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You don't think graphing equations is an important function for any math done by kids in grades 7-12?

• deleted 7y ago
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• triceratops 7y ago
  Isn't that what graph paper is for?
• vkou 7y ago
  I think that knowing how to graph y = x^2 + x is a far more important skill than knowing how to punch it into a graphing calculator. "Oh, it's a parabola... Plus a slanted line. It's going to look like a parabola for large, and small values of x, but it's going to have an odd behaviour around the origin, where x^2 ~=~ |x|. If I compute the approximate values of y, when x = -3, -2, -1, -0.75, -0.5, -0.25, 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2 and 3, it's going to give me a great approximation of what the graph looks like." Those values are, to a rough approximation, 6, 2, 0, -0.2, -0.25, -0.2, 0, 0.3, 0.75, 1.3, 2, 6, and 12. Given that 'connect the dots' is part of the kindergarten curriculum, I don't think that connecting those data points should be that much of a challenge for the average grade 8 student. Now, compare that to the 'skillset' of plugging the formula into a TI-83...
  • saagarjha 7y ago
    > Oh, it's a parabola... Plus a slanted line. > If I compute the approximate values of y, when x = -3, -2, -1, -0.75, -0.5, -0.25, 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 2 and 3, it's going to give me a great approximation of what the graph looks like. FWIW, this was almost completely useless to me in visualizing the parabola. If I was doing this by hand, it's easy to find the roots and glance at the leading coefficient to figure out what it'll look like.
• deleted 7y ago
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