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Foerster Alg. 1, Chapter 11 question


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DS is 14 and in 8th grade. We're working on chapter 11 in Foerster. It's been a bit slow, but that's ok. Now we've gotten to long division of polynomials, and this seems a bit much to me for algebra 1.

I remember starting this in algebra 2..... Am I remembering wrong?

I'd hate to leave it out if it is normally covered.

I'm thinking of skipping the rest of ch. 11, and moving on to ch. 12.

Thoughts?

 

ETA: yeah - he's not in high school, but I thought ya'll would have seen more of this here than the middle grades.

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He's done division and multiplication of polynomials already, and did fine with it. But long division is a whole 'nother beast. Was the division in the Key to book 6 long?

If so, I guess we're tackling it!

Edited by SailorMom
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Looked at the book - there are 5 or 6 long division problems at the end of the division section....

hmmm..... perhaps we just need to cover it briefly and not work through the more difficult sections....

 

Just a reminder that key to is consider easy for many people. Many recommend that a real algebra program after key to or use it as supplement. I just want to point it out it is part of standard algebra

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DS is 14 and in 8th grade. We're working on chapter 11 in Foerster. It's been a bit slow, but that's ok. Now we've gotten to long division of polynomials, and this seems a bit much to me for algebra 1.

I remember starting this in algebra 2..... Am I remembering wrong?

I'd hate to leave it out if it is normally covered.

I'm thinking of skipping the rest of ch. 11, and moving on to ch. 12.

Thoughts?

 

ETA: yeah - he's not in high school, but I thought ya'll would have seen more of this here than the middle grades.

 

And some of Foerster's Algebra I looks (and acts) more like algebra II. Can you look inside a TOC of a BJU or Saxon Algebra I book to see if they cover it and for how long?

 

HTH

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Sorry Kristy, but dividing polynomials is fairly standard for Algebra I. I have one student who is on the same chapter as you are in Foerster and another student who is doing the same thing but in Prentice Halls's Algebra I book. Saxon covers it as well and so does the Algebra I Teaching Company Course. Check the Khan Academy website if you need some additional help.

 

Good luck.

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Thanks all-

I'm fine with doing the math myself (so far I haven't hit a math road block :) ) - I just didn't want to overwhelm him. I asked my other son who is now in geometry honors (took algebra honors in 8th) in ps - he said they never got that far in the book...

So - it probably should have been covered when I was in algebra, but we didn't get that far either. We may have touched on it for a day or two.

It is covered far more extensively in algebra 2, so that's why I'm remembering it as part of that.

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It is in the middle of the Lial texts...

 

Remember teaching it in grade school?

 

Divide

Multiply

Subtract

Bring Down

 

Now in Algebra with polynomial long division it goes like this:

 

Divide

Multiply

Change the sign and draw your line

Combine (or Add)**

Bring Down

 

The HARD part of this for students is seeing the subtraction of the whole value they got when they divided... it is not as easy as just plopping a subtraction sign down (like in elementary). You have to subtract all terms.

 

I also have my students circle the 'old' sign and write the new sign above that when they 'change the sign and draw your line'. This is MUCH better than overwriting the sign change...

 

**A few students say 'change the sign and combine'

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