Mr. Stephenson, High School Math Teacher

THIS CAN KILL US		THIS CAN SAVE US
		Thorium For Life

Hi! I'm Mr. Stephenson.

Revised 4/7/2013

Why Math?

How to Study
Math Anything

Accomplishment!
You Can!
Make It Happen!

Do, or do not,
there is no try!

A Little Math History

Ancient Computers

Place Value ;-)

Exact Units

Words

Why "x"?
Our Home
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Big Business

Decisions

Alcohol Can be a Gas!

Seatbelts?

In Defense of
The "Takers"

I teach math at Lowell High School in the Lowell Public School District, Lowell, MA, USA.
In School Year 2012-2013 (Fiscal Year 2013), I'm teaching:

Precalculus - College (1431/2) - Honors (1441/2)
Calculus - Honors (1443/4)

Here are class schedules, assignment sheets, and administrative information:

Sem	Periods	Room	Course Name	Mgmt Plan	Course #	Assignments 1	Assignments 2	MGB User
Both	Advisory	656	Advisory		--	--	--	Advisory656
S1	1,4a,5b	656	C-Precalculus	syl-CpCalc	1431	13q1aCpreCalc	13q2aCpreCalc	13s1CpreCalc
	7	656	H-Precalculus	syl-HpCalc	1441	13q1aHpreCalc	13q2aHpreCalc	13s1HpreCalc
	3	656	H-Calculus	syl-HCalc	1443	13q1aHCalc	13q2aHCalc	13s1HCalc
S2	1,4a,5b	656	C-Precalculus	s2plan	1432	13q3aCpreCalc	13q4aCpreCalc	13s2CpreCalc
	7	656	H-Precalculus		1442	13q3aHpreCalc	13q4aHpreCalc	13s2HpreCalc
	3	656	H-Calculus		1444	13q3aHCalc	13q4aHCalc	13s2HCalc

See grades and attendance here:

LHS Missed Work Make Up Policy Absence Policy

GeoGebra: Free mathematics software for learning and teaching

Interactive geometry, algebra and spreadsheet
From elementary school to university level
sks - Better than a graphing calculator and Geometer's Sketchpad

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Tutorials

Khan Academy: Free Videos and Interactive Math Exercises from Arithmetic to Calculus

The Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus
by Adrian Banner, Princeton University
Free Video lectures

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Updates from here down are infrequent and sporadic.

A High School Math Reference (http://bit.ly/sks23cuMaths)
My notes on the "why", "how", and "what" of selected high school math concepts.

Above link no longer works since Google took down the Knol system -- I'll fix it eventually.

Old Course Links

All

A Straight Line: From Geometry to Algebra

Derive the equations of a straight line from similar triangles.

Special Lines (Horizontal, Vertical, Perpendicular, Parallel, Identical), Distance, & Midpoint

Essence of Basic Transformations

Remainder Theorem, Synthetic Substitution, Synthetic Division

Inverses: From the Basics

Precalculus

Blitzer Checkpoint Movies

Calculus

Foliage Trip
Introduction to Derivatives, Integrals, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

Lab: The Tangent Line Problem
Introduction to limits for differentiation.

Lab: The Area Problem
Introduction to limits for integration.

Larson: p48, Introduction To Limits

Larson: p49, Example 1, Estimating a Limit Numerically

Larson: p56, problem 47

Course Handouts

Graphing Rational Functions

Other Stuff

You're going to college; so what high school math is really important, what will the colleges expect that you know? How do you prepare for the math placement tests you'll have to take? (If you don't pass the math placement tests, you'll have to take, and pay for, remedial math classes that don't count toward the requirements of your major.)

See Exercises in Math Readiness for University Study.

For a list of useful and interesting math web sites click here. (Updates sporadic.)

Past MCAS tests

Massachusetts Math Framework Learning Standards:

Algebra 1 (pre-requisite for both Geometry and Algebra II)

Geometry

Algebra 2

PreCalculus

4/5/2008: I've just found a wonderful alternative to Geometer's Sketchpad; get it here: GeoGebra.org.

The two main advantages to GeoGebra are:

it's FREE for everyone; and
it integrates geometry and algebra, and even some calculus.

My first attempt is All Conics from One Directrix, which I could never get to work in Geometer's Sketchpad, but was easy in GeoGebra.

I intend to use GeoGebra exclusively from now on, and to convert my existing Geometer's Sketchpad constructions to GeoGebra as time permits.

The Tangent Problem

Files:

Conic Sections

Paper Folding and Applications of Conic Sections
by Bruce Yoshiwara, Professor of Mathematics, Los Angeles Pierce College

All Conics from One Directrix

Matrices

Elimination vs. Augmented Matrix Row Operations:

Polynomials

Remainder Theorem and Synthetic Substitution/Division:

Polynomial Root Theorems:

Pascal's Triangle:

Area and Volume

Volume and Area of a Sphere by Cavalieri's Principle:

Calculus

Derivations of Derivatives

Rules

Trig Functions

Other Functions

Paper Calculator:

Math Reference Sheets: MCAS: ; MCAS-like:

Grid Paper Generator

Grid Paper:

Isometric Dot Paper: ; Isometric Line Paper:

Table of Common Logarithms:

Counting Board:

Graphing Calculator Help

TI calculator Guide Books

Mathcasts

Triangle Concurrency Points: Video, Sketch.

All Conics from One Directrix: Video, Sketch

Area of Trapezoid Inscribed in Semicircle: Sketch

Java Applets

Parabola: Vertex Form, Standard Form

Geometer's Sketchpad (version 3) files and Files:

Tree Height

Classroom Files on the Web

Geometer's Sketchpad (version 4) files and Files:

A Triangle Within a Triangle, Lab Project Instructions

n-gons, n = 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96; 96-gon looks like a circle!

KillBird (Projectile Motion)

Java Applets:

Triangle Angles, Lab Project Instructions

See grades and attendance here:
LHS Missed Work Make Up Policy	Absence Policy