Sadly, no I can’t. I know there is a method, and I am not really supposed to do all those huge calculations, but my mind just doesn’t seem to retain it. With BA, I am learning different ways of doing things. I learnt yesterday about the ‘area method’ for long multiplication. Cool! and I am regaining my confidence, which the first 2 chapters of pre algebra had really knocked!

I have always been interested in maths. I am almost 60 and my own education was patchy and truncated. I have read a lot, but not maths or science. I would love to understand maths, how it works, how to use it. Could you track viruses, predict earthquakes? And just the sheer fun of finally tracking down that x! I may never get there, but that’s no reason not to try. In fact if I was honest I would love to give myself a classical education, but I probably don’t have time normally (lockdown hopefully being an exception). So I decided to concentrate on maths. And I chose AoPS after much research as I want to understand the stuff rather than just learning how to do stuff. I am also doing maths reading. I just got a book out of the library called “Alex’s adventures in number land”, and a friend gave me a book she used with her kids called The History of Mathematics. I will be reading those too.

Hello again, from lockdown. I will be locked down for the next 4 weeks at least, so I am having a ‘maths camp’ in my house! However AoPS Pre Algebra is not going well. I am doing each chapter twice and still getting at least 50% of the exercises wrong at the first attempt. I usually understand the answer when I read it, but I don’t get there by myself. so.....I have taken advantage of AoPS offering beast academy Online for free for one month and have just started BA level 4. This is, sadly, not too easy! I do get everything right, but I do have to learn it first. Once I know what they are talking about, I can normally do it. But there is so much that is new to me. I may not get through the lot in a month....I have decided to work through EVERYTHING.....but it’s only $15 for a second month, so I will see how I go. As to how I do it, I don’t like the cartoon books, so I read the instructions for the lesson, watch Richard if the lesson has a video, read the instructions again, and go for it. You normally get 2 attempts at a question, and only once have I not been able to get it by the 2nd attempt. I’m doing every lesson in every chapter because I don’t know where the gaps are in my knowledge, and I don’t want to skip something that later turns out to be important. I hope you are all keeping well in these weird and unprecedented times. Take care and look after yourselves.

I got it! Thank you for the tip off. i wallowed a bit 2^n =1/8 2*2*2=8 gotta go fractions....so negative? 2^-3?Tested it 2^-3 =1/2^3 =1/8 The I realised, after a bit, looking at the above, what we actually needed was 2^12=8^n and then simply negate the answer. so this is my working 2^12 = 2^n*2^n*2^n (negated) = 2^n+n+n (what 3 numbers added make 12?) Thus 2^12=2^4*2^4*2^4 =8^4(negated) And 8^4 negated is 1/8^-4. One eighth to the power of negative 4 phew! Thank you for the tip off, I appreciate it.

Thank you. I’m off to the sofa with my notebook and a cuppa to consider this.

Seriously! An arithmetic mistake! Opps! Thank you so much. while you are here, you couldn’t please give me a hint on where to start with Express 2^12 as a power of 1/8 Not the answer, just an angle of attack please. Thank you.

Hello mathy people. I have a little “why am I wrong” puzzle for you. Find k. 3^3+3^3+3^3=243*3^k my working 27+27+27=81. 243/3=81 3^-3=1/3 thus 81= 243*3^-3 Their working. 3^3+3^3+3^3=3^1*3^3=3^4 243=3^4*3^1 We need to get rid of the 3^1 thus k= -1 As usual I can see why their way works, but not what I have done wrong with mine.... Thank you.....

Im into chapter 2 and I’m enjoying squares, and I just thought I would tell you all that the next perfect square year will be 2025 which is 45^2! And I worked that out all by myself by counting on perfect squares from the easy one of 40^2 (1600...easy) and then each one more is when a is the year a^2 + 2a + 1 thus counting on from sixteen hundred in perfect square years we get 1681 (41^2) 1764 (42^2) 1849 (43^2) 1936 (44^2) 2025 (45^2)!!!! Can you believe I just spent about an hour working that out just for fun! 😅😅😅😅😅 I never thought I would do sums for fun! Thank you @square_25 and others who are helping me on this journey.

Yes, this is a really good idea, and I need to remember to do this. 😀

Thank you for posting Lucy. It makes me very happy, and it’s very inspiring to hear another math ‘duffer’ has found her way through and to Pre Calculus no less! How exciting is that! Maybe one day I will be writing a post like this to encourage others on this mathy journey.

Exponentiation! What a brilliant word. I will be learning exponentiation next !!!

That’s a great idea if you think people would be interested.

3^2 is 3*3. (I just deleted my first reply i did 3*2 =6 🤭) so 3^2=9 2^3= 2*2*2? So 8? and if the above is correct then 2^4 would = 2*2*2*2=16

How do I tag you?

Square 25, The next chapter is exponents. All I know about them is squares and that is the number doubled...time 2.....and that is it. Do you think I should bash on with AoPS or do them first with Khan academy, and then try the chapter? I like AoPS and I’m enjoying the challenge and the little grey cells working, but am I setting myself up for disaster here?