Sunday, May 6, 2012

SAT Mental Algebra

Well, SATs are now over for this month but anytime we can exercise students' minds is not a waste of time IMO.


If x=2.76, what is the value of
(x-3)/(x-2) - (1-x)/(x-2)?
NO CALCULATORS - 30 sec...

(1) Would students think "there must be a trick here"?
(2)  Do you see value in this quickie?
(3)  It might be fun to have half the class use pencil, paper and calculator while other half does it mentally.
(4)  Of course most students should be careful when doing standardized test questions so we're not advocating quick mental math methods for all questions!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE Phone

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