytosolveforjustoneofthe
variables,withouthavingtosolvetheentiresystemofequations.Tosolveanentiresystemof
fourormoreequations,abettertechniquewouldbeGaussJordanElimination,especiallyifthe
studentisaidedbyacomputerandspreadsheetsoftwaresuchasMicrosoftExcel.

CramersRuleworksaslongasthedeterminantofvariablecoefficients(i.e.,thedeterminantin
thedenominator)isnonzero.Ifthisdeterminantiszero,thenthereisnouniquesolutionto
thesystemofequations.

GeneralCasefor2Equationsin2Unknowns

Thestandardformoftheequationsis:

Usingdeterminantnotation,CramersRulestatesthatthesolutionsforxandyare:

Noticethatthedeterminantsinthedenominatorsarethesame;thecolumnsinthese
determinantsarethecoefficientsofthevariablesintheequations.Thedeterminantsinthe
numeratorsarealmostthesameastheonesinthedenominators;theonlydifferenceisthat
thecolumnofcoefficientsassociatedwiththevariablebeingevaluatedisreplacedbythe
equationsconstantterms.

Example:Considertheseequations:

Then,

Version 2.8

12
3

6
3

18
7

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ADVANCED

Algebra
CramersRule3Equations

GeneralCasefor3Equationsin3Unknowns

Thestandardformoftheequationsis:

Usingdeterminantnotation,CramersRulestatesthatthesolutionsforx, yandzare:

Asinthecasewithtwoequations,thedeterminantsinthedenominatorsareallthesame;the
columnsinthesedeterminantsarethecoefficientsofthevariablesintheequations.The
determinantsinthenumeratorsarealmostthesameastheonesinthedenominators;theonly
differenceisthatthecolumnofcoefficientsassociatedwiththevariablebeingevaluatedis
replacedbytheequationsconstantterms.

Notethatthedeterminantof
7
Example:Considertheseequations: 3

variablecoefficientsmustbenon

2
2
zeroinordertouseCramers
Rule.Ifthisdeterminantiszero,

2
2
3
4
thereisnouniquesolutiontothe
systemofequations.

Usingdeterminantnotation:

Performingtherequiredcalculations,weobtaintheuniquesolution:

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ADVANCED

Algebra
AugmentedMatrices
SolvingSimultaneousEquations

Onerelativelyadvancedmethodofsolvingsimultaneousequationsisthroughtheuseofan
AugmentedMatrix.Amatrixisconsideredaugmentedifitconsistsofthematrixofthe
coefficientsofthevariables,augmentedbytheconstantterms.Inorderforasystemof
equationstobesolvedinthisform,theymustbewritteninstandardform.
Example:

Tosolvethe
system:

3
2

13
4

Theaugmented
matrixwouldbe:

1 3 13

2
1 4

GaussJordanElimination
AprocesscalledGaussJordanElimination(GJE)isusedtomanipulatetheaugmentedmatrixto
obtainasolutiontotheequations.GJEisalsocalledRowReductionbecauseeachstepadjusts
thevaluesinonerowoftheaugmentedmatrix.Attheendoftheprocess,therowsofthe
coefficientmatrixarereducedtotheIdentityMatrix.
Thefollowingmanipulationsoftherowsareallowed:
Multiplyingordividingarowbyascalar(i.e.,anumber).
Switchingrows.
Addingorsubtractingamultipleofonerowtoorfromanother.
Whenthisprocessiscomplete,theconstantcolumnoftheaugmentedmatrixhasbeen
convertedtothesolutionofthesystemofequations.Whydoesthiswork?Theprocessusedis
essentiallythesameassolvingasystemofequationsbytheeliminationmethod.InGJE,you
ignorethevariablenamesbyusingmatrices,butthemanipulationsarethesame.

InverseMatrix
ThisprocesscanalsobeusedtodevelopanInverseMatrix.Todothis,
Placeanidentitymatrixtotherightoftheaugmentedmatrixatthestart.
Performallrowoperationsonthismatrixasyouprogress.
Attheend,theoriginalidentitymatrixwillhavebeenconvertedtotheinversematrix.
Inthefollowingexamples,augmentedmatricesaremanipulatedtodevelopsolutionsto
systemsofequationsandidentitymatricesareconvertedtoinversematrices.

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Algebra
2x2AugmentedMatrixExamples
Problem:solvethefollowingsetofsimultaneousequationsusingrowreduction
(formallycalledGaussJordanElimination)
ActionTaken
Start
StartingAugmentedMatrix
AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a11)>Row1
Row2(nochange)
Adjust2ndRow
Row1(nochange)
(Row2)(a21*Row1)>Row2
Adjust2ndRow
Row1(nochange)
(Row2)(a22)>Row2
AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a12*Row2)>Row1
Row2(nochange)

AugmentedMatrix
x
y
=
2
8
36
1
5
10

Why?

Togeta"1"incolumn1

InverseMatrix
1
0

0
1

1
1

4
5

18
10

0.5
0

0
1

Togeta"0"incolumn1

1
0

4
1

18
8

0.5
0.5

0
1

Togeta"1"incolumn2

1
0

4
1

18
8

0.5
0.5

0
1

1
0

0
1

50 =x
8 =y

Togeta"0"incolumn2

MatrixInverseTest

OriginalMatrix
2
8
1
5

InverseMatrix
2.5
4
0.5
1

Problem:solvethefollowingsetofsimultaneousequationsusingrowreduction
(formallycalledGaussJordanElimination)
ActionTaken

2x+8y=36
x+5y=10

Why?

2.5
4
0.5
1
InverseMatrix

ProductMatrix
1
0
0
1

x+3y=13
2xy=4
AugmentedMatrix

Start

InverseMatrix

13

13

Togeta"0"incolumn1

1
0

3
5

13
30

1
2

0
1

Row1(nochange)
(Row2)(a22)>Row2

Togeta"1"incolumn2

1
0

3
1

13
6

1
0.4

0
0.2

AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a12*Row2)>Row1

Togeta"0"incolumn2

5 =x

0.2

0.6

6 =y

StartingAugmentedMatrix
AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a11)>Row1

Togeta"1"incolumn1

Row2(nochange)
Adjust2ndRow
Row1(nochange)
(Row2)(a21*Row1)>Row2
Adjust2ndRow

Row2(nochange)

MatrixInverseTest

Version 2.8

OriginalMatrix
1
3
2
1

Page 99 of 178

InverseMatrix
0.2
0.6
0.4
0.2

0.4
0.2
InverseMatrix

ProductMatrix
1
0
0
1

April 19, 2016

Algebra
3x3AugmentedMatrixExample
Problem:solvethefollowingsetofsimultaneous
equationsusingrowreduction(formallycalled
GaussJordanElimination)
ActionTaken
StartingAugmentedMatrix
StartingAugmentedMatrix

WorkDown
Row1*1/2>Row1
Row2(newRow1)>Row2
Row3(3*newRow1)>Row3
WorkDown
Row1(nochange)
SwitchRows2and3
SwitchRows2and3
WorkDown
Row1(nochange)
Row2/2.5>Row2
Row3*2>Row3
WorkDown
Row1(nochange)
Row2(nochange)
Row3(9*Row2)>Row3
WorkDown
Row1(nochange)
Row2(nochange)
Row3*.5>Row3
WorkUp
Row1(Row3*1.5)>Row1
Row2+Row3>Row2
Row3(nochange)
WorkUp
Row1+(Row2*.5)>Row1
Row2(nochange)
Row3(nochange)

MatrixInverseTest

Version 2.8

2xy+3z=7
x+4y2z=17
3x+y+2z=2

Why?
x
2
1
3

AugmentedMatrix
y
z
1
3
4
2
1
2

InverseMatrix
=
7
17
2

1
0
0

0
1
0

0
0
1

Togeta"1"incolumn1
Togeta"0"incolumn1
Togeta"0"incolumn1

1
0
0

0.5
4.5
2.5

1.5
3.5
2.5

3.5
20.5
12.5

0.5
0.5
1.5

0
1
0

0
0
1

NewRow2lookseasiertoworkwith
NewRow2lookseasiertoworkwith

1
0
0

0.5
2.5
4.5

1.5
2.5
3.5

3.5
12.5
20.5

0.5
1.5
0.5

0
0
1

0
1
0

Togeta"1"incolumn2
Togetridofthefractions

1
0
0

0.5
1
9

1.5
1
7

3.5
5
41

0.5
0.6
1

0
0
2

0
0.4
0

Togeta"0"incolumn2

1
0
0

0.5
1
0

1.5
1
2

3.5
5
4

0.5
0.6
4.4

0
0
2

0
0.4
3.6

Togeta"1"incolumn3

1
0
0

0.5
1
0

1.5
1
1

3.5
5
2

0.5
0.6
2.2

0
0
1

0
0.4
1.8

Togeta"0"incolumn3
Togeta"0"incolumn3

1
0
0

0.5
1
0

0
0
1

0.5
3
2

2.8
1.6
2.2

1.5
1
1

2.7
1.4
1.8

Togeta"0"incolumn2

1
0
0

0
1
0

0
0
1

OriginalMatrix
2
1
1
4
3
1

3
2
2

InverseMatrix
2
1
2
1.6
1
1.4
2.2
1
1.8
Page 100 of 178

1 =x
3 =y
2 =z

ProductMatrix
1
0
0
1
0
0

2
1
2
1.6
1
1.4
2.2
1
1.8
InverseMatrix

0
0
1
April 19, 2016

Algebra
ExponentFormulas
Word Description

Math Description

Limitations

of Property

of Property

on variables

Product of Powers

Examples

Quotient of Powers

Power of a Power

Anything to the zero power is 1

, if , ,

Negative powers generate the

reciprocal of what a positive
power generates

Power of a product

Power of a quotient
Converting a root to a power

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
LogarithmFormulas
Word Description

Math Description

Limitations

of Property

of Property

on variables

Definition of logarithm

implies

Examples
implies

isundefined
0

Log (base anything) of 1 is

zero
Exponents and logs are
inverse operators, leaving
what you started with

Logs and exponents are

inverse operators, leaving
what you started with

The log of a product is the

sum of the logs

The log of a quotient is the

difference of the logs
The log of something to a
power is the power times the
log

, ,

, ,
,

Change the base to whatever

you want by dividing by the
log of the old base
Version 2.8

, ,

Page 102 of 178

April 19, 2016

ADVANCED

Algebra
e

Whatise?

eisatranscendentalnumber,meaningthatitisnottherootofanypolynomialwith
integercoefficients.
eisthebaseofthenaturallogarithms.

WhatMakesesoSpecial?
eshowsupoverandoverinmathematics,especiallyinregardtolimits,derivatives,and
integrals.Inparticular,itisnoteworthythat:

1

lim 1

lim

Perhaps,mostinterestingly,thefollowingequation,calledEulersEquation,relatesfive
seeminglyunrelatedmathematicalconstantstoeachother.

SomeSeriesRepresentationsofe

1

!

1
!

1
2

1
6

1
24

1
120

Therearemanymoreseriesinvolvinge.
Asamplingoftheseisprovidedat:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/e.html.

1
1

1
2

1
6

1
24

1
120

DecimalExpansion
2.7 1828 1828 4590 4523 5360 2874 7135 2662 4977 5724 7093 6999 5957 4966
The web site http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/e.2mil shows the decimal
expansion of e to over 2 million digits.

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
TableofExponentsandLogarithms

Definition:

024

ifandonlyif

Version 2.8

Page 104 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
ConvertingBetweenExponentialandLogarithmicForms

Toconvertbetweenanexponentialexpressionandalogarithmicexpression,itisoftenhelpful
tousethefirstlastmiddleruletoperformtheconversion.Ifnecessasy,settheexpression
equalto beforeapplyingtherule.
Note:thefirstlastmiddlerulerequiresthatthelogarithmicorexponentialportionofthe
expressionbeonthelefthandsideoftheequation.
Converting from Logarithmic Form
to Exponential Form

Converting from Exponential Form

to Logarithmic Form

using firstlastmiddle

using firstlastmiddle

Examples:

Examples:

1) Solvefor :

64

Firstis4,lastis andmiddleis
64.
64.So,4
Then,4

4; 4

So,wehave:

16; 4

1 Converttheexpression,2
logarithmicform.

Firstis2,lastis32andmiddleis
5.

64

So,wehave:

2 Solvefor :ln

(remember isshorthandfor

So,wehave:

2 Converttheexpression,7
logarithmicform.

343to

Using firstlastmiddle,

Using firstlastmiddle,
convertsto:

32to

343convertsto:

So,wehave:

343

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
ExpandingLogarithmicExpressions

Expandingalogarithmicexpressionisaprocessbestdescribedbyexample.Eachstepofthe
processisdescribedandillustratedintheexamplebelow.

Expand:

Whenexpanded:
Eachiteminthenumeratorwillbecomeatermprecededbya+sign

Eachiteminthedenominatorwillbecomeatermprecededbyasign.
Allexponentsbecometermcoefficientsinexpandedform.

Step1:Simplifytermsintheoriginalexpression,ifpossible:

Step2:Writethelogofalloftheitemsinparenthesesinthesimplifiedexpression:
2

Step3:Writetheexponentsfromthesimplifiedexpressionascoefficientsofeachlog:
2

Step4:Writethesigns( foritemsinthenumerator; foritemsinthedenominator):

2

Step5:Simplifytermsinthesolution,ifpossible:
1

Result:

Version 2.8

Page 106 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
CondensingLogarithmicExpressions

Condensingalogarithmicexpressionisaprocessbestdescribedbyexample.Eachstepofthe
processisdescribedandillustratedintheexamplebelow.

Condense:1 2
2
3
4

Step1:Reviewtheexpressionandidentifyeachelement.
Theargumentofeachlogwillbecomethebaseofanexponentialterm.
Thecoefficientofeachlogwillbecomeanexponentonthatterm
Thesignofeachtermdetermineswhethertheexponentialtermgoesinthe
numerator(+)ordenominatorofthecondensedexpression.

exponents
Whencondensed,eachtermwill

becomeexponentialinform.All

termsinthenumeratorwillbe
1 2
2
3
4

multipliedtogether.Alltermsin

indicatesthataterm
goesinthedenominator

thedenominatorwillbemultiplied
together.

+indicatesthataterm
goesinthenumerator

Step2:Setupthelogexpressionwiththeproperbaseandparenthesestocontainthevarious
terms.Ifthereisatleastonenegativesign,setupafractioninsidetheparentheses:

Step3:Convertanyconstantstopowersofthebaseofthelog:

Step4:Bringineachtermcontainingavariableasanexponentialexpressionwiththeproper
exponentandbase:

Step5:Simplifytotheextentpossible:

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
CondensingLogarithmicExpressionsMoreExamples

Suggestionsfordoingproblems:
Useparenthesesliberallytohelpyourselfseewhatisgoingonintheproblem.
Dotheproblemsonestepatatime,workingcarefullydownthepage.
Leaveyourselfalotofroomtodothework;theremaybealotofsteps.

Someadditionalexamplestohelpseehowthevariousrulesfittogether:
1
log
4

8 log
6
2

ln 3

3 log

log

log

log

log

2 log

ln 3

ln

log 16

11

log

ln 3
0

log

log
log 100
1
16

log

log 16

3
log
2

Version 2.8

Page 108 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
GraphinganExponentialFunction

Graphinganexponentialorlogarithmicfunctionisaprocessbestdescribedbyexample.Each
stepoftheprocessisdescribedandillustratedintheexamplesoverthenextfewpages.

Graphthefunction:

Step1:Thehorizontalasymptoteoccursatthe

valueoftheconstantterm.Thisisbecausethe

exponentialtermapproacheszeroasthe
exponentbecomesmoreandmorenegative.

istheasymptote.

Step2:Selectpointsforthegraph:
Inselectingpointsforan

exponentialcurve,good

choicesoftenrelatetothe
valueoftheexponent.

Choosevaluesthatmake
theexponent1,0and1;or

1,0and2.

Inthisexample,select sothat:
1
1 so,
0

1.67

0 so,

so,

Step3:Graphtheexponentialfunction:

3A:Graphthe

asymptote
2
3B:Graphthepoints

3C:Sketchinthecurve

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Four Exponential Function Graphs

Impact of varying base (above 1 and below 1)

Note: exponential and logarithmic

functions that are inverses of
each other (on this page and the
one following) are the same color.

Version 2.8

Page 110 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction

Method 1: Direct Method

1

GraphthesampleFunction:

Step1:Findtheverticalasymptoteatthevalueof

xthatmakestheargumentofthelogzero.

1 0 so,
istheasymptote.

Step2:Selectpointsforthegraph:
Inselectingpointsforalogarithmiccurve,goodchoicesoftenrelatetothevalueoftheargument.
Choosevaluesthatmaketheargument1andthebaseofthelogarithm(1and4inthisexample).

Inthisexample,select

sothat:
1

1 so,

1 4 so,

5
Seewhathappenswhenwedothis

inthetabletotheright:

1and
Byselectingxssothatthevaluesinparenthesesare

thebaseofthelog,thecalculationofysbecomeseasy.

Notethattwopointsmaybesufficient tographthecurveif wehavealsodrawntheasymptote.

Step3:Graphthelogarithmicfunction:

3A:Graphthe

asymptote
1
3B:Graphthepoints

3C:Sketchinthecurve

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction(contd)
Natural Logarithm Notation:

"ln" standsforlogarithmusnaturalis(Latinfornaturallogarithm)andisthelogarithmwithbase" ".

Thelnnotationwasinventedinthelate1800s,whenalotofworkwasdonebyhand(therewereno
electroniccalculatorsorcomputers).Thosewhoworkedwithlogarithmsoftenusednaturallogarithms
extensively,sothisshorthandnotationbecamequitepopular,andhassurvivedtothisday.
So,whenyousee:ln thinklog .

Method 1: Direct Method when the base of the logarithm is

Step1:Findtheverticalasymptoteatthevalueof

xthatmakestheargumentofthelogzero.

1 0 so,
istheasymptote.

Step2:Selectpointsforthegraph:
Inselectingpointsforalogarithmiccurve,goodchoicesoftenrelatetothevalueoftheargument.
Choosevaluesthatmaketheargument1andthebaseofthelogarithm(1andeinthisexample).

Inthisexample,select

sothat:
1 1 so,

ln 2

1 e so,
1

Youneedtoknowthat

~ 2.7.
So,
1 ~ 3.7.

3.7

ln

ln 1

3
1

ln

1and
Byselectingxssothatthevaluesinparenthesesare

thebaseofthelog,thecalculationofysbecomeseasy.

Notethattwopointsmaybesufficient tographthecurveif wehavealsodrawntheasymptote.

Step3:Graphthelogarithmicfunction:

3A:Graphthe

asymptote
1
3B:Graphthepoints

3C:Sketchinthecurve

Version 2.8

Page 112 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction(contd)

Method 2: DoubleInverse Method

Step1:Findtheinversefunction:

Switchvariables:

Subtracttheconstant:

Result:

Takepowersofthelogbase:

Simplify:

Subtracttheconstant:

4
1

ResultingINVERSEFunction:

1
3

Step2:Findthevertical
asymptoteatthevalueofx
thatmakestheargumentof
thelogzero.

3
3
1

3
4

so,

0
istheasymptote.

1
1
or

Step3:Selectpointsforthegraph:
Inselectingpointsforan

exponentialcurve,good

choicesoftenrelatetothe
valueoftheexponent.

Choosevaluesthatmake
theexponent1,0and1;or

1,0and2.

Inthisexample,select sothat:
3
1 so,
2

1.25

0 so,

so,

Step4:Switchthexandyvaluestogetpointsforthelogarithmicfunction:
.

Step5:Graphthelogarithmicfunction:

5A:Graphthe
asymptote

Version 2.8

5B:Graphthepoints

5C:Sketchinthecurve

Page 113 of 178

April 19, 2016

Note: exponential and logarithmic functions that

are inverses of each other (on the earlier page and
on this one) are the same color.

Four Logarithmic Graphs

Impact of varying base (above 1 and below 1)

Version 2.8

Page 114 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
p
GraphsofVariousFunctions
y=2x

y=()x

10.0

10.0

5.0

5.0

0.0
10.0

5.0

0.0
0.0

5.0

10.0

10.0

5.0

0.0

5.0

5.0

10.0

10.0

10.0

10.0

5.0

5.0

0.0

5.0

5.0

0.0

10.0

5.0

5.0

10.0

10.0

y=x

y=x2

y=x3

10.0

10.0

10.0

5.0

5.0

5.0

5.0

Version 2.8

10.0

10.0

0.0

0.0
10.0

5.0

0.0

0.0
00
5.0

10.0

y=log x

y=log2 x

10.0

5.0

0.0

5.0

10.0

10.0

5.0

0.0
0.0

5.0

10.0

10.0

5.0

0.0

5.0

5.0

5.0

10.0

10.0

10.0

Page 115 of 178

5.0

10.0

April 19, 2016

Algebra
ApplicationsofExponentialFunctions

ExponentialGrowthandDecay

Note:ifyoulettheendvaluebe
representedby
andthe
startvalueby ,yougetsimilar
formulastotheinterest
formulasbelow.

InterestFormulas

Let:
=Amountofmoneyattime

=Principal(startingamountofmoney);notethat
0

=theannualrateofinterest(e.g.,4%or.04)

=thenumberoftimesperyearthatinterestiscredited

Compoundinterestpaysinterestanumberoftimesduringtheyear;thatis,in
periodsafterthefirst,interestispaidontheoriginalamountinvestedplus
interestearnedinpriorperiods.

Compoundinterestpaidntimesayear:

Simplecase.Ifinterestiscompoundedonanannualbasis,wegetthesimplest
formula:

Annualinterestpaidonceayear:

Continuouscompounding.Themorefrequentthecompoundingofinterest,the
moremoneyyouget.Thebestreturnonyourmoneyoccursifinterestis
compoundedcontinuously.Becauseofthedefinitionofthemathematical
constant" ",wegetthefollowingformula(knownasthePertformula).

Interestcompoundedcontinuously:

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
SolvingExponentialandLogarithmicEquations
Logarithmsandexponentsareinverseoperationsinthesamewayadditionandsubtractionare,
andinthesamewaymultiplicationanddivisionare.So,toundoanexponent,youtakea
logarithm,andtoundoalogarithm,youtakeanexponent.

SolvinganExponentialEquation
Sometimesanequationhasavariableinanexponent.Tosolvethiskindofequation,follow
thesesteps:

Isolatethetermwiththeexponentononeside
oftheequation.Thatis,undoanyadditions,
subtractions,multiplications,anddivisionsin
theequation.
Takealogarithmofbothsidesoftheequation.
Usethebasethatexistsintheexponential
term.
Solvetheequationthatremains.

Example:
43

110

Subtract2:4 3

108

Divideby4:

27

Takelogs:

log 3

log 27

Simplify:

Add2:

Start:

log

log

Multiplyby : log

Note:intheexampleatright,thebaseof3isselected
forthelogarithmsbecauseitisthebaseoftheexponentintheproblem.

SolvingaLogarithmicEquation
Tosolveanequationwithalogarithminit,followthesesteps:

Isolatethelogarithmononesideofthe
equation.Thatis,undoanyadditions,
subtractions,multiplications,anddivisionsin
theequation.
Takethebaseofthelogarithmtothepowerof
bothsidesoftheequation.Usethesamebase
thatexistsinthelogarithmicterm.
Solvetheequationthatremains.

Note:intheexampleatright,thebaseof2isselected
foruseinexponentiationbecauseitisthebaseofthe
logarithmintheproblem.

Version 2.8

Page 117 of 178

Example:
1

Start:
Add1:

Exponentiate:

Simplify:

Subtract1:

April 19, 2016

Algebra
PolynomialFunctionGraphs
Definitions

LocalMaximumThelargestvaluethatafunctiontakesinaneighborhoodaroundthe
point.Theremustbesmallervaluesonbothsidesofthelocalmaximum.

LocalMinimumThesmallestvaluethatafunctiontakesinaneighborhoodaroundthe
point.Theremustbelargervaluesonbothsidesofthelocalminimum.

AfunctionisIncreasingoveranintervalifit
generateslargervaluesasxincreasesoverthe
sameinterval.

AfunctionisDecreasingoveranintervalifit
generatessmallervaluesasxincreasesoverthe
sameinterval.

Thegraphattherighthastwolocalmaximaandtwolocal
minima.Italsohasthreeintervalswhereitisincreasing
andtwointervalswhereitisdecreasing.

CharacteristicsoftheGraphofaPolynomial
If

isapolynomialofdegree ,then

iscontinuousoverallvaluesofx.

Roots(i.e.,zeroes)of
most ofthem.

Theyinterceptofthegraphoccursat
polynomial.

willhaveatmost
1localextrema(eithermaximaorminima).Forexample,a
5 degreepolynomialwillhaveatmost4extrema;theexampleabovehas4extrema.

existwhereverthegraphintersectsthexaxis.Thereareat
0 ,whichistheconstanttermofthe

th

Ateachextreme,theslopeofalinetangenttothecurvewillbezero.However,ifthe
slopeofthetangentlinetothecurveatapointiszero,thepointisnotnecessarilyan
extreme.

Atalocalmaximum,thepolynomialmustbeincreasingontheleftanddecreasingon
theright.

Atalocalminimum,thepolynomialmustbedecreasingontheleftandincreasingon
theright.

Version 2.8

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ADVANCED

Algebra
FindingExtremawithDerivatives
Derivatives
Thederivativeofamonomialis:

Thenotation meanstakeaderivativewithrespecttothevariablex.Weneedtoknowtwo
otherthingsaboutderivativesinordertofindextremawiththem.

Thederivativeofasumisthesumofthederivatives.Thatis:

Derivativesprovideinformationabouttheslopesoflinestangenttothecurveateach
point.Sincetheslopeofatangentlineataminimumormaximumiszero,wecan
calculatethederivativeofapolynomialandsetitequaltozerotofindthexvaluesofits
extrema.

FindingExtremawithDerivatives
If

isapolynomial,anyextremalieatpointswhere

Example1:Takethegeneralquadraticequation:

Weknowthatthegraphofthisequationhasasinglemaximumorminimumwhichisthevertex
oftheparabola.Takingaderivativeofthisformulaandsettingitequaltozero,weget:

Solvingforx,weget:

,whichwealreadyknowisthexvalueofthevertex.

Example2:
Findlocalmaximaandminimaforthecubicequation:

Solvingthisforx,wefindlocalmaximaorminimamayexistat

Onecaution:Whenaderivativeisequaltozero,itonlyprovidesthepossibilityofanextreme;
itdoesnotguaranteeanextreme.Itispossiblefortheslopeofacurvetobezeroandnothave
where
0.
eitheralocalmaximumorminimum.Foranexampleofthis,lookat
Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomials
SumandDifferenceofCubes
Thesumofcubesisoftheform:

Thedifferenceofcubesisoftheform:

Noticethefollowingaboutthesetwoformulas:

Eachformulafactorsintoabinomialandatrinomial.
Eachterminthebinomialisofdegree1.
Eachterminthetrinomialisofdegree2.
Eachformulahasoneminussigninitsfactorization.
Ineachformula,thesecondtermofthebinomialfactortakesthesignofthesecond
termoftheoriginalexpression.

Identification
Toseeifanexpressionisasumordifferenceofcubes,youmustansweryes
tothreequestions:
1. Arethereonlytwoterms?
2. Isthefirsttermacube?Ifso,takeitscuberoottogetthevalueofa.
3. Isthesecondtermacube?Ifso,takeitscuberoottogetthevalueofb.
Thesolutionisbasedontheappropriateformulaabove,substitutingthecube
rootsofthetwotermsforaandb.Becareful!

Tableof
Cubes
1

27

Note:Atelltalesignofwhenanexpressionmightbethesumordifferenceof2
cubesiswhenthecoefficientsonthevariablesarecubesandtheexponentson
thevariablesaremultiplesof3.

64

125

216

Examples:

343

512

729

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Version 2.8

Page 120 of 178

10

1,000

11

1,331

12

1,728

April 19, 2016

Algebra
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomials
VariableSubstitution
Onoccasionyouwillencounterapolynomialthatlooksfamiliarexceptthattheexponentson
thevariablesarehigherthanusual.Inthiscase,atechniquecalledVariableSubstitutionmay
beuseful.
Thestepsforvariablesubstitutionare:

Identifywhichkindofequationtheproblemresembles.
Identifywhattermsarelikelytorequiresubstitution.Oftenthereareonlyoneortwo
termsthatneedtobesubstituted.
Createnewvariablesforpurposesofsubstitution.
Rewritetheproblemintermsofthenewvariables.
Solvetheproblemintermsofthenewvariables.
Substitutetheoriginalvariablesintothesolution.
Performanyadditionalworkthatisneededbasedontheoriginalvariables.
Checkyourwork.

Example1:
Factor:

Thislookslikeatypicaltrinomialfactoringproblemexceptforthelargeexponents.
Createtwonewvariables:

and

Rewritetheexpression:

Factortheexpression:

Substituteoriginalvariables:
Performadditionalwork:

Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthefactoredformtoseeifyougettheoriginalpolynomial.
Example2:
Factor:

Thislookslikeasumofcubes.
Createtwonewvariables:

and

Usethesumofcubesformula:
Substituteoriginalvariables:

Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthefactoredformtoseeifyougettheoriginalpolynomial.

Version 2.8

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Algebra
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomials
SyntheticDivision
SyntheticDivisionisashortcuttodividingpolynomialsbyalinearfactor.Hereshowitworks.
Wewilluseanexampletoillustratetheprocess.
Example1: 2

Step1:Inthelinearterm
takethevaluerasthedivisor.Intheexample,thedivisor
willbe .Weusetheletterrtoindicatethatthevalueisactuallyarootoftheequation.So,
insyntheticdivision,therootisusedasthedivisor.
Step2:Lineupthecoefficientsofthetermsfromhighest
degreetolowestdegreeinarowtotherightofthedivisor.If
atermismissing,useazeroforthecoefficientofthatterm.
Wewillcallthisarrayofcoefficientsthedividend.

4 2

1 1

Step3:Bringtheleadingcoefficientdownbelowtheline.
Step4:Multiplythedivisorbythenumberjustplacedbelow
thelineandputtheresultabovethelineandonecolumnto
theright.Addthetwonumbersinthatcolumntogeta
numberbelowthelineforthatcolumn.

Step5:RepeatStep4untilallofthecolumnshavebeen
completed.

Thefinalresultisasetofcoefficientsofthepolynomialthat
resultsfromthedivision.Theexponentsofthetermsofthe
resultingpolynomialbeginonelowerthanthedegreeofthe
originalpolynomial.

1 rem

Intheexample,theresultis
,witharemainderof0.Theremainderof0isagood
indicationthatthedivisionwasperformedproperly.
Example2:

1
1

Fromthesyntheticdivisiontotheright,weget:

Thereisnoconstanttermandnoremainderinthe
solutiontothisexample.

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1 rem

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Algebra
ComparingSyntheticDivisiontoLongDivision
AdvantagesofSyntheticDivision
Syntheticdivisionhasthefollowingadvantagesoverlongdivision:

Thedivisorisapossiblerootofthepolynomial;itisarootiftheremainderiszero.
Itisshorter.
Itismuchquicker.
Itworksbyadditionandmultiplicationinsteadofbysubtractionanddivision.Because
ofthis,itismuchlesspronetoerror.

ComparisonofMethods
Itisinstructivetocomparesyntheticdivisionandlongdivisiontogetabetterideaofwhy
syntheticdivisionworks.Considerthedivision: 2
5
2
2
Thetwomethodsofperformingthisdivisionarelaidoutbelow.Noticethefollowing
correspondencesbetweentheexamples:

SyntheticDivision

Rootvs.Factor.Syntheticdivisionusestherootofthe
polynomialasthedivisor.Longdivisionusesthewholefactor.
Thesignsontherootareoppositeinthetwomethods.

Dividend.Thedividendsinthetwomethodsarethesame
(exceptthatsyntheticdivisionleavesoutthevariables).
SecondRow.Thesecondrowinsyntheticdivision
correspondstothesecondarycoefficientsof
eachdivisioninlongdivision(butwithopposite
signs).
AnswerRow.Insyntheticdivisiontheanswerrow
(ofcoefficients)iscalculateddirectlybyaddingthe
valuesintherowsaboveit.Inlongdivision,itis
necessarytosubtractexpressionstodetermine
anotherexpressionthatmustbedividedbythe
divisortogetthenexttermoftheanswer.
AddingVariables.Insyntheticdivision,itis
necessarytoaddthevariablesaftertheansweris
determined.Inlongdivision,theansweris
provideddirectly.

4 2

1 1

LongDivision
2

22
2

5
4

2
1
2

1
1

2
2
0

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Algebra
ZeroesofPolynomials
DevelopingPossibleRoots
Ifapolynomialhastheform:

Then,

willhaveexactly complexroots.Forexample,a5thdegreepolynomialwillhave
exactly5complexroots.Note:someoftheserootsmaybethesame,andsomeof
themmaybereal.

willhaveexactly
realroots,where isawholenumber.Forexample,a
5 degreepolynomialwillhaveeither5realroots,3realroots,or1realroot.
th

DescartesRuleofSigns.(Notehowthistiesintothebulletabove.)
o Thenumberofpositiverealrootsofapolynomial
isequaltothenumberof
signchangesin
,orislessthanthisbyamultipleof2.
o Thenumberofnegativerealrootsofapolynomial
isequaltothenumber
ofsignchangesin
,orislessthanthisbyamultipleof2.Note:to
generate
quickly,justchangethesignsofthetermswithoddexponents.

willhaveanevennumberofnonrealroots.Forexample,a5thdegreepolynomial
willhaveeither0nonrealroots,2nonrealroots,or4nonrealroots.Further,the
nonrealrootsexistinconjugatepairs;soif
isarootof
,thensois
.

RationalRootTheorem.Anyrationalrootshavethecharacteristic

.This

factisespeciallyusefuliftheleadcoefficientofthepolynomialis1;inthiscase,anyreal
rootsarefactorsoftheconstantterm.Thisfact,incombinationwiththeeaseof
syntheticdivision,makesfindingintegerrootsaquickprocess.
Example:
Whatcanwesayabouttherootsof

?(note:4signchanges)

First,notethat

So,

Therealrootsmustbe1,2,or4(thepositivefactorsoftheconstantterm4).

Tofindoutmore,wehavetotestthepossiblerealrootvalues.

Version 2.8

(note:zerosignchanges)

has4complexroots.0,2,or4ofthemarereal;allrealrootsarepositive.

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Algebra
ZeroesofPolynomials
TestingPossibleRoots
Thefollowingtwotheoremsareveryusefulintestingpossibleroots(zeroes)ofPolynomials.
FactorTheorem:

isafactorofapolynomial

RemainderTheorem:If

isdividedby

0.

ifandonlyif

,thentheremainderis

MethodsofTestingPossibleRoots
Ifapolynomialcanbefactored,thenfirst,factorthepolynomial;theproblemwillbeeasierto
solveafterfactoring.Inaddition,ifyouareabletoproducelinearorquadraticfactors,the
rootsofthosefactorswillberootsofthepolynomial.
Afterfactoring,thefollowingmethodscanbeusedtotestpossiblerootsofapolynomial.

Usesyntheticdivisiontotestpossibleroots.Becausesyntheticdivisionisquick,several
potentialrootscanbetestedinashortperiodoftime.

Substitutepossiblerootsintothepolynomialtoseeiftheremainderiszero.
If
,then isarootof
.

Graphthepolynomial.Realrootsexistwhereverthegraphcrossesthexaxis.Although
thismethodmayhelpfindtheapproximatelocationofroots,itisnotareliablemethod
fordeterminingexactvaluesofroots.

Example:Factorandfindtherootsof
Usingsyntheticdivision:
1

1 1

0 4

Tryingfirstthepossibleroot
1,thenthepossibleroot
2,wefindthattheybothwork.So,

0 4

Usingthequadraticformulaonthequadraticfactorinthis
expressionwefindtwononrealroots.Sothefourrootsare:

, ,

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Algebra
IntersectionsofCurves
GeneralCase(BezoutsTheorem)
BezoutsTheoremstatesthatthemaximumnumberofintersectionsoftwodistinctcurvesin
thecomplexfieldistheproductofthedegreesofthecurves.(Note:forthesepurposes,aline
isconsideredacurveofdegree1.)Forgraphsintwodimensions,ifthedegreesoftwodistinct
curvesarerands,then:

Thereareatmost intersectionsofthetwocurves.
Therearealsocaseswherefewerthan intersectionsexist.
Tosolveforthepointsofintersection,eithersetthetwoequationsequaltoeachother
orusevariablesubstitution;thensolve.

Toapplythistheorem,itisusefultosetupeachcurveasanequationequaltozero.Examples
areprovidedbelowandonthepagesthatfollow.

TwoLines
Twodistinctlinesmayhaveeitherzerooronepointofintersection,asshowninthefollowing
illustrations:

ParallelLines:
0pointsofintersection

Lineshavetheform:

IntersectingLines:
1pointofintersection

,sotheequationsofanytwolinescanbewrittenas:
0and

Noticethatbothlinesareofdegree1;i.e.,

1and

Themaximumnumberofintersectionsis:
Theremaybelessthanoneintersection.

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1.UsingBezoutsTheorem:
.

April 19, 2016

Algebra
IntersectionsofCurves
ALineandaParabola
Thegeneralformsforalineandaparabolaare:

Line:
Parabola:

Note:weusethelettertinsteadof
bintheequationofalineinorderto
avoidconfusionwiththecoefficient
bintheequationofaparabola.

ForpurposesofBezoutsTheorem,theseconvertto:

Line:
Parabola:

UsingBezoutsTheorem,themaximumnumberofintersectionsis:
and2intersectionsareprovidedbelow:

0pointsofintersection

1pointofintersection

.Casesfor0,1,

2pointsofintersection

FindingthePoint(s)ofIntersection
Inordertofindanypointsofintersection,setthetwooriginalequationsequaltoeachother
andsolve:

Thisequationcanbesolvedforxbyanyofthemethodsusedtofindtherootsofaquadratic
equation.Thevalueofycanbecalculatedforeachvalueofxbysubstitutingxintoeitherof
theoriginalequations.

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Algebra
IntersectionsofCurves
ACircleandanEllipse
Thegeneralformsforacircleandanellipseare:

Circle:

Ellipse:

ForpurposesofBezoutsTheorem,theseconvertto:

Circle:

Ellipse:

UsingBezoutsTheorem,themaximumnumberofintersectionsis:
3and4intersectionsareprovidedbelow:

0pointsofintersection

1pointofintersection

.Casesfor0,1,2,

2pointsofintersection

3pointsofintersection

4pointsofintersection

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Algebra
DomainsofRationalFunctions
RationalExpressionsarefractionswithpolynomialsinboththenumeratoranddenominator.If
therationalexpressionisafunction,itisaRationalFunction.

FindingtheDomainofaRationalFunction
Thedomain(e.g.,xvalues)ofarationalfunctionisthesetofallvaluesthatresultinvalidrange
values(e.g.,yvalues).Generally,therearetwosituationswhereavalueisnotincludedinthe
domainofarationalfunction:

Anyxthatgeneratesazerointhedenominator.
Anyxthatgeneratesasquarerootofanegativenumber.

Example1:
.

Considertherationalfunction:

Sincetherearenosquareroots,theonlyvalueforwhich
wecannotcalculate
iswhere
or,where
.Sothedomainisallrealxexcept
,or:
|

Noticetheholeinthegraphofthefunctionatthepoint
2, 4 .Thisindicatesthatthefunctiondoesnothave
avaluefor
.
Example2:

Considerthefunction:

Thisfunctionhasnovalidxvaluesfor
3because
theywouldgeneratethesquarerootofanegative
numberinthenumerator.Inaddition,thedenominator
wouldbezeroif
.Sothedomainisallrealx
greaterthan3except
,or:
|

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Algebra
HolesandAsymptotes
Holes
Aholeinagraphexistswheneverafactor
occurs
moretimesinthenumeratorthaninthedenominatorofa
rationalfunction.

thefactor

Example:Inthefunction

is

inboththenumeratorandthedenominator.Infact,the
functioncanbereducedto
exceptatthepoint
wherethefunctionisundefined.

VerticalAsymptotes
Averticalasymptoteexistswheneverafactor
thaninthenumeratorofarationalfunction.

occursmoretimesinthedenominator

the

Example:In

factors
and
occurinthedenominatorbutnot
inthenumeratorofthefunction,sotheygeneratevertical
asymptotes.Theverticalasymptotesareshownasred
dottedlinesat
and
inthegraphatright.

HorizontalAsymptotes
Therearethreeseparatecasesforhorizontalasymptotesofarationalfunction

1. IfthedegreeofP(x) >thedegreeofQ(x),thereisnohorizontalasymptote.
2. IfthedegreeofP(x) = the degree ofQ(x),ahorizontalasymptoteexistsattheline:

3. IfthedegreeofP(x) <thedegreeofQ(x),ahorizontalasymptoteexistsattheline
Example:Inthefunction

thedegreesofthepolynomialsinthenumerator

anddenominatorarethesame,andtheratiooftheirleadcoefficientsis
ofthehorizontalasymptoteisshownasthereddottedline

Version 2.8

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.Thelocation

inthegraphabove.

April 19, 2016

Algebra
GraphingRationalFunctions
Rationalfunctionsareoftwotypes:

Simplerationalfunctionsareoftheform

oranequivalentformthatdoes

notcontainapolynomialofdegreehigherthan1(i.e.,no
constants).

Generalrationalfunctionsareoftheform

, etc.just sand

whereeither
,

polynomialofdegree2orhigher(i.e.,containsan

or

isa

.).

Ingeneral,itisagoodideatofindtheasymptotesforafunctionfirst,andthenfindpointsthat
helpgraphthecurve.Thedomainandanyholescantypicallybeeasilyidentifiedduringthis
process.Therangeandtheendbehaviorbecomeidentifiableoncethefunctionisgraphed.

SimpleRationalFunctions
Ifyoucanputarationalfunctionintheform

,hereswhatyouget:

VerticalAsymptote:Occursat
.Theverticalasymptoteiseasytofindbecauseitoccurs
at
.Atthisvalueof ,thedenominatoris
0,andyoucannotdividebyzero.
Hence,as approaches ,thedenominatorof

becomesverysmall,andthegraphshoots

offeitherupordown.
HorizontalAsymptote:Occursat
thatwouldrequiretheleadterm,
Hence,thefunctionwillapproach
Domain:AllReal
Range:AllReal
functions.

.Thefunctioncannothaveavalueof
tobezero,whichcanneverhappensince

because
0.

,butwillneverreachit.

.Novalueof existsatanyverticalasymptote.
.Novalueof existsatahorizontalasymptoteinsimplerational

Holes:None.
EndBehavior:Bothendsofthefunctiontendtowardthehorizontalasymptote,so:

Version 2.8

and

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
SimpleRationalFunctionsExample
Recallthatthesimplerational

Example:

formis:

First,notethat

and

1becauseif

VerticalAsymptote:Occursat
zero.

1,thedenominator,

2becausetheleadterm,

HorizontalAsymptote:Occursat
zero.Hence,thefunctioncanapproach

1,wouldbe

,canneverbe

2,butwillneverreachit.

Domain:AllReal

1.Novalueof existsatanyverticalasymptote.

Range:AllReal
function.

2.Novalueof existsatahorizontalasymptoteinasimplerational

Holes:None.
EndBehavior:Bothendsofthefunctiontendtowardthehorizontalasymptote,so:

, 2

and

, 2

Graphing:
Step1.Graphtheverticalandhorizontalasymptotes
(thedashedhorizontalandverticallinesshown).
Step2.Picksome valuesandcalculatethe
correspondingyvalues.Iliketopickacoupleof
valuestotheleftoftheverticalasymptote(
1)and
acoupleofxvaluestoitsright.So,letstrysome.

Version 2.8

3.67

4.5

0.5

0.33

Notethattheintersectionofthe
asymptoteshascoordinates , .

Step3.Drawacurveoneachsideof
theverticalasymptote:throughthe
pointsonthatsideandapproaching
boththehorizontalandvertical
asymptotes.
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April 19, 2016

Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctions
Generalrationalfunctionsareoftheform:

Theeasiestwaytographageneralrationalfunctionistofactorboththenumeratorand
denominatorandsimplifyingtheresultingfraction.
Example:in

2 inthenumeratoranddenominatorcanbe

the

eliminatedtoobtainthefunctiontobegraphed:

VerticalAsymptotesandHoles:Anyroot(alsocalledazero)ofthedenominatorofarational
function(priortosimplification)willproduceeitheraverticalasymptoteorahole.
VerticalAsymptote:If isarootofthedenominatorisalsoarootofthesimplified
denominator,then
isaverticalasymptoteofthefunction.
Hole:If isarootofthedenominatorandisnotarootofthesimplifieddenominator,then
definesthelocationofaholeinthefunction.
HorizontalAsymptote:Onewaytofindthehorizontalasymptotesofageneralrational
function(also,seethesectiononHolesandAsymptotes,above)istoeliminatealltermsof
thepolynomialsinboththenumeratoranddenominatorexcepttheoneswiththesingle
greatestexponentofalltheterms.Then,
Ifalltermsareeliminatedfromthenumerator,thehorizontalasymptoteoccursat
0.
Example:

hasahorizontalasymptoteat

0.

Notethatalltermsinthenumeratorwereeliminatedbecausenoneofthemhadthe
greatestexponentintherationalfunction,whichinthisexampleis2.
Ifatermremainsinboththenumeratoranddenominator,thehorizontalasymptote
occursatthereducedformoftheremainingterms.
Example:

hasahorizontalasymptoteat

.
Ifalltermsareeliminatedfromthedenominator,thefunctiondoesnothavea
horizontalasymptote.
Example:

doesnothaveahorizontalasymptote.

Notethatalltermsinthedenominatorwereeliminatedbecausenoneofthemhadthe
greatestexponentintherationalfunction,whichinthisexampleis2.

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Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctions(contd)
Domain:ThedomainisalwaysallReal exceptwherethereisaverticalasymptoteorahole.
Nofunctionvalueisassociatedwith ateitheraverticalasymptoteorahole(orwhenaneven
rootofanegativenumberisrequired).
Range:Therangeisabittrickier.Youwillneedtolookatthegraphtodeterminetherange.
Youmightthinkthatno valuewouldexistatahorizontalasymptote,likeinsimplerational
functions.However,itispossibleforafunctiontocrossoveritshorizontalasymptoteandthen
workitswaybacktotheasymptoteas oras .Oddbuttrue(seebelow,right).

Forodditiesintherangeofafunction,checktheseoutthesetworationalfunctions:

EndBehavior:Bothendsofthefunctiontendtowardthehorizontalasymptoteifthereisone.
However,ifthereisnotone,youcanlookatthegraphtodetermineendbehavior.Notethat
thefunctionbelowdoesnothaveahorizontalasymptote:

Inthisfunction,

, ,

Version 2.8

Althoughthisfunctiondoesnothavea
horizontalasymptote,itdoeshavea
slantasymptote:theline
.

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Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctionsExample

Example:

Factorboththenumeratorandthedenominator:

GettheRoots:

. ,
:

Simplify:Since1isarootofboththenumeratorandthedenominator,thefunctionmaybe
simplifiedasfollows:

VerticalAsymptotesandHoles: 1and1arerootsoftheoriginaldenominator,sothey
mustgenerateeitherverticalasymptotesorholes.
VerticalAsymptote:Aftersimplification,thisfunctionstillcontains 1asarootinthe
denominator.Therefore,
isaverticalasymptoteofthefunction.
Hole:1isarootofthedenominatoroftheoriginalfunctionbutisnotarootofthe
denominatorofthesimplifiedfunction.Therefore,thisfunctionhasaholeat
.
HorizontalAsymptote:Eliminatealltermsofbothpolynomialsexceptanywiththesingle
greatestexponentofalltheterms.Inthiscase:

isahorizontalasymptote.Sinceatermremainsinboththe

numeratoranddenominator,thehorizontalasymptoteoccursatthereducedformofthe
remainingterms.
Domain:AllReal exceptwherethereisaverticalasymptoteorahole.
So,thedomainisallReal
.
Wemustgraphthefunctioninordertogetagoodlookatitsrangeandendbehavior.We
mustplotpointsonbothsidesoftheverticalasymptote.
(graphonnextpage)

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Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctionsExample(contd)

Graphing:

Step1.Graphtheverticalandhorizontalasymptotes.
Step2.Picksome valuesoneachsideoftheverticalasymptoteandcalculatethe
correspondingyvalues.

Step3.Drawacurveoneachsideoftheverticalasymptote:
throughthepointsonthatsideandapproachingboththe
horizontalandverticalasymptotes.

1.67

Step4:Drawanopencircleatthepointofanyholes.

1.5

2.5(ahole)

2.33

Seethehole
at , . !

Range:Therangecanbedeterminedfromthegraph.
Itappearsthattherangeexcludesonlythehorizontalasymptoteandthehole.
Sotherangeis:allReal
, . .

EndBehavior:Inthisfunction,

, ,

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Algebra
OperatingwithRationalExpressions
Performingoperationswithrationalexpressionsisverysimilartoperformingoperationswith
fractions.Afterall,thatsreallywhatrationalexpressionsarefractionsinvolvingpolynomials.

AdditionandSubtraction
Toaddorsubtractrationalexpressions:

Factorboththenumeratoranddenominatorasmuchaspossible.
Createacommondenominator.
Addorsubtractexpressions.
Afterthenumeratorsareadded,youmust
Simplify.
checktoseeifthenewnumeratorcanbe

Example:

factored.Ifso,furthersimplificationmay
bepossible.Note:nofurther
simplificationispossibleinthisexample.

MultiplicationandDivision
Tomultiplyordividerationalexpressions:

Factorboththenumeratoranddenominatorasmuchaspossible.
Multiplyordivideexpressions.(Remember,todivide,flipthatguyandmultiply.)
Cancelallfactorsthatappearinboththenumeratoranddenominator.
Simplify.

Example:

Notethatyoucancrossoutcommon
factorsinthenumeratorand
denominatoracrosstheexpressions
thatarebeingmultiplied.

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Algebra
SolvingRationalEquations
SolvingRationalEquations
Solvingrationalequationsinvolvesonemainrule:Getridofthedenominators!
Afullerlistingofthestepsinvolvedis:

Multiplybywhateverexpressionsarenecessarytoeliminatethedenominators.
Paycarefulattentiontowhichvaluesmaketheexpressionsyouuseequaltozero
(becauseyouarenotallowedtomultiplybothsidesofanequationbyzero).
Solvetheremainingproblem.
Checkeachanswertoseeifitisasolutiontotheoriginalproblem.Note:aslongasyou
donotmultiplybyzero,yoursolutionsarelikelytobevalid.

Example1:Solve

Example2:Solve

Firstnotethatxcannotbe3or1since
eachofthesecreatesanundefined
fractionintheoriginalproblem.

Firstnotethatxcannotbe8or3since
eachofthesecreatesanundefined
fractionintheoriginalproblem.

Theeasiestwaytostartthisproblemisto
crossmultiplytoget:

1
3

Theeasiestwaytostartthisproblemisto
crossmultiplytoget:

Then,
So,

Andfinally,

Then,

Check2:

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Check4:

Version 2.8

Andfinally,

So,

Checkwork:

April 19, 2016

Algebra
SolvingRationalInequalities
SolvingRationalInequalities
SolvingRationalInequalitiesisabitmoreinvolvedthansolvingRationalEquations.Thekey
issueintheInequalitiesiswhetherinthestepwhereyoueliminatethedenominator,youare
multiplyingbyanegativenumber.Remember,whenyoumultiplybyanegativenumber,you
mustflipaninequalitysign.
Thestepsinvolvedaresimilartothoseforsolvingrationalequations:

Multiplybywhateverexpressionsarenecessarytoeliminatethedenominators.
Identifywhenthedenominatorsarepositiveandwhentheyarenegative;setupcases
foreachsituation.Withineachcase,youwillneedtomeetmultipleconditions(i.e.,
usingthewordandbetweenconditionswithinacase).
Paycarefulattentiontowhichvaluesmaketheexpressionyoumultiplyequaltozero
(becauseyouarenotallowedtomultiplybothsidesofaninequalitybyzero).
Solvetheremainingproblems.Anyofthecasesproducesvalidresults,soyoumust
combinethesolutionsforthevariouscaseswithors.
Checksampleanswersineachrangeyoudeveloptoseeiftheyaresolutionstothe
originalproblem.Alternatively,graphthesolutiontoseeiftheresultsarecorrect.

Example:Solve

Wewanttoeliminatethedenominator

Case1:
0
1
Then:
3
5 2
2
So,

3
Thesolutionhererequires:
1

3
Whichsimplifiesto:
3

butweneedtocreate2cases:
Thecombinedresultofthetwocasesis:
1

Tochecktheresult,wegraphthefunctionandsee
whereitproducesayvalueabove2;thisistheset
ofxvalueswherethedarkgreencurveintersects
thelightgreenregioninthegraphbelow.

Case2:
0

1
Then:
3
5 2
2
So,

3
Thesolutionhererequires:
1

3
Whichsimplifiesto:
1

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Algebra
IntroductiontoConicSections

Theintersectionofaconeandaplaneiscalledaconicsection.
Therearefourtypesofcurvesthatresultfromtheseintersections
thatareofparticularinterest:

Parabola

Circle

Ellipse

Hyperbola

Eachofthesehasageometricdefinition,fromwhichthealgebraic
formisderived.

GeometricDefinitions
ParabolaThe
setofallpoints
thatarethe

samedistance
fromapoint
(calledthe
focus)anda
line(calledthe
Directrix).

EllipseThesetofallpointsfor
whichthesumofthedistancesto
twopoints(calledfoci)isconstant.

CircleThesetofallpointsthatarethe

samedistancefromapoint(calledthe

center).Thedistanceiscalledtheradius.

Version 2.8

Hyperbola
Thesetofall
pointsfor
whichthe
differenceof
thedistances
totwopoints
(calledfoci)is
constant.

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Algebra
ParabolawithVertexattheOrigin(StandardPosition)

HorizontalDirectrix

VerticalDirectrix

CharacteristicsofaParabolainStandardPosition

HorizontalDirectrix

VerticalDirectrix

1
4

1
4

Equation

If

opensup

opensright

If

opensdown

opensleft

Eccentricity(e)

Valueofp(inillustration)

Vertex
Focus

0, 0 theorigin
0,

Directrix
Axisofsymmetry

0, 0 theorigin
,0

0(yaxis)

0(xaxis)

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Algebra
,

ParabolawithVertexat

HorizontalDirectrix

VerticalDirectrix

CharacteristicsofaParabolawithVertexatPoint

HorizontalDirectrix

1
4

Equation

VerticalDirectrix

1
4

If

opensup

opensright

If

opensdown

opensleft

Vertex
Focus

Version 2.8

Directrix
Axisofsymmetry

Eccentricity(e)

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
ParabolainPolarForm
HorizontalDirectrix

VerticalDirectrix

CharacteristicsofaParabolasinPolarForm

HorizontalDirectrix

Equation(simplified)

sin

VerticalDirectrix
1

cos

If"

"indenominator

opensup
DirectrixbelowPole

opensright
DirectrixleftofPole

If"

"indenominator

opensdown
DirectrixabovePole

opensleft
DirectrixrightofPole
1

Eccentricity(e)

distancebetweentheDirectrixandtheFocus
Note:pinPolarFormisdifferentfrompinCartesianForm

FocalParameter(p)

CoordinatesofKeyPoints:(changeallinstancesofpbelowtopif+isinthedenominator)
0,

Vertex

0,0

Focus

Directrix

Version 2.8

/2

/2, 0
0,0)

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
Circles

CharacteristicsofaCircle
inStandardPosition
Equation

Center

0,0 theorigin

Radius

Intheexample

CharacteristicsofaCircle
CenteredatPoint(h,k)
Equation
Center
Radius

CharacteristicsofaCircle
inPolarForm
Equation
Pole
Radius

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0, 0

April 19, 2016

Algebra
EllipseCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)

HorizontalMajorAxis

VerticalMajorAxis

CharacteristicsofanEllipseinStandardPosition

Intheaboveexample

HorizontalMajorAxis
5,

4,

VerticalMajorAxis

Equation

5,

Valueof" "

Eccentricity(e)

Center

0,0 theorigin
,0

MajorAxisVertices

Foci

Directrixes(notshown)

Version 2.8

Valuesof" "and" "

MinorAxisVertices

4,

0,

0,

,0

,0

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0,

April 19, 2016

Algebra
EllipseCenteredat

HorizontalMajorAxis

VerticalMajorAxis

CharacteristicsofanEllipseCenteredatPoint

HorizontalMajorAxis

Equation

Valueof" "

Eccentricity(e)

MajorAxisVertices

Directrixes(notshown)

Version 2.8

0
,

Center

Foci

VerticalMajorAxis

Valuesof" "and" "

MinorAxisVertices

Page 146 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
EllipseinPolarForm(Pole=OneFocus)

VerticalMajorAxis

HorizontalMajorAxis

CharacteristicsofanEllipseinPolarForm

HorizontalMajorAxis

Equation

cos

VerticalMajorAxis

sin

Valueofa

distancefromtheCentertoeachmajoraxisVertex

Valueofc

distancefromtheCentertoeachFocus

Eccentricity(e)
FocalParameter(p)

distance from each Focus to its Directrix

CoordinatesofKeyPoints:
If"

"indenominator

If"

"indenominator

Center

allcoordinatevaluesareshownbelow
changeallinstancesof" ", below,to"
,0

0,

"

MajorAxisVertices

,0

0,

Foci

,0

0,

Directrixes
Version 2.8

/
Page 147 of 178

/
April 19, 2016

Algebra
HyperbolaCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
HorizontalTransverseAxis

VerticalTransverseAxis

CharacteristicsofaHyperbolainStandardPosition

Intheaboveexample

HorizontalTransverseAxis
3,

4,

Equation

VerticalTransverseAxis

4,

3,

Valueofc

Eccentricity(e)

0,0 theorigin

Center
Vertices

,0

0,

Foci

,0

0,

Asymptotes

Directrixes(notshown)

Version 2.8

Page 148 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
HyperbolaCenteredat
HorizontalTransverseAxis

VerticalTransverseAxis

CharacteristicsofaHyperbolaCenteredatPoint

HorizontalTransverseAxis

Equation

VerticalTransverseAxis

Valueofc

Eccentricity(e)

1
,

Center

Vertices

Foci

Asymptotes

Directrixes(notshown)

Version 2.8

Page 149 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
HyperbolainPolarForm(Pole=OneFocus)
HorizontalTransverseAxis

VerticalTransverseAxis

CharacteristicsofaHyperbolainPolarForm

HorizontalTransverseAxis

Equation

cos

VerticalTransverseAxis

sin

Valueofa

distancefromtheCentertoeachVertex

Valueofc

distancefromtheCentertoeachFocus

Eccentricity(e)
FocalParameter(p)

distance from each Focus to its Directrix

CoordinatesofKeyPoints:
If"

"indenominator

allcoordinatevaluesareshownbelow

If"

"indenominator

changeallinstancesof" ", below,to" "

Center

,0

0,

Vertices

,0

0,

Foci

,0

0,

Directrixes

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
HyperbolainPolarForm(Pole=OneFocus)
PartialConstructionOvertheDomain: to
Itisinstructivetolookatpartialconstructionsofahyperbolainpolarform.Letstakealookat
acurveconstructedbyvarying from0to2 ,quadrantbyquadrant:

Intheplotsbelow,eachquadrantinthedomainisrepresentedbyaseparatecolor.The
portionofthecurveaddedineachillustrationispresentedasathickerlinethantherestofthe
curve.TheFociofthecurvearedarkbluepointsandtheDirectrixesarelightblueverticallines.

Thefinalcurvelookslikethis.
Thecurveisplottedoverthe
domain0
2 butcould
alsobeplottedoverthedomain
.

Thecosinefunctionhasamajor
impactonhowthecurvegraphs.
Notethetwoyellowpoints
wherecos
0.5.Atthese
points,thecurveisundefined.

Q II:Domain /2
.The
curvecontinuesontherightside
ofthegraphandgentlycurves
downtothexaxis.

Version 2.8

Q III:Domain
3 /2.
Thecurvecontinuesitsgentle
swingbelowthexaxis. Q IIIis
essentiallyareflectionofthe
curveinQ IIoverthexaxis.

Page 151 of 178

Q I:Domain0
/2.Note
thatthecurvestartsoutonthe
leftandswitchestotherightat
/3,wherethecurveis
undefined.

Q IV:Domain3 /2
2 .
Thecurvecontinuesontheright
andswitchestotheleftat
5 /3,wherethecurveis
undefined.

April 19, 2016

Algebra
GeneralConicEquationClassification

TheGeneralCaseoftheConicEquationis:

ThesecondtermmaybeomittedifthecurveisnotrotatedrelativetotheaxesintheCartesian
Plane,givingthesimplerform:

ConicClassificationTree
Inthisform,itisrelativelyeasytoidentifywhichtypeofcurvetheequationrepresents,using
thefollowingdecisiontree:
Examples:

Are
and

3
2
4 0
Theequationisnot
yes
bothmissing?

2
7
1 0
aconic.Itisaline.

no

Iseither
or
missing?

yes

Theequationisa
parabola.

yes

Theequationisa
hyperbola.

yes

Theequationisa
circle.

yes

Theequationisan
ellipse.

2
4

7
2

3
1

0
0

no

Arethesignson
and

different?

4
3

8
6

27
12

2 0
15 0

0
no

Are and the

samenumber?

4
16

10
8

0
5

12
12

3
13

0
0

no

Are and
differentnumbers?
(
)

Version 2.8

3
2

20
8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
GeneralConicEquationManipulation

Afteraconicequationisclassified,itmustbealgebraicallymanipulatedintotheproperform.
Thestepsinvolvedare:
1. Iftherearenegativecoefficientsinfrontofthesquareterms(
and/or
),youmay
choosetoeliminatethembymultiplyingtheentireequationby 1.
2. Groupthextermsontheleft,theytermsontheright,andmovetheconstanttothe
rightsideofthe=sign.Setupparenthesesaroundthextermsandtheyterms.
3. Factoroutthecoefficientsofthe and terms.
4. Completethesquaresforboththextermsandtheyterms.Becarefultoaddthesame
numberstoboththerightandleftsidesoftheequations.
5. Reducethecompletedsquarestosquaredbinomialform.
6. Ifnecessary,dividebothsidesbytherequiredscalarandrearrangetermstoobtainthe
properform.
Example1:
Solve: Equation

12

15

Step1: Changesigns

12

15

Step2: Groupvariables

Step3: Factorcoefficients

Step4: CompleteSquares

___

12

___

15

___

12

___

15

Step5: ReduceSquareTerms

Step6: Divideby

48

RearrangeTerms

12

15

36

48

36

Thefinalresultisahyperbola
withcenter(1,6)anda
verticaltransverseaxis.

Example2:
Solve: Equation

16

Step1: Changesigns

16

Step2: Groupvariables

16

___

Step3: FactorCoefficients

___

Step4: CompleteSquares

Step5: ReduceSquareTerms

Step6: Divideby4

Version 2.8

2
2

1
1

___

___
1

5
5

16

25

Thefinalresultisacircle with
center(2,1)andradius .

Page 153 of 178

April 19, 2016

ADVANCED

Algebra
ParametricEquationsofConicSections

Parabola(note:4

ParametricEquations

ParametricEquations

CenteredattheOrigin

Centeredat(h,k)

Circle
ParametricEquations

ParametricEquations

CenteredattheOrigin

Centeredat(h,k)

Ellipse
ParametricEquations

ParametricEquations

CenteredattheOrigin

Centeredat(h,k)

Hyperbola
ParametricEquations

ParametricEquations

CenteredattheOrigin

Centeredat(h,k)

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
IntroductiontoSequencesandSeries
Definitions

ASequenceisanorderedsetofnumbers.
ATermisanelementinthesetoforderednumbers.
AnInfiniteSequencehasnoend.AFiniteSequencehasafinalterm.
AnExplicitFormulaisonethatspecificallydefinesthetermsofthesequencebasedonthe
numberoftheterm.Byconvention,thenumberofthetermisusuallyexpressedinterms
ofthevariables or .Wetalkofthenthtermorthekthtermofthesequenceorseries.
ARecursiveFormuladefinesatermbasedononeormorepreviousterms.
ASeriesisanorderedsummationofasequence.

Example(SequenceandSeries):
3

Considerthesequencedefinedbytheexplicitformula:

1.

Thenotation referstothenthtermofthesequence.So,wecanconstructbothasequence
andaseriesfromthis.Herearethefirstseventermsofthesequenceandtheseries:
n

10

13

16

19

22

11

21

34

50

69

91

Sumof

Example(RecursiveFormula):
OneofthesimplestandmostfamousrecursiveformulasistheFibonacciSequence,definedas:

Thissimplymeansthateachtermisthesumofthetwotermsbeforeit.TheFibonacci
Sequencebeginswithapairofones,andusestherecursiveformulatoobtainallotherterms:
n

13

12

20

33

Sumof

Thissequencehassomeveryinterestingproperties,whichwillbediscussedonanotherpage.

Version 2.8

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ADVANCED

Algebra
TheFibonacciSequence
TheFibonacciSequencewasfirstpublishedin1202byLeonardoFibonacci(ofPisa).Itstarts
withapairofonesandcontinueswiththerecursiveformula:
.Thebeginning
ofthesequencelookslikethis:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987,

PropertiesoftheFibonacciSequence
Itispossibletospendalongtimeexploringthepropertiesofthissimplesequence.Herearea
fewofthemoreinterestingproperties:
Illustration1:Addthesequencetocreateaseries.
n

1
1
1

2
1
2

Noticethat:

3
2
4

4
3
7

5
5
12

6
8
20

7
13
33

8
21
54

9
34
88

10
55
143

Thatis,thenthsumisonelessthanthetermoftheoriginalsequencetwopositionsfurtherto
theright!
Illustration2:Calculatethesquaresandaddtheresultingsequencetocreateaseries.
n

Noticethat:

1
1
1
1

2
1
1
2

3
2
4
6

4
3
9
15

5
5
25
40

6
8
64
104

7
13
169
273

8
21
441
714

9
34
1156
1870

10
55
3025
4895

Thatis,thenthsumofthesquaresistheproductofthetwotermsfromtheoriginalsequence,
oneofwhichisinthesamepositionandoneofwhichisonepositiontotheright!

TheGoldenRatio(f)

RatiosofsuccessivevaluesoftheFibonacciSequenceapproachtheGoldenRatio:f
1.6

1.625

Theapproximatevalueoff

Version 2.8

1.615

1.619
1.618034

Page 156 of 178

Onewaytoexpressthisresultis:

April 19, 2016

Algebra
SummationNotationandProperties
SummationNotation
Mathematiciansarefondoffindingshorthandwaysofexpressingthings,sotheyinvented
notationforthesummationofnumbers.Ifweconsidertheseriesfor
3
1,the
notationfortheserieswouldbe:
3

Thissimplymeansthatthenthtermoftheseriesisdefinedbyaddingthefirstntermofthe
sequencefor
3
1.
Example:
n

10

13

16

19

22

11

21

34

50

69

91

Notethat

10

21.

Althoughitlookscomplicatedatfirst,afteryouwriteafewserieslonghand,youwillbeginto
appreciatetheshorthandnotation.

SummationProperties
Hereareacoupleofusefulpropertiesofsummations,allofwhicharebasedonthealgebraic
propertiesofaddition,multiplicationandequality. and aretwoseries.canddarereal.

Youcanfactoraconstantoutofa
summationifisafactorofalltheterms.

Thesumoftwoseriescanbebrokenout
intothesummationsforeachseries.

Thisisbasicallythedistributivepropertyof
multiplicationoveraddition.

Version 2.8

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Algebra
SomeInterestingSummationFormulas
Thefollowingareafewinterestingsummationseries.Thedevelopmentofsomeserieslikethis
maybepossiblewithalgebra,butothersrequireeithercalculusorthecalculusoffinite
differences.Note:parenthesesareusedintheformulastoaidreadingthem;theparentheses
arenotrequired.

1
2

1 2
6
1
2
1

2 !

1 2
6
1

2!

3!

1
2

2!

4!

6!

3!

5!

7!

4!
1

1
1

1
3

ln 1

cos

ln 1

Version 2.8

ln

!
1

ln

cos

1 !

sin

Page 158 of 178

sin

April 19, 2016

Algebra
ArithmeticSequences
AnArithmeticSequenceisoneinwhichthetermsareseparatedbyaconstant.Theconstant,
oftenindicatedbytheletterd,iscalledtheCommonDifference.Arithmeticsequences,then
meetthecondition:

,wheredisthecommondifference.

Example:
n

1
9

2
12

3
15

4
18

5
21

6
24

FirstDifferences

Inthissequence,thecommondifferenceis3.Ifthereisnotacommondifference,the
sequenceisnotarithmetic.

nthTermofanArithmeticSequence
Theformulaforthenthtermofanarithmeticsequenceis:

Theproblemwiththisformulaisthe
thatgetsmultipliedbyd.Sometimesthisishard
toremember.Analternativemethodwouldbetofirstcalculateatermzero,

Then:

,whichseemsanicerformula

Thevalueofthisalternativeisthatitalsoallowsthestudenttoestablishaformulain
formforthesequence,where istheyintercept,and ,thecommondifference,
istheslope.
Example:Intheaboveexample,thenthtermofthesequencecanbewritten:

Or,firstcalculate:
Then:

or

Thesetwoequations
areequivalent.

Eithermethodworks;thestudentshouldusewhicheveronetheyfindmorecomfortable.

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
ArithmeticSeries
AnArithmeticSeriesisthesumoftheelementsofanarithmeticsequence.Thesumofthefirst
ntermsofanarithmeticsequenceis:

Inwords,thesumistheproductofnandtheaverageterm.
,wecanderivethefollowingformula:

Since

Noticethatthe lastterm
isthesumofthefirstn
integers.Thatis,

Or,perhapsbetter:

Thislastequationprovidesamethodforsolvingmanyarithmeticseriesproblems.
Example:Findthe8thsumofthesequence
3

86

89
2

48

108

156

Tocheckthis,letsbuildatable:
n

Version 2.8

1
9
9

2
12
21

3
15
36

4
18
54

5
21
75

6
24
99

7
27
126

8
30
156

Page 160 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
PythagoreanMeans
Considerasetofnvalues.Wecantakeameanofthesenvaluesinseveralways.Thethree
classicalmethodsofcalculatingameanarecalledPythagoreanMeans.

ArithmeticMean
Thearithmeticmeanistheonethatstudentsaremostfamiliarwith.Itisalsocalledthe
average.Itissimplythesumofthenitems,dividedbyn.

Example:Calculatethearithmeticmeanof5testscores:92,94,85,72,99

92

94

86
5

74

99

89

Trick:Ashortcuttocalculatinganarithmeticmean:

TrickExample:

Estimateavaluefortheaveragebyeyeballingthevalues.For
theexampleabove,itlookslike90wouldbeagoodestimate.

Subtracttheestimatefromeachvaluetogetasetofn
differences.

Score

Valuevs.90

92

+2

94

+4

86

Addthendifferencesanddividebyn.

74

16

Addtheresulttotheoriginalestimate.Theresultisthe
arithmeticmeanoftheoriginalsetofvalues.Intheabove
1
89.
example,theresultis:90

99

+9

Total

Average

GeometricMean
Thegeometricmeanisthenthrootoftheproductofthenvalues.

Example:Calculatethegeometricmeanof2,9,and12:

Version 2.8

2 9 12

216

Page 161 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
PythagoreanMeans(contd)
HarmonicMean
Theharmonicmeanisreciprocalofthearithmeticmeanofthereciprocalsofthenvalues.It
hasapplicationsinscience.

1
1

Example:Sincetheharmonicmeanlookssoodd,itisusefultolookatareallifeexample.

Consideracarthattravels15milesat30milesperhour,thenanother15milesat15milesper
hour.Theaveragespeedofthecaroverthisdistanceisgeneratedbytheharmonicmean.
First,calculatetheaveragespeedfrombasicprinciples:
15milesat30milesperhourtakes30minutes.
15milesat15milesperhourtakes60minutes.
Totaltripis30milesin90minutes,foranaveragespeedof20milesperhour.
Now,calculatetheharmonicmeanofthetwospeeds:

2
1
30

1
15

3
30

60

20

ComparingMeans
ComparethevaluesofthethreePythagoreanMeansof3,6,and12:
:arithmeticmean

:geometicmean

3 6 12

:harmonicmean

Ingeneral,itistruethat:

However,ifthevaluesbeing
averagedareallthesame,

Version 2.8

Page 162 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
GeometricSequences
AnGeometricSequenceisoneinwhichtheratioofsuccessivetermsisthesame.Theratio,
oftenindicatedbytheletterr,iscalledtheCommonRatio.Geometricsequences,thenmeet
thecondition:

,whereristhecommonratio.

Example:
n

1
6

2
12

3
24

4
48

5
96

6
192

FirstRatios

Inthissequence,thecommonratiois2.Ifthereisnotacommonratio,thesequenceisnot
geometric.

nthTermofanGeometricSequence
Theformulaforthenthtermofanarithmeticsequenceis:

Theproblemwiththisformulaisthe
thatistheexponentofr.Sometimesthisishard
toremember.Analternativemethodwouldbetofirstcalculateatermzero,

Then:

,whichseemsanicerformula

Example:Intheaboveexample,thenthtermofthesequencecanbewritten:

Or,firstcalculate:

Then:

Thesetwoequations
areequivalent.

Eithermethodworks;thestudentshouldusewhicheveronetheyfindmorecomfortable.

Version 2.8

Page 163 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
GeometricSeries
AnGeometricSeriesisthesumoftheelementsofangeometricsequence.Thesumofthefirst
ntermsofangeometricsequenceis:

InfiniteGeometricSeries
OfparticularinterestareInfiniteGeometricSeries.Theseseriesneverend;theygoonforever.
Aninfinitegeometricseriesmayhaveasumastheseriesgoestoinfinity.Thesumsalongthe
wayarecalledPartialSums.Theformulaaboveworksforthepartialsumsofaninfinite
geometricseries.
Startingwiththeaboveformula,foraseriesthatdoesnotend,considerthecasewhere| |
lim

1
1

1:

So,

The

termshrinksasngetslarger,andintheinfinitecase,itdisappearsaltogether.

Convergence
Aninfiniteseriesconvergesifitapproachesasinglevalueasmoretermsareadded.Otherwise
theseriesdiverges.

Example:Showexamplesofwheretheseries:
For

theseriesgives:

For

theseriesgives:

Thislooksgood!
Uhoh!Thislooksverywrong!

Noticethatinthisseries,thecommonratio
.Thereasonwhythefirstvalueofxworks
andtheseconddoesnotisbecausethisseriesconvergesonlywhen| | 1.Thisisvery
commonforinfiniteserieswithincreasingexponents.
ThesetofvaluesforwhichaseriesconvergesiscalledtheIntervalofConvergence.Forthe
seriesintheexample,theintervalofconvergenceis| | 1or |
1 .

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
AFewSpecialSeries
SeriesInvolving
1

1
1

1
2

1
3

1
4

90

1
1

1
2

1
3

1
4

90

6
1

SeriesInvolvinge
1
!
1

2
2 !

1
2!

1
3!

1
4!

1
5!

1
2!

3
4!

5
6!

7
8!

9
10!

CubesofNaturalNumbers
ConsidertheSeriesofcubesofthenaturalnumbers:
n

27

54

125

216

343

36

100

225

441

784

So,thesumsofcubesaresquares.InfactsuccessivesumsarethesquaresoftheTriangle
Numbers.TheTriangleNumbersarethesumsofthesequenceofnaturalnumbers:
n

10

15

21

28

Version 2.8

Page 165 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra
PascalsTriangle
PascalsTrianglestartswiththenumberoneatthetopandcreatesentriesinsuccessiverows
byaddingthetwonumbersaboveit.Forexample,inthe4throw,thenumber6isthesumof
the3toitsupperleftandthe3toitsupperright.Thetrianglecontinuesforeverandhassome
veryinterestingproperties.

1
6

6
10

15

2
3

1
1

1
1

10
20

5
15

Row0

Row1

1
1

PropertiesofPascalsTriangle
TheTrianglestartswithRow0.Thenumberofarowisthevalueofthesecondnumberinthe
row.Then,therthnumberinrownisgivenby:
!
,

Thesymbol
comesfromProbabilityTheory,andrepresentsthenumberofwaysritems
canbeselectedfromasetofnitems.ThisvalueisalsoaBinomialCoefficient;thebinomial
coefficientsarethecoefficientsofthevariablesintheexpansionof
.
HereareafewotherinterestingpropertiesofPascalsTriangle:
Itissymmetricalongaverticallinecontainingthetopentry.
The
rowcontains
1 elements.
Thesumoftheentriesinrow is2 .
Itcontainsthenaturalnumbersintheseconddiagonal.
Itcontainsthetrianglenumbersinthethirddiagonal.

,whichishowthetriangleisformedinthefirstplace.

TwoOutcomeExperiments
Inatwooutcomeexperiment,likeflippingacoin,theprobabilityofan
eventoccurringexactlyrtimesinanexperimentofntrialsisgivenbythe
expressionatright.Thisisbecausethereare
outcomesforthe
eventoutofatotalof totalpossibleoutcomes.
Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra
BinomialExpansion

4StepstoaConstructingaBinomialExpansion
1. Startwiththebinomialcoefficients
2. Addinthepowersofthefirsttermofthebinomial
3. Addinthepowersofthesecondtermofthebinomial
4. Simplify

Considerthefollowingexample:Expandandsimplify

Step1:Startwiththebinomialcoefficients

4
3

Step2:Addinthepowersofthefirsttermofthebinomial

4
0

4
1

4
2

4
4

4
4

Step3:Addinthepowersofthesecondtermofthebinomial

4
0

4
1

4
2

4
3

Step4:Simplify:

1 16

1 4 8

3 6 4

9 4 2

27 1 1 81

Noticethefollowingabouttheexpansion:
1. Thereare
terms,where istheexponentofthebinomialbeingexpanded.
2. isthetopnumberineverybinomialcoefficient.
3. Thebottomnumbersinthebinomialcoefficientscountupfrom0to .
4. Whenatermoftheoriginalbinomialisnegative,thesignsinthesolutionalternate.
5. Theexponentofthefirsttermintheoriginalbinomialcountsdownfrom to0.
6. Theexponentofthesecondtermintheoriginalbinomialcountsupfrom0to .
7. Theexponentsofthetwotermsintheoriginalbinomialaddto ineverytermofthe
expansion.
Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

ADVANCED

Algebra
GammaFunctionandn!

Definition
0:

TheGammaFunctionisdefinedbythefollowingdefiniteintegralfor

Initially,thisintegralappearsdaunting,butitsimplifiesnicelyundercertainconditions,andhas
someveryinterestingproperties.

PropertiesandValues
ThefollowingpropertiesandvaluesoftheGammaFunctionareofparticularinterest:

!forintegervaluesof

Factorials

forvaluesof where

exists

for 0

!
. . .

foranyvalueof

SomeotherfunctionsrelatetotheGammaFunction.Examples:
:

StirlingsFormula
Forlargevaluesofn,StirlingsFormulaprovidestheapproximation: ! ~
DirectCalculation:

UsingStirlingsFormula:

Thisrepresentsanerroroflessthan0.1%.

Version 2.8

100! ~ 9.3326 x 10

Example:

100! ~ 200

~ 9.3248 x 10

Page 168 of 178

April 19, 2016

ADVANCED

Algebra
GraphingtheGammaFunction
GammaFunctionGraph
HereisagraphoftheGammaFunction.For
throughallthefactorials.

For0
1,thegraphmoves
asymptoticallyverticalas
0.

For
0,thefunctionhas
verticalasymptotesateach
integervalueandformsaU
betweentheintegers,with
alternatingpositiveandnegative
valuesbyinterval.

approaches
0as
becomesincreasinglynegative.

0,thefunctioniscontinuousandpasses

CalculatingG(x)
EachvalueofG(x)canbecalculatedusingthe
definitionoftheGammaFunctionontheprevious
page.Recallthatadefiniteintegralisameasure
oftheareaunderthecurveofthefunctionbeing
integrated.Basedonthis,wehavethefollowing
examplesofG(x) valuesandgraphsthatillustrate
thecurveswhichdeterminethosevalues.

Version 2.8

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April 19, 2016

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page

15
47
48
16
161
16
148,149
109
169
111113
130136
167
62
63
10
144
16
22
16
80
81
80
80
83
81
84
107
141,149

152
153

Version 2.8

Subject

AbsoluteValue
AbsoluteValueFunctions
Equations
Inequalities
AlgebraicProperties
ArithmeticMean
AssociativeProperty
Asymptotes
ConicSections
ExponentialFunctions
GammaFunction
LogarithmicFunctions
RationalFunctions
BinomialExpansion
BoxMethod
MultiplyingBinomials
MultiplyingPolynomials
CartesianPlane
Circles
ClosureProperty
Combinations
CommutativeProperty
ComplexNumbers
AbsoluteValue
AddingandSubtracting
Conjugate
Definition
GraphicalRepresentation
MultiplyingandDividing
OperationsinPolarCoordinates
CondensingaLogarithmicExpression
ConicEquations
Characteristics
Classification
Manipulation

Page 170 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page

140
154
52,53
105
10
96
97
120
116
52,53
124
93
95
16
64
103
146
145
147
72
103
106
117
109
110,115
105
117
116
56
104

Version 2.8

Subject

ConicSections
Definitions
ParametricEquations
(alsoseeentriesforspecificcurves)
ConsistentLines
ConvertingBetweenExponentialandLogarithmicExpressions
CoordinatesinaPlane
Cramer'sRule
2Equations
3Equations
CubicEquationsSumandDifferenceFormulas
Decay(Exponential)
DependentLines
DescartesRuleofSigns
Determinants
2x2Matrix
GeneralCase
DistributiveProperty
DividingPolynomials
e
Ellipse
CenteredatPoint(h, k)
CenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
PolarForm
EquationsSolvingbyFactoring
Euler'sEquation
ExpandingaLogarithmicExpression
ExponentialEquations
ExponentialFunctionGraphs
GraphingaFunction
SampleGraphs
Exponents
ConvertinganExponentialExpressiontoLogarithmicForm
ExponentialEquations
ExponentialFunctionsGrowth,Decay,Interest
Formulas
TableofExponents

Page 171 of 178

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Algebra Handbook
Index
Page

168
69
70
71
68
156
62
26
27
24
116
115
28
24
26
26
26
29
169
168
169
94
161
156
25
116
162
149
148
150
151
80

Version 2.8

Subject

Factorials
Factoring
ACMethod
BruteForceMethod
QuadraticFormulaMethod
SimpleCaseMethod
FibonacciSequence
FOILMethodofMultiplyingBinomials
Functions
AddingandSubtracting
Compositions
Definitions
Exponential(Growth,Decay,Interest)
GraphsofVariousFunctions
Inverses
LineTests
MultiplyingandDividing
Notation
Operations
TransformationBuildingaGraph
GammaFunction
GammaFunctionCalculating
GammaFunctionDefinition
GammaFunctionGraphing
GaussJordanElimination
GeometricMean
GoldenRatio(f)
Graph(look up the type of curve you are trying to graph)
GreatestIntegerFunction
Growth(Exponential)
HarmonicMean
Hyperbola
CenteredatPoint(h, k)
CenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
PolarForm
PolarFormConstructionOvertheDomain:0to2
i

Page 172 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page

16
80
80
83
82
52,53
52,53
44
43
46
45
14
25
25
25
128
126
127
126
16
25
53
38
38
38
11
112
117
111
114,115

Version 2.8

Subject

IdentityProperty
ImaginaryNumbers
i
Definition
Powersofi
SquareRootofi
InconsistentLines
IndependentLines
Inequalities
CompoundinOneDimension
GraphsinOneDimension
GraphsinTwoDimensions
TwoDimensions
Integers
IntegerFunctions
GreatestIntegerFunction
LeastIntegerFunctions
NearestIntegerFunctions
IntersectionofCurves
CircleandEllipse
GeneralCase
LineandParabola
Lines
InverseProperty
LeastIntegerFunctions
LinearDependence
LinearEquations
PointSlopeFormofaLine
SlopeInterceptFormofaLine
StandardFormofaLine
LinearPatterns
ln
LogarithmicEquations
LogarithmicFunctionGraphs
GraphingMethods
SampleGraphs

Page 173 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page

107,108
105
106
102
117
104
64
90
98
99
100
92
92
93
94
91
90
161,162
63
18
19
168
112
14
25
13
11
12
11
14
20
15

Version 2.8

Subject

Logarithms
CondensingaLogarithmicExpression
ConvertingaLogarithmicExpressiontoExponentialForm
ExpandingaLogarithmicExpression
Formulas
LogarithmicEquations
TableofLogarithms
LongDivisionofPolynomials
Matrices
Addition
AugmentedMatrices
AugmentedMatrixExamples(2x2)
AugmentedMatrixExample(3x3)
Division
IdentityMatrices
Inverseofa2x2Matrix
InverseofaGeneralMatrix
Multiplication
ScalarMultiplication
MeansPythagorean
MultiplyingPolynomials
MultiStepEquations
ReversePEMDAS
TipsandTricks
n!
NaturalLogarithms
NaturalNumbers
NearestIntegerFunctions
NumberPatterns
CompletingNumberPatterns
ConvertingaLinearPatterntoanEquation
IdentifyingNumberPatterns
RecognizingLinearPatterns
NumberSetsBasic
Odds
OperatingwithRealNumbers

Page 174 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page

9
9
142
141
143
39
41
40
154
55
9
166
9
10
38
83,84
61
60
60
124
65
119
118
65
62
61
120
122,123
125
121
75

Version 2.8

Subject

OrderofOperations
ParentheticalDevice
PEMDAS
Parabola
VertexatPoint(h, k)
VertexattheOrigin(StandardPosition)
PolarForm
ParallelandPerpendicularLines
ParallelandPerpendicularLinesSlopes
Parallel,CoincidentorIntersectingLinesFlowchart
Parallel,PerpendicularorNeitherLinesFlowchart
ParametricEquations
ConicSections
General
ParentheticalDevice
PascalsTriangle
PEMDAS
PlottingPointsonaCoordinatePlane
PointSlopeFormofaLine
PolarCoordinates
Polynomials
AddingandSubtracting
Definition
Degree
PolynomialsDevelopingPossibleRoots
Factoring
FindingExtremawithDerivatives
Graphs
GreatestCommonFactor
MultiplyingBinomials(FOIL,Box,NumericalMethods)
StandardForm
SumandDifferenceofCubes
SyntheticDivision
TestingPossibleRoots
VariableSubstitution
PowersandRootsTable

Page 175 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page

20
21
16
16
16
42
42
161,162
85
76
74
67
79
73
66
73
73
73
77
88,89
138
137
137
129
133
130
132
139
14
17
14

Version 2.8

Subject

Probability
ProbabilityandOdds
ProbabilitywithDice
PropertiesofAlgebra
PropertiesofAdditionandMultiplication
PropertiesofEquality
PropertiesofZero
PropertiesofInequality
AdditionandSubtraction
MultiplicationandDivision
PythagoreanMeans
QuadraticEquationsComplexSolutions
QuadraticFormula
QuadraticFunctions
CompletingtheSquare
DifferencesofSquares
FittingwithThreePoints
OpeningUporDown
PerfectSquares
StandardForm
VertexandAxisofSymmetry
VertexForm
QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable
RadicalEquations
RationalEquations
RationalExpressions
AdditionandSubtraction
MultiplicationandDivision
RationalFunctions
Domain
GeneralRationalFunctions
HolesandAsymptotes
SimpleRationalFunctions
RationalInequalities
RationalNumbers
ReflexiveProperty
RealNumbers

Page 176 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page

124,125
86
86
87
58
57
57
59
159
155
156
163
160
155
164
165
158
157
15
15
37
35
36
38
39
62
63
38
23
168
17

Version 2.8

Subject

Roots
Polynomials(i.e.,zeros)
RadicalRules
RationalizingtheDenominator
SimplifyingSquareRoots
ScientificNotation
AddingandSubtracting
ConversiontoandfromDecimals
Format
MultiplyingandDividing
Sequences
Arithmetic
Definitions
FibonacciSequence
Geometric
Series
Arithmetic
Definitions
Geometric
Special(,e,cubes)
SummationFormulas
SummationNotationandProperties
Signs
SignsofAddedorSubtractedNumbers
SignsofMultipliedorDividedNumbers
Slope
SlopeofaLine8Variations
SlopeofaLineMathematicalDefinition
SlopeofaLineRiseoverRun
SlopeInterceptFormofaLine
SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines
StackedPolynomialMethodofMultiplyingBinomials
StackedPolynomialMethodofMultiplyingPolynomials
StandardFormofaLine
StatisticalMeasures
Stirling'sFormula
SubstitutionProperty

Page 177 of 178

April 19, 2016

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page

158
157
17
123
122
52
51
49
50
54
34
31
32
33
29
30
17
14
124,125

Version 2.8

Subject

Summation(S)
Formulas
NotationandProperties
SymmetricProperty
SyntheticDivision
SyntheticDivisionComparisontoLongDivision
SyntheticDivisionProcess
SystemsofEquations
Classification
EliminationMethod
GraphingaSolution
SubstitutionMethod
SystemsofInequalitiesTwoDimensions
Transformations
BuildingaGraph
HorizontalStretchandCompression
Reflection
Summary
Translation
VerticalStretchandCompression
TransitiveProperty
WholeNumbers
ZerosofPolynomials

Page 178 of 178

April 19, 2016