Algebra Handbook

MathHandbook
ofFormulas,ProcessesandTricks
(www.mathguy.us)
AlgebraandPreCalculus

Preparedby:EarlL.Whitney,FSA,MAAA
Version2.8
April19,2016
Copyright200816,EarlWhitney,RenoNV.AllRightsReserved
Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page Description
Chapter1:Basics
9 OrderofOperations(PEMDAS,ParentheticalDevice)
10 GraphingwithCoordinates(Coordinates,PlottingPoints)
11 LinearPatterns(Recognition,ConvertingtoanEquation)
12 IdentifyingNumberPatterns
13 CompletingNumberPatterns
14 BasicNumberSets(SetsofNumbers,BasicNumberSetTree)
Chapter2:Operations
15 OperatingwithRealNumbers(AbsoluteValue,Add,Subtract,Multiply,Divide)
16 PropertiesofAlgebra(Addition&Multiplication,Zero,Equality)
Chapter3:SolvingEquations
18 SolvingMultiStepEquations
19 TipsandTricksinSolvingMultiStepEquations
Chapter4:Probability&Statistics
20 ProbabilityandOdds
21 ProbabilitywithDice
22 Combinations
23 StatisticalMeasures
Chapter5:Functions
24 IntroductiontoFunctions(Definitions,LineTests)
25 SpecialIntegerFunctions
26 OperationswithFunctions
27 CompositionofFunctions
28 InversesofFunctions
29 TransformationTranslation
30 TransformationVerticalStretchandCompression
31 TransformationHorizontalStretchandCompression
32 TransformationReflection
33 TransformationSummary
34 BuildingaGraphwithTransformations
Version 2.8 Page 2 of 178 April 19, 2016

Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page Description
Chapter6:LinearFunctions
35 SlopeofaLine(MathematicalDefinition)
36 SlopeofaLine(RiseoverRun)
37 SlopesofVariousLines(8Variations)
38 VariousFormsofaLine(Standard,SlopeIntercept,PointSlope)
39 SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines
40 Parallel,PerpendicularorNeither
41 Parallel,CoincidentorIntersecting
Chapter7:Inequalities
42 PropertiesofInequality
43 GraphsofInequalitiesinOneDimension
44 CompoundInequalitiesinOneDimension
45 InequalitiesinTwoDimensions
46 GraphsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
47 AbsoluteValueFunctions(Equations)
48 AbsoluteValueFunctions(Inequalities)
Chapter8:SystemsofEquations
49 GraphingaSolution
50 SubstitutionMethod
51 EliminationMethod
52 ClassificationofSystemsofEquations
53 LinearDependence
54 SystemsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
55 ParametricEquations
Chapter9:Exponents(Basic)andScientificNotation
56 ExponentFormulas
57 ScientificNotation(Format,Conversion)
58 AddingandSubtractingwithScientificNotation
59 MultiplyingandDividingwithScientificNotation

Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page Description
Chapter10:PolynomialsBasic
60 IntroductiontoPolynomials
61 AddingandSubtractingPolynomials
62 MultiplyingBinomials(FOIL,Box,NumericalMethods)
63 MultiplyingPolynomials
64 DividingPolynomials
65 FactoringPolynomials
66 SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions(PerfectSquares)
67 SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions(DifferencesofSquares)
68 FactoringTrinomialsSimpleCaseMethod
69 FactoringTrinomialsACMethod
70 FactoringTrinomialsBruteForceMethod
71 FactoringTrinomialsQuadraticFormulaMethod
72 SolvingEquationsbyFactoring
Chapter11:QuadraticFunctions
73 IntroductiontoQuadraticFunctions
74 CompletingtheSquare
75 TableofPowersandRoots
76 TheQuadraticFormula
77 QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable
79 FittingaQuadraticthroughThreePoints
Chapter12:ComplexNumbers
80 ComplexNumbersIntroduction
81 OperationswithComplexNumbers
82 TheSquareRootofi
83 ComplexNumbersGraphicalRepresentation
84 ComplexNumberOperationsinPolarCoordinates
85 ComplexSolutionstoQuadraticEquations

Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page Description
Chapter13:Radicals
86 RadicalRules
87 SimplifyingSquareRoots(ExtractingSquares,ExtractingPrimes)
88 SolvingRadicalEquations
89 SolvingRadicalEquations(PositiveRoots,TheMissingStep)
Chapter14:Matrices
90 AdditionandScalarMultiplication
91 MultiplyingMatrices
92 MatrixDivisionandIdentityMatrices
93 Inverseofa2x2Matrix
94 CalculatingInversesTheGeneralCase(GaussJordanElimination)
95 DeterminantsTheGeneralCase
96 CramersRule2Equations
97 CramersRule3Equations
98 AugmentedMatrices
99 2x2AugmentedMatrixExamples
100 3x3AugmentedMatrixExample
Chapter15:ExponentsandLogarithms
101 ExponentFormulas
102 LogarithmFormulas
103 e
104 TableofExponentsandLogs
105 ConvertingBetweenExponentialandLogarithmicForms
106 ExpandingLogarithmicExpressions
107 CondensingLogarithmicExpressions
108 CondensingLogarithmicExpressionsMoreExamples
109 GraphinganExponentialFunction
110 FourExponentialFunctionGraphs
111 GraphingaLogarithmicFunction
114 FourLogarithmicFunctionGraphs
115 GraphsofVariousFunctions
116 ApplicationsofExponentialFunctions(Growth,Decay,Interest)
117 SolvingExponentialandLogarithmicEquations

Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page Description
Chapter16:PolynomialsIntermediate
118 PolynomialFunctionGraphs
119 FindingExtremawithDerivatives
120 FactoringHigherDegreePolynomialsSumandDifferenceofCubes
121 FactoringHigherDegreePolynomialsVariableSubstitution
122 FactoringHigherDegreePolynomialsSyntheticDivision
123 ComparingSyntheticDivisionandLongDivision
124 ZerosofPolynomialsDevelopingPossibleRoots
125 ZerosofPolynomialsTestingPossibleRoots
126 IntersectionsofCurves(GeneralCase,TwoLines)
127 IntersectionsofCurves(aLineandaParabola)
128 IntersectionsofCurves(aCircleandanEllipse)
Chapter17:RationalFunctions
129 DomainsofRationalFunctions
130 HolesandAsymptotes
131 GraphingRationalFunctions
131 SimpleRationalFunctions
132 SimpleRationalFunctionsExample
133 GeneralRationalFunctions
135 GeneralRationalFunctionsExample
137 OperatingwithRationalExpressions
138 SolvingRationalEquations
139 SolvingRationalInequalities
Chapter18:ConicSections
140 IntroductiontoConicSections
141 ParabolawithVertexattheOrigin(StandardPosition)
142 ParabolawithVertexatPoint(h, k)
143 ParabolainPolarForm
144 Circles
145 EllipseCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
146 EllipseCenteredatPoint(h, k)
147 EllipseinPolarForm
148 HyperbolaCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
149 HyperbolaCenteredatPoint(h, k)
150 HyperbolainPolarForm
151 HyperbolaConstructionOvertheDomain:0to2
152 GeneralConicEquationClassification
153 GeneralConicFormulaManipulation(Steps,Examples)
154 ParametricEquationsofConicSections

Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
Page Description
Chapter19:SequencesandSeries
155 IntroductiontoSequencesandSeries
156 FibonacciSequence
157 SummationNotationandProperties
158 SomeInterestingSummationFormulas
159 ArithmeticSequences
160 ArithmeticSeries
161 PythagoreanMeans(Arithmetic,Geometric)
162 PythagoreanMeans(Harmonic)
163 GeometricSequences
164 GeometricSeries
165 AFewSpecialSeries(,e,cubes)
166 PascalsTriangle
167 BinomialExpansion
168 GammaFunctionandn !
169 GraphingtheGammaFunction
170 Index
UsefulWebsites
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Algebra Handbook
Table of Contents
SchaumsOutlines
AnimportantstudentresourceforanyhighschoolmathstudentisaSchaumsOutline.Eachbook
inthisseriesprovidesexplanationsofthevarioustopicsinthecourseandasubstantialnumberof
problemsforthestudenttotry.Manyoftheproblemsareworkedoutinthebook,sothestudent
canseeexamplesofhowtheyshouldbesolved.
SchaumsOutlinesareavailableatAmazon.com,Barnes&Noble,Bordersandotherbooksellers.
Note: This study guide was prepared to be a companion to most books on the subject of High
School Algebra. In particular, I used the following texts to determine which subjects to include
in this guide.
Algebra 1 , by James Schultz, Paul Kennedy, Wade Ellis Jr, and Kathleen Hollowelly.
Algebra 2 , by James Schultz, Wade Ellis Jr, Kathleen Hollowelly, and Paul Kennedy.
Although a significant effort was made to make the material in this study guide original, some
material from these texts was used in the preparation of the study guide.

Algebra
OrderofOperations
Tothenonmathematician,theremayappeartobemultiplewaystoevaluateanalgebraic
expression.Forexample,howwouldoneevaluatethefollowing?
347 65
Youcouldworkfromlefttoright,oryoucouldworkfromrighttoleft,oryoucoulddoany
numberofotherthingstoevaluatethisexpression.Asyoumightexpect,mathematiciansdo
notlikethisambiguity,sotheydevelopedasetofrulestomakesurethatanytwopeople
evaluatinganexpressionwouldgetthesameanswer.
PEMDAS
Inordertoevaluateexpressionsliketheoneabove,mathematicianshavedefinedanorderof
operationsthatmustbefollowedtogetthecorrectvaluefortheexpression.Theacronymthat
canbeusedtorememberthisorderisPEMDAS.Alternatively,youcouldusethemnemonic
phrasePleaseExcuseMyDearAuntSallyormakeupyourownwaytomemorizetheorderof
operations.ThecomponentsofPEMDASare:
P AnythinginParenthesesisevaluatedfirst.
Usuallywhentherearemultiple
E ItemswithExponentsareevaluatednext. operationsinthesamecategory,
M Multiplicationand forexample3multiplications,
D Divisionareperformednext. theycanbeperformedinany
order,butitiseasiesttowork
A Additionand
fromlefttoright.
S Subtractionareperformedlast.
ParentheticalDevice.Ausefuldeviceistouseapplyparenthesestohelpyouremember
theorderofoperationswhenyouevaluateanexpression.Parenthesesareplacedaroundthe
itemshighestintheorderofoperations;thensolvingtheproblembecomesmorenatural.
UsingPEMDASandthisparentheticaldevice,wesolvetheexpressionaboveasfollows:
InitialExpression: 3 4 7 65 Note:Anyexpressionwhichis
ambiguous,liketheoneabove,is
Addparentheses/brackets: 347 6 5 poorlywritten.Studentsshouldstrive
SolveusingPEMDAS: 84 6 25 toensurethatanyexpressionsthey
writeareeasilyunderstoodbyothers
84 150 andbythemselves.Useofparentheses
FinalAnswer 234 andbracketsisagoodwaytomake
yourworkmoreunderstandable.

Algebra
GraphingwithCoordinates
Graphsintwodimensionsareverycommoninalgebraandareoneofthemostcommon
algebraapplicationsinreallife.
y
Coordinates
Quadrant2 Quadrant1
Theplaneofpointsthatcanbegraphedin2dimensionsis
calledtheRectangularCoordinatePlaneortheCartesian x
CoordinatePlane(namedaftertheFrenchmathematician
andphilosopherRenDescartes). Quadrant3 Quadrant4
Twoaxesaredefined(usuallycalledthexandyaxes).
Eachpointontheplanehasanxvalueandayvalue,writtenas:(xvalue,yvalue)
Thepoint(0,0)iscalledtheorigin,andisusuallydenotedwiththeletterO.
Theaxesbreaktheplaneinto4quadrants,asshownabove.TheybeginwithQuadrant1
wherexandyarebothpositiveandincreasenumericallyinacounterclockwisefashion.
PlottingPointsonthePlane
Whenplottingpoints,
thexvaluedetermineshowfarright(positive)orleft(negative)oftheoriginthepointis
plotted.
Theyvaluedetermineshowfarup(positive)ordown(negative)fromtheoriginthepointis
plotted.
Examples:
Thefollowingpointsareplottedinthefigureto
theright:
A=(2,3) inQuadrant1
B=(3,2) inQuadrant2
C=(2,2) inQuadrant3
D=(4,1) inQuadrant4
O=(0,0) isnotinanyquadrant

Algebra
LinearPatterns
RecognizingLinearPatterns
Thefirststeptorecognizingapatternistoarrangeasetofnumbersinatable.Thetablecan
beeitherhorizontalorvertical.Here,weconsiderthepatterninahorizontalformat.More
advancedanalysisgenerallyusestheverticalformat.
Considerthispattern:
xvalue 0 1 2 3 4 5
yvalue 6 9 12 15 18 21
Toanalyzethepattern,wecalculatedifferencesofsuccessivevaluesinthetable.Theseare
calledfirstdifferences.Ifthefirstdifferencesareconstant,wecanproceedtoconvertingthe
patternintoanequation.Ifnot,wedonothavealinearpattern.Inthiscase,wemaychoose
tocontinuebycalculatingdifferencesofthefirstdifferences,whicharecalledsecond
differences,andsoonuntilwegetapatternwecanworkwith.
Intheexampleabove,wegetaconstantsetoffirstdifferences,whichtellsusthatthepattern
isindeedlinear.
xvalue 0 1 2 3 4 5
yvalue 6 9 12 15 18 21
FirstDifferences 3 3 3 3 3
ConvertingaLinearPatterntoanEquation
Note:Ifthetabledoesnothavea
Creatinganequationfromthepatterniseasyifyouhave valueforx=0,youcanstillobtain
constantdifferencesandayvalueforx=0.Inthiscase, thevalueofb.Simplyextendthe
Theequationtakestheform ,where tableleftorrightuntilyouhavean
mistheconstantdifferencefromthetable,and xvalueof0;thenusethefirst
bistheyvaluewhenx=0. differencestocalculatewhatthe
correspondingyvaluewouldbe.
Intheexampleabove,thisgivesustheequation: . Thisbecomesyourvalueofb.
Finally,itisagoodideatotestyourequation.Forexample,if 4,theaboveequationgives
34 6 18,whichisthevalueinthetable.Sowecanbeprettysureourequationis
correct.

ADVANCED
Algebra
IdentifyingNumberPatterns
Whenlookingatpatternsinnumbers,isisoftenusefultotakedifferencesofthenumbersyou
areprovided.Ifthefirstdifferencesarenotconstant,takedifferencesagain.
n
3
2
1 Whenfirstdifferencesareconstant,thepatternrepresentsa
2
1 linearequation.Inthiscase,theequationis:y=2x5 .The
2
3 constantdifferenceisthecoefficientofxintheequation.
2
5
2
7
n 2
2 Whenseconddifferencesareconstant,thepatternrepresentsa
3
5 2
5 quadraticequation.Inthiscase,theequationis:y=x 2 +1 .The
10 2
7 constantdifference,dividedby2,givesthecoefficientofx2inthe
17 2
9 equation.
26 2
11
37
Whentakingsuccessivedifferencesyieldspatternsthatdonotseemtolevelout,thepattern
maybeeitherexponentialorrecursive.
n 2
5 Inthepatterntotheleft,noticethatthefirstandsecond
2
7 2 differencesarethesame.Youmightalsonoticethatthese
4
11 4 differencesaresuccessivepowersof2.Thisistypicalforan
8
19 8
16 exponentialpattern.Inthiscase,theequationis:y=2 x +3 .
35 16
32
67
n 2 Inthepatterntotheleft,noticethatthefirstandsecond
2 differencesappeartoberepeatingtheoriginalsequence.When
1
3 1 thishappens,thesequencemayberecursive.Thismeansthat
2
5 1 eachnewtermisbasedonthetermsbeforeit.Inthiscase,the
3
8 2 equationis:y n =y n1 +y n2 ,meaningthattogeteachnewterm,
5
13 3
8 youaddthetwotermsbeforeit.
21

ADVANCED
Algebra
CompletingNumberPatterns
Thefirststepincompletinganumberpatternistoidentifyit.Then,workfromtherighttotheleft,fillingin
thehighestorderdifferencesfirstandworkingbackwards(left)tocompletethetable.Belowaretwo
examples.
Example1 Example2
n Considerintheexamplesthesequencesofsix n
1 numberswhichareprovidedtothestudent.Youare 2
6 askedtofindtheninthtermofeachsequence. 3
25 5
62 8
123 13
214 21
n 2
3
Step1:Createatableofdifferences.Takesuccessive n 2
3
1 differencesuntilyougetacolumnofconstant 2
7 1
6 12 differences(Example1)oracolumnthatappearsto 3 1
19 6 2 0
25 18 repeatapreviouscolumnofdifferences(Example2). 5 1
37 6 3 1
62 24 8 2
61 6 5 1
123 30 13 3
91 8
214 21
n 2
3
Step2:Inthelastcolumnofdifferencesyoucreated, n 2
3
1 continuetheconstantdifferences(Example1)orthe 2
7 1
6 12 repeateddifferences(Example2)downthetable. 3 1
19 6 2 0
25 18 Createasmanyentriesasyouwillneedtosolvethe 5 1
37 6 3 1
62 24 problem.Forexample,ifyouaregiven6termsand 8 2
61 6 5 1
123 30 askedtofindthe9thterm,youwillneed3(=96) 13 3
91 6 8 2
214 additionalentriesinthelastcolumn. 21
6 3
6 5
n 2 3 Step3:Workbackwards(fromrighttoleft),fillingin n 2 3
1 eachcolumnbyaddingthedifferencesinthecolumn 2
7 1
6 12 totheright. 3 1
19 6 2 0
25 18 5 1
37 6 Intheexampletotheleft,thecalculationsare 3 1
62 24 8 2
61 6 performedinthefollowingorder: 5 1
123 30 13 3
91 6 2
8 2
214 36 Column :30+6=36;36+6=42;42+6=48 21 5
127 6 13 3
341 42 34 8
169 6 Column:91+36=127;127+42=169;169+48=217 21 5
510 48 55 13
217 34
727 Columnn:214+127=341;341+169=510;510+217=727 89
Thefinalanswerstotheexamplesaretheninthitemsineachsequence,theitemsinboldred.

Algebra
BasicNumberSets

NumberSet Definition Examples
NaturalNumbers(or, Numbersthatyouwouldnormally 1,2,3,4,5,6,

CountingNumbers) countwith.
Addthenumberzerotothesetof
WholeNumbers 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,
NaturalNumbers
Wholenumbersplusthesetof
Integers 3,2,1,0,1,2,3,
negativeNaturalNumbers
Anynumberthatcanbeexpressed Allintegers,plusfractionsand
mixednumbers,suchas:
RationalNumbers intheform ,whereaandbare
2 17 4
integersand 0. , , 3
3 6 5
Anynumberthatcanbewrittenin Allrationalnumbersplusroots
RealNumbers decimalform,evenifthatformis andsomeothers,suchas:
infinite. 2,12,,e
BasicNumberSetTree
RealNumbers
Rational Irrational
Integers Fractionsand
MixedNumbers
Whole Negative
Numbers Integers
Natural Zero
Numbers

Algebra
OperatingwithRealNumbers
AbsoluteValue
Theabsolutevalueofsomethingisthedistanceitisfromzero.Theeasiestwaytogetthe
absolutevalueofanumberistoeliminateitssign.Absolutevaluesarealwayspositiveor0.
| 5| 5 |3| 3 |0| 0 |1.5| 1.5
AddingandSubtractingRealNumbers
AddingNumberswiththeSameSign: AddingNumberswithDifferentSigns:
Addthenumberswithoutregard Ignorethesignsandsubtractthe
tosign. smallernumberfromthelargerone.
Givetheanswerthesamesignas Givetheanswerthesignofthenumber
theoriginalnumbers. withthegreaterabsolutevalue.
Examples: Examples:
6 3 9 6 3 3
12 6 18 7 11 4
SubtractingNumbers:
Changethesignofthenumberornumbersbeingsubtracted.
Addtheresultingnumbers.
Examples:
6 3 6 3 3
13 4 13 4 9
MultiplyingandDividingRealNumbers
NumberswiththeSameSign: NumberswithDifferentSigns:
Multiplyordividethenumbers Multiplyordividethenumberswithout
withoutregardtosign. regardtosign.
Givetheanswera+sign. Givetheanswerasign.
Examples: Examples:
6 3 18 18 6 3 18
12 3 4 4 12 3 4

Algebra
PropertiesofAlgebra
PropertiesofAdditionandMultiplication.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:
Property DefinitionforAddition DefinitionforMultiplication
ClosureProperty isarealnumber isarealnumber
IdentityProperty 0 0 1 1
1 1
InverseProperty 0 0, 1
CommutativeProperty
AssociativeProperty
DistributiveProperty
PropertiesofZero.Foranyrealnumbera:
Multiplicationby0 0 0 0
0DividedbySomething 0, 0
Divisionby0 is undefined even if a 0

Algebra
PropertiesofAlgebra
OperationalPropertiesofEquality.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:

Property Definition
AdditionProperty ,
SubtractionProperty ,
MultiplicationProperty ,
DivisionProperty 0,
OtherPropertiesofEquality.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:

Property Definition
ReflexiveProperty
SymmetricProperty ,
TransitiveProperty ,
SubstitutionProperty If , then either can be substituted for the

other in any equation (or inequality).

Algebra
SolvingMultiStepEquations
ReversePEMDAS
OnesystematicwaytoapproachmultistepequationsisReversePEMDAS.PEMDASdescribes
theorderofoperationsusedtoevaluateanexpression.Solvinganequationistheoppositeof
evaluatingit,soreversingthePEMDASorderofoperationsseemsappropriate.
Theguidingprinciplesintheprocessare:
Eachstepworkstowardisolatingthevariableforwhichyouaretryingtosolve.
EachstepundoesanoperationinReversePEMDASorder:
Inverses
Subtraction Addition Note:Logarithmsarethe
Inverses inverseoperatortoexponents.
Division Multiplication Thistopicistypicallycoveredin
Exponents Inverses
Logarithms
thesecondyearofAlgebra.
Parentheses Inverses
RemoveParentheses(andrepeatprocess)
Thelistaboveshowsinverseoperationrelationships.Inordertoundoanoperation,you
performitsinverseoperation.Forexample,toundoaddition,yousubtract;toundodivision,
youmultiply.Hereareacoupleofexamples:
Example1 Example2
Solve: 3 4 14 Solve: 2 2 5 3 5
Step1:Add4 4 4 Step1:Add3 3 3
Result: 3 18 Result: 2 2 5 2
Step2:Divideby3 3 3 Step2:Divideby2 2 2
Result: 6
Result: 2 5 1
Noticethatweaddandsubtractbeforewe Step3:Removeparentheses
multiplyanddivide.ReversePEMDAS. Result: 2 5 1
Step4:Subtract5 5 5
Result: 2 6
Withthisapproach,youwillbeableto
Step5:Divideby2 2 2
solvealmostanymultistepequation.As
yougetbetteratit,youwillbeabletouse Result: 3
someshortcutstosolvetheproblemfaster.
Sincespeedisimportantinmathematics,learningafewtipsandtrickswithregardtosolving
equationsislikelytobeworthyourtime.

Algebra
TipsandTricksinSolvingMultiStepEquations
FractionalCoefficients
Fractionspresentastumblingblocktomanystudentsinsolvingmultistepequations.When
stumblingblocksoccur,itisagoodtimetodevelopatricktohelpwiththeprocess.Thetrick
shownbelowinvolvesusingthereciprocalofafractionalcoefficientasamultiplierinthe
solutionprocess.(Rememberthatacoefficientisanumberthatismultipliedbyavariable.)

Example1
Solve: 8 Explanation:Since isthereciprocalof ,

whenwemultiplythem,weget1,and
Multiplyby : 1 .Usingthisapproach,wecanavoid
dividingbyafraction,whichismoredifficult.
Result: 8 12
Example2 Explanation: 4isthereciprocalof ,so

Solve: 2 whenwemultiplythem,weget1.Notice
theuseofparenthesesaroundthenegative
Multiplyby 4: 4 4 numbertomakeitclearwearemultiplying
Result: 2 4 8 andnotsubtracting.
AnotherApproachtoParentheses
IntheReversePEMDASmethod,parentheses Example3
arehandledafterallotheroperations. Solve: 2 2 5 3 5
Sometimes,itiseasiertooperateonthe Step1:Eliminateparentheses
parenthesesfirst.Inthisway,youmaybeable Result: 4 10 3 5
torestatetheprobleminaneasierformbefore Step2:Combineconstants
solvingit.
Result: 4 7 5
Example3,atright,isanotherlookatthe Step3:Subtract7 7 7
probleminExample2onthepreviouspage. Result: 4 12
Usewhicheverapproachyoufindmosttoyour Step4:Divideby4 4 4
liking.Theyarebothcorrect. Result: 3

Algebra
ProbabilityandOdds
Probability
Probabilityisameasureofthelikelihoodthataneventwilloccur.Itdependsonthenumberof
outcomesthatrepresenttheeventandthetotalnumberofpossibleoutcomes.Inequationterms,
Example1:Theprobabilityofaflippedcoinlandingasaheadis1/2.Therearetwoequallylikelyevents
whenacoinisflippeditwillshowaheadoritwillshowatail.So,thereisonechanceoutoftwothat
thecoinwillshowaheadwhenitlands.
1 1

2 2
Example2:Inajar,thereare15bluemarbles,10redmarblesand7greenmarbles.Whatisthe
probabilityofselectingaredmarblefromthejar?Inthisexample,thereare32totalmarbles,10of
whicharered,sothereisa10/32(or,whenreduced,5/16)probabilityofselectingaredmarble.
10 10 5

32 32 16
Odds
Oddsaresimilartoprobability,exceptthatwemeasurethenumberofchancesthataneventwilloccur
relativetothenumberofchancesthattheeventwillnotoccur.
Intheaboveexamples,
1 1 10 10 5

1 1 22 22 11
Notethatthenumeratorandthedenominatorinanoddscalculationaddtothetotalnumberof
possibleoutcomesinthedenominatorofthecorrespondingprobabilitycalculation.

Tothebeginningstudent,theconceptofoddsisnotasintuitiveastheconceptofprobabilities;
however,theyareusedextensivelyinsomeenvironments.

Algebra
ProbabilitywithDice
SingleDie
Probabilitywithasingledieisbasedonthenumberofchancesofaneventoutof6possible
outcomesonthedie.Forexample:
2 5
TwoDice
Probabilitywithtwodiceisbasedonthenumberofchancesofaneventoutof36possible
outcomesonthedice.Thefollowingtableofresultswhenrolling2diceishelpfulinthisregard:
1stDie
2ndDie 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Theprobabilityofrollinganumberwithtwodiceisthenumberoftimesthatnumberoccursin
thetable,dividedby36.Herearetheprobabilitiesforallnumbers2to12.
2 5 8 11
3 6 9 12
4 7 10

Algebra
Combinations
SingleCategoryCombinations
Thenumberofcombinationsofitemsselectedfromaset,severalatatime,canbecalculated
relativelyeasilyusingthefollowingtechnique:
Technique:Createaratiooftwoproducts.Inthenumerator,startwiththenumberof
totalitemsintheset,andcountdownsothetotalnumberofitemsbeingmultipliedis
equaltothenumberofitemsbeingselected.Inthedenominator,startwiththe
numberofitemsbeingselectedandcountdownto1.

Example:Howmany Example:Howmany Example:Howmany
combinationsof3itemscan combinationsof4itemscan combinationsof2itemscan
beselectedfromasetof8 beselectedfromasetof13 beselectedfromasetof30
items?Answer: items?Answer: items?Answer:

876 13 12 11 10 30 29
56 715 435
321 4321 21
MultipleCategoryCombinations
Whencalculatingthenumberofcombinationsthatcanbecreatedbyselectingitemsfrom
severalcategories,thetechniqueissimpler:
Technique:Multiplythenumbersofitemsineachcategorytogetthetotalnumberof
possiblecombinations.
Example:Howmanydifferent Example:Howmanydifferent Example:Howmanydesigns

pizzascouldbecreatedifyou outfitscanbecreatedifyou foracarcanbecreatedifyou
have3kindsofdough,4kinds have5pairsofpants,8shirts canchoosefrom12exterior
ofcheeseand8kindsof and4jackets? colors,3interiorcolors,2
toppings? interiorfabricsand5typesof
Answer: Answer: wheels?Answer:

3 4 8 96 5 8 4 160 12 3 2 5 360

Algebra
StatisticalMeasures
Statisticalmeasureshelpdescribeasetofdata.Adefinitionofanumberoftheseisprovidedinthetablebelow:
Concept Description Calculation Example1 Example2
DataSet Numbers 35,35,37,38,45 15,20,20,22,25,54
Addthevaluesand
35 35 37 38 45 15 18 22 22 25 54
Mean Average dividethetotalbythe 38 26
5 6
numberofvalues
Arrangethevaluesfrom
(1)
Median Middle lowtohighandtakethe 37 21(1)
middlevalue(1)
Thevaluethatappears
Mode Most mostofteninthedata 35 20
set
Thedifferencebetween
Range Size thehighestandlowest 4535=10 5415=39
valuesinthedataset
Valuesthatlookvery
(2)
Outliers Oddballs differentfromtheother none 54
valuesinthedataset
Notes:
(1) Ifthereareanevennumberofvalues,themedianistheaverageofthetwomiddlevalues.InExample2,themedianis21,
whichistheaverageof20and22.
(2) Thequestionofwhatconstitutesanoutlierisnotalwaysclear.Althoughstatisticiansseektominimizesubjectivityinthe
definitionofoutliers,differentanalystsmaychoosedifferentcriteriaforthesamedataset.

Algebra
IntroductiontoFunctions
Definitions
ARelationisarelationshipbetweenvariables,usuallyexpressedasanequation.
Inatypicalxyequation,theDomainofarelationisthesetofxvaluesforwhichy
valuescanbecalculated.Forexample,intherelation thedomainis 0
becausethesearethevaluesofxforwhichasquarerootcanbetaken.
Inatypicalxyequation,theRangeofarelationisthesetofyvaluesthatresultforall
valuesofthedomain.Forexample,intherelation therangeis 0because
thesearethevaluesofythatresultfromallthevaluesofx.
AFunctionisarelationinwhicheachelementinthedomainhasonlyone
correspondingelementintherange.
AOnetoOneFunctionisafunctioninwhicheachelementintherangeisproducedby
onlyoneelementinthedomain.
FunctionTestsin2Dimensions
VerticalLineTestIfaverticallinepassesthroughthegraphofarelationinanytwolocations,
itisnotafunction.Ifitisnotpossibletoconstructaverticallinethatpassesthroughthegraph
ofarelationintwolocations,itisafunction.
HorizontalLineTestIfahorizontallinepassesthroughthegraphofafunctioninanytwo
locations,itisnotaonetoonefunction.Ifitisnotpossibletoconstructahorizontallinethat
passesthroughthegraphofafunctionintwolocations,itisaonetoonefunction.
Examples:
Figure1: Figure2: Figure3:
Notafunction. Isafunction,butnotaone Isaonetoonefunction.

Failsverticallinetest. toonefunction. Passesverticallinetest.
Passesverticallinetest. Passeshorizontallinetest.
Failshorizontallinetest.


Algebra
SpecialIntegerFunctions
GreatestIntegerFunction
AlsocalledtheFloorFunction,thisfunctiongivesthe
greatestintegerlessthanorequaltoanumber.There
aretwocommonnotationsforthis,asshowninthe
examplesbelow.
Notationandexamples:
3.5 3 2.7 3 6 6
2.4 2 7.1 8 0 0
Inthegraphtotheright,noticethesoliddotsontheleftofthesegments(indicatingthepointsare
included)andtheopenlinesontherightofthesegments(indicatingthepointsarenotincluded).
LeastIntegerFunction
AlsocalledtheCeilingFunction,thisfunctiongivesthe
leastintegergreaterthanorequaltoanumber.The
commonnotationforthisisshownintheexamples
below.
3.5 4 2.7 2 6 6
Inthegraphtotheright,noticetheopendotsonthe
leftofthesegments(indicatingthepointsarenotincluded)andthecloseddotsontherightofthe
segments(indicatingthepointsareincluded).
NearestIntegerFunction
AlsocalledtheRoundingFunction,thisfunctiongives
thenearestintegertoanumber(roundingtotheeven
numberwhenavalueendsin.5).Thereisnoclean
notationforthis,asshownintheexamplesbelow.
3.5 4 2.7 3 6 6
Inthegraphtotheright,noticetheopendotsonthe
leftofthesegments(indicatingthepointsarenot
included)andthecloseddotsontherightofthesegments(indicatingthepointsareincluded).

Algebra
OperationswithFunctions
FunctionNotation

Functionnotationreplacesthevariableywithafunctionname.Thexinparenthesesindicates
thatxisthedomainvariableofthefunction.Byconvention,functionstendtousethelettersf,
g,andhasnamesofthefunction.
OperationswithFunctions
AddingFunctions Thedomainofthecombination
offunctionsistheintersection
SubtractingFunctions ofthedomainsofthetwo
individualfunctions.Thatis,
MultiplyingFunctions thecombinedfunctionhasa
valueinitsdomainifandonlyif
thevalueisinthedomainof
DividingFunctions , 0
eachindividualfunction.
Examples:
Let: 1Then:
1 2
1
1, 1
Notethatin thereistherequirement 1.Thisisbecause 1 0inthe

denominatorwouldrequiredividingby0,producinganundefinedresult.
OtherOperations
Otheroperationsofequalityalsoholdforfunctions,forexample:

Algebra
CompositionofFunctions
InaCompositionofFunctions,firstonefunctionisperformed,andthentheother.The
notationforcompositionis,forexample: or .Inbothofthesenotations,
thefunctiongisperformedfirst,andthenthefunctionfisperformedontheresultofg.
Alwaysperformthefunctionclosesttothevariablefirst.
DoubleMapping
Acompositioncanbethoughtofasadoublemapping.Firstgmapsfromitsdomaintoits
range.Then,fmapsfromtherangeofgtotherangeoff:
Rangeofg
Domainofg Rangeoff
Domainoff
g f
TheWordsMethod
Intheexample,
Example:Let Thefunction sayssquaretheargument.
and 1 Thefunction saysadd1totheargument.
Sometimesitiseasiertothinkofthefunctionsin
Then:
wordsratherthanintermsofanargumentlikex.
And:
saysadd1first,thensquaretheresult.
sayssquarefirst,thenadd1totheresult.
Usingthewordsmethod,
Calculate: o 12 Calculate: o 2
g:add1toit 12 1 f:squareit 2 4
f:squareit g:add1toit 4 1


Algebra
InversesofFunctions
Inorderforafunctiontohaveaninverse,itmustbeaonetoonefunction.Therequirement
forafunctiontobeaninverseis:

Thenotation isusedfortheInverseFunctionof .
Anotherwayofsayingthisisthatif ,then forall inthedomainof .
DerivinganInverseFunction
Thefollowingstepscanbeusedtoderiveaninversefunction.Thisprocessassumesthatthe
originalfunctionisexpressedintermsof .
Makesurethefunctionisonetoone.Otherwiseithasnoinverse.Youcanaccomplish
thisbygraphingthefunctionandapplyingtheverticalandhorizontallinetests.
Substitutethevariableyfor .
Exchangevariables.Thatis,changeallthexstoysandalltheystoxs.
Solveforthenewyintermsofthenewx.
(Optional)Switchtheexpressionsoneachsideoftheequationifyoulike.
Replacethevariableywith the function notation .
Checkyourwork.
Examples:
Derivetheinverseof: 2 1
Derivetheinverseof: 2
Substitute for : 2 1
Substitute for : 2
Exchangevariables: 2 1
Exchangevariables: 2
Add1: 1 2
Subtract2: 2
Divideby2:
Multiplyby3: 3 6
Switchsides:
Switchsides: 3 6
ChangeNotation:
ChangeNotation:
Tochecktheresult,notethat:
Tochecktheresult,notethat:
1 1 2 1 1
o 3 6 3 2 6 o
3
2 2

Algebra
TransformationTranslation
ATranslationisamovementofthegraphofarelationtoadifferentlocationintheplane.It
preservestheshapeandorientationofthegraphonthepage.Alternatively,atranslationcan
bethoughtofasleavingthegraphwhereitisandmovingtheaxesaroundontheplane.
InAlgebra,thetranslationsofprimaryinterestaretheverticalandhorizontaltranslationsofa
graph.
VerticalTranslation
Startingform:
VerticalTranslation:
Ateachpoint,thegraphofthetranslationis unitshigheror
lowerdependingonwhether ispositiveornegative.The
letter isusedasaconventionwhenmovingupordown.In
algebra, usuallyrepresentsayvalueofsomeimportance.
Note:
Apositive shiftsthegraphup.
Anegative shiftsthegraphdown.
HorizontalTranslation
Startingform:
HorizontalTranslation:
Ateachpoint,thegraphofthetranslationis unitsto
theleftorrightdependingonwhether ispositiveor
negative.Theletter isusedasaconventionwhen
movingleftorright.Inalgebra, usuallyrepresentsan
xvalueofsomeimportance.
Note:
Apositive shiftsthegraphtotheleft.
Anegative shiftsthegraphtotheright.
Forhorizontaltranslation,thedirectionofmovementofthegraphiscounterintuitive;be
carefulwiththese.

Algebra
TransformationVerticalStretchandCompression
AVerticalStretchorCompressionisastretchorcompressionintheverticaldirection,relative
tothexaxis.Itdoesnotslidethegrapharoundontheplanelikeatranslation.Analternative
viewofaverticalstretchorcompressionwouldbeachangeinthescaleoftheyaxis.
VerticalStretch
Startingform:
VerticalStretch: , 1
Ateachpoint,thegraphisstretchedverticallybyafactorof
.Theresultisanelongatedcurve,onethatexaggeratesall
ofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.
VerticalCompression
Startingform:
VerticalCompression: , 1
Ateachpoint,thegraphiscompressedverticallybya
factorof .Theresultisaflattenedoutcurve,onethat Note:Theformsoftheequations
mutesallofthefeaturesoftheoriginal. forverticalstretchandvertical
compressionarethesame.The

onlydifferenceisthevalueof" ".

Valueof" "in
ResultingCurve

0 reflection
xaxis
1 compression
originalcurve
1 stretch


Algebra
TransformationHorizontalStretchandCompression
AHorizontalStretchorCompressionisastretchorcompressioninthehorizontaldirection,
relativetotheyaxis.Itdoesnotslidethegrapharoundontheplanelikeatranslation.An
alternativeviewofahorizontalstretchorcompressionwouldbeachangeinthescaleofthex
axis.
HorizontalStretch
Startingform:
HorizontalStretch: ,
Ateachpoint,thegraphisstretchedhorizontally
byafactorof .Theresultisawidenedcurve,one
thatexaggeratesallofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.
HorizontalCompression
Startingform: Note:Theformsoftheequations
HorizontalCompression: , forthehorizontalstretchandthe
horizontalcompressionarethe
Ateachpoint,thegraphiscompressedhorizontallybya same.Theonlydifferenceisthe
factorof .Theresultisaskinniercurve,onethatmutes valueof" ".
allofthefeaturesoftheoriginal.
Valueof" "in
ResultingCurve

0 reflection

horizontal line

1 stretch

originalcurve

1 compression

Note:Forhorizontalstretchandcompression,thechangeinthegraphcausedbythevalue
ofbiscounterintuitive;becarefulwiththese.

Algebra
TransformationReflection
AReflectionisaflipofthegraphacrossamirrorintheplane.Itpreservestheshapethe
graphbutcanmakeitlookbackwards.
InAlgebra,thereflectionsofprimaryinterestarethereflectionsacrossanaxisintheplane.
XAxisReflection YAxis Reflection
Startingform: Startingform:
xaxisReflection: yaxisReflection:
Notethefollowing: Notethefollowing:
Ateachpoint,thegraphis Ateachpoint,thegraphis
reflectedacrossthexaxis. reflectedacrosstheyaxis.
Theformofthetransformationis Theformofthetransformationis
thesameasaverticalstretchor thesameasahorizontalstretch
compressionwith . orcompressionwith .
Theflipofthegraphoverthex Theflipofthegraphoverthey
axisis,ineffect,avertical axisis,ineffect,ahorizontal
transformation. transformation.

Algebra
TransformationsSummary
Startingform:
Forpurposesofthefollowingtable,thevariableshandkarepositivetomaketheformsmore
likewhatthestudentwillencounterwhensolvingproblemsinvolvingtransformations.
TransformationSummary
FormofTransformation ResultofTransformation
Verticaltranslationupkunits.
Verticaltranslationdownkunits.
Horizontaltranslationlefthunits.
Horizontaltranslationrighthunits.
, 1 Verticalstretchbyafactorof .
, 1 Verticalcompressionbyafactorof .
, 1 Horizontalcompressionbyafactorof .
, 1 Horizontalstretchbyafactorof .
Reflectionacrossthexaxis(vertical).
Reflectionacrosstheyaxis(horizontal).

Transformationsbasedonthevalues
ofaandb(stretches,
compressions,reflections)canbe
representedbythesegraphics.

Algebra
BuildingaGraphwithTransformations
Thegraphofanequationcanbebuiltwithblocksmadeupoftransformations.Asanexample,
wewillbuildthegraphof 2 3 4.
Step1:Startwiththebasic Step2:Translate3unitsto Step3:Stretchverticallyby

quadraticequation: therighttogetequation: afactorof2togetequation:

Step4:Reflectoverthe Step5:Translateup4 FinalResult:Showthegraph

xaxistogetequation: unitstogetequation: ofthefinalequation:


Algebra
SlopeofaLine
Theslopeofalinetellshowfastitrisesorfallsasitmovesfromlefttoright.Iftheslopeis
rising,theslopeispositive;ifitisfalling,theslopeisnegative.Thelettermisoftenusedas
thesymbolforslope.
Thetwomostusefulwaystocalculatetheslopeofalinearediscussedbelow.
MathematicalDefinitionofSlope
Thedefinitionisbasedontwopointswith
coordinates , and , .Thedefinition,
then,is:
Comments:
Youcanselectany2pointsontheline.
Atablesuchastheoneatrightcanbehelpfulfordoing
yourcalculations. xvalue yvalue
Point2
Notethat impliesthat .
Point1
So,itdoesnotmatterwhichpointyouassignasPoint1
andwhichyouassignasPoint2.Therefore,neitherdoes Difference
itmatterwhichpointisfirstinthetable.
ItisimportantthatonceyouassignapointasPoint1andanotherasPoint2,thatyouuse
theircoordinatesintheproperplacesintheformula.
Examples:
Forthetwolinesinthefigureabove,wegetthefollowing:
RedLine xvalue yvalue
GreenLine xvalue yvalue
PointA 1 4 PointD 4 2
PointC 3 4 PointB 4 2

Difference 4 8 Difference 8 4

GreenLine: RedLine:

Algebra
SlopeofaLine(contd)
RiseoverRun
Anequivalentmethodofcalculatingslopethatismore
visualistheRiseoverRunmethod.Underthis
method,ithelpstodrawverticalandhorizontallines
thatindicatethehorizontalandverticaldistances
betweenpointsontheline.
Theslopecanthenbecalculatedasfollows:
Theriseofalineishowmuchitincreases(positive)ordecreases(negative)betweentwo
points.Therunishowfarthelinemovestotheright(positive)ortheleft(negative)between
thesametwopoints.
Comments:
Youcanselectany2pointsontheline.
Itisimportanttostartatthesamepointinmeasuringboththeriseandtherun.
Agoodconventionistoalwaysstartwiththepointontheleftandworkyourwaytothe
right;thatway,therun(i.e.,thedenominatorintheformula)isalwayspositive.Theonly
exceptiontothisiswhentheruniszero,inwhichcasetheslopeisundefined.
Ifthetwopointsareclearlymarkedasintegersonagraph,theriseandrunmayactuallybe
countedonthegraph.Thismakestheprocessmuchsimplerthanusingtheformulaforthe
definitionofslope.However,whencounting,makesureyougettherightsignfortheslope
oftheline,e.g.,movingdownasthelinemovestotherightisanegativeslope.
Examples:
Forthetwolinesinthefigureabove,wegetthefollowing:
GreenLine: Noticehowsimilarthe
calculationsintheexamples
areunderthetwomethods
RedLine: ofcalculatingslopes.

Algebra
SlopesofVariousLines

lineisvertical
Whenyoulookataline,you
4 shouldnoticethefollowing
2 aboutitsslope: 1
5 3
2
lineissteepandgoingdown Whetheritis0,positive,
lineissteepandgoingup
negativeorundefined.
Ifpositiveornegative,
whetheritislessthan1,
about1,orgreaterthan1.

Thepurposeofthegraphson
thispageistohelpyougetafeel
forthesethings.
Thiscanhelpyoucheck: 1
1
Givenaslope,whetheryou linegoesupata45angle
linegoesdownata45angle drewthelinecorrectly,or
Givenaline,whetheryou
calculatedtheslope
correctly.

3 2

17 11
lineisshallowandgoingdown lineisshallowandgoingup
0
lineishorizontal

Algebra
VariousFormsofaLine
TherearethreeformsofalinearequationwhicharemostusefultotheAlgebrastudent,each
ofwhichcanbeconvertedintotheothertwothroughalgebraicmanipulation.Theabilityto
movebetweenformsisaveryusefulskillinAlgebra,andshouldbepracticedbythestudent.
StandardForm
TheStandardFormofalinearequationis: StandardFormExamples
3 2 6
whereA,B,andCarerealnumbersandAandBarenotbothzero. 2 7 14
Usuallyinthisform,theconventionisforAtobepositive.
Why,youmightask,isthisStandardForm?Onereasonisthatthisformiseasilyextendedto
additionalvariables,whereasotherformsarenot.Forexample,infourvariables,theStandard
Formwouldbe: .Anotherreasonisthatthisformeasilylendsitself
toanalysiswithmatrices,whichcanbeveryusefulinsolvingsystemsofequations.
SlopeInterceptForm
SlopeInterceptExamples
TheSlopeInterceptFormofalinearequationistheonemost
familiartomanystudents.Itis: 3 6
3
14
4
wheremistheslopeandbistheyinterceptoftheline(i.e.,the
valueatwhichthelinecrossestheyaxisinagraph).mandbmustalsoberealnumbers.
PointSlopeForm
ThePointSlopeFormofalinearequationistheoneusedleastby
thestudent,butitcanbeveryusefulincertaincircumstances.In PointSlopeExamples
particular,asyoumightexpect,itisusefulifthestudentisaskedfor 3 2 4
theequationofalineandisgiventhelinesslopeandthe 2
coordinatesofapointontheline.Theformoftheequationis: 7 5
3

wheremistheslopeand , isanypointontheline.Onestrengthofthisformisthat
equationsformedusingdifferentpointsonthesamelinewillbeequivalent.

Algebra
SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines
ParallelLines
Twolinesareparalleliftheirslopesareequal.
In form,ifthevaluesof are
thesame.
Example: 2 3 and
2 1
InStandardForm,ifthecoefficientsof and
areproportionalbetweentheequations.
Example:3 2 5 and
6 4 7
Also,ifthelinesarebothvertical(i.e.,their
slopesareundefined).
Example: 3 and
2
PerpendicularLines
Twolinesareperpendiculariftheproductoftheir
slopesis .Thatis,iftheslopeshavedifferent
signsandaremultiplicativeinverses.
In form,thevaluesof
multiplytoget 1..
Example: 6 5 and
3
InStandardForm,ifyouaddtheproductof
thexcoefficientstotheproductofthey
coefficientsandgetzero.
Example:4 6 4 and
3 2 5because 4 3 6 2 0
Also,ifonelineisvertical(i.e., isundefined)andonelineishorizontal(i.e., 0).

Example: 6 and
3

Algebra
Parallel,PerpendicularorNeither
Thefollowingflowchartcanbeusedtodeterminewhetherapairoflinesareparallel,
perpendicular,orneither.
First,putbothlinesin:
form.
Arethe
yes Result:The
slopesofthe
linesare
twolinesthe
parallel.
same?
no
Isthe Result:Thelines
yes
productof are
thetwo perpendicular.
slopes =1?
no
Result:The

linesare
neither.

Algebra
Parallel,CoincidentorIntersecting
Thefollowingflowchartcanbeusedtodeterminewhetherapairoflinesareparallel,
coincident,orintersecting.Coincidentlinesarelinesthatarethesame,eventhoughtheymay
beexpresseddifferently.Technically,coincidentlinesarenotparallelbecauseparallellines
neverintersectandcoincidentlinesintersectatallpointsontheline.
First,putbothlinesin:
form.
Arethe Arethey Result:The

yes yes
slopesofthe interceptsof linesare
twolinesthe thetwolines coincident.
same? thesame?
no no
Result:The Result:The
linesare linesare
intersecting. parallel.
Theintersectionofthetwolinesis:
Forintersectinglines,thepointofintersection.
Forparallellines,theemptyset, .
Forcoincidentlines,allpointsontheline.


Algebra
PropertiesofInequality
Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:

Property Definition
Addition ,
Property
,
Subtraction ,
Property
,
Multiplication For 0, For 0,

Property
, ,
, ,
Division For 0, For 0,

Property
, ,
, ,
Note:allpropertieswhichholdfor<alsoholdfor,andallpropertieswhichholdfor>
alsoholdfor.
Thereisnothingtoosurprisingintheseproperties.Themostimportantthingtobeobtained
fromthemcanbedescribedasfollows:Whenyoumultiplyordivideaninequalitybya
negativenumber,youmustflipthesign.Thatis,<becomes>,>becomes<,etc.
Inaddition,itisusefultonotethatyoucanfliparoundanentireinequalityaslongasyoukeep
thepointypartofthesigndirectedatthesameitem.Examples:
Onewaytorememberthis
4 isthesameas 4
isthatwhenyoufliparound
aninequality,youmustalso
3 2 isthesameas 3 2
fliparoundthesign.


Algebra
GraphsofInequalitiesinOneDimension
Inequalitiesinonedimensionaregenerallygraphedonthenumberline.Alternatively,ifitis
clearthatthegraphisonedimensional,thegraphscanbeshowninrelationtoanumberline
butnotspecificallyonit(examplesofthisareonthenextpage).
OneDimensionalGraphComponents
Theendpoint(s)Theendpointsfortherayorsegmentinthegraphareshownaseither
openorclosedcircles.
o Ifthepointisincludedinthesolutiontotheinequality(i.e.,ifthesignisor),the
circleisclosed.
o Ifthepointisnotincludedinthesolutiontotheinequality(i.e.,ifthesignis<or>),
thecircleisopen.
ThearrowIfallnumbersinonedirectionofthenumberlinearesolutionstothe
inequality,anarrowpointsinthatdirection.
o For<orsigns,thearrowpointstotheleft().
o For>orsigns,thearrowpointstotheright().
Thelineinasimpleinequality,alineisdrawnfromtheendpointtothearrow.Ifthereare
twoendpoints,alineisdrawnfromonetotheother.
Examples:

Algebra
CompoundInequalitiesinOneDimension
Compoundinequalitiesareasetofinequalitiesthatmustallbetrueatthesametime.Usually,
therearetwoinequalities,butmorethantwocanalsoformacompoundset.Theprinciples
describedbeloweasilyextendtocaseswheretherearemorethantwoinequalities.
CompoundInequalitieswiththeWordAND
AnexampleofcompoundinequalitieswiththewordANDwouldbe:
12 2 or 1 Thesearethesameconditions,
(SimpleForm) (CompoundForm) expressedintwodifferentforms.
Graphically,ANDinequalitiesexistatpointswherethegraphsoftheindividualinequalities
overlap.Thisistheintersectionofthegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.Belowaretwo
examplesofgraphsofcompoundinequalitiesusingthewordAND.
AtypicalANDexample:Theresultisa ANDcompoundinequalitiessometimesresult
segmentthatcontainsthepointsthatoverlap intheemptyset.Thishappenswhenno
thegraphsoftheindividualinequalities. numbersmeetbothconditionsatthesametime.
CompoundInequalitieswiththeWordOR
Graphically,ORinequalitiesexistatpointswhereanyoftheoriginalgraphshavepoints.This
istheunionofthegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.Belowaretwoexamplesofgraphsof
compoundinequalitiesusingthewordOR.
AtypicalORexample:Theresultisapairof ORcompoundinequalitiessometimesresultin
raysextendinginoppositedirections,witha thesetofallnumbers.Thishappenswhenevery
gapinbetween. numbermeetsatleastoneoftheconditions.

Algebra
InequalitiesinTwoDimensions
Graphinganinequalityintwodimensionsinvolvesthefollowingsteps:
Graphtheunderlyingequation.
Makethelinesolidordottedbasedonwhethertheinequalitycontainsan=sign.
o Forinequalitieswith<or>thelineisdotted.
o Forinequalitieswithorthelineissolid.
Determinewhethertheregioncontainingthesolutionsetisabovethelineorbelowthe
line.
o Forinequalitieswith>ortheshadedregionisabovetheline.
o Forinequalitieswith<ortheshadedregionisbelowtheline.
Shadeintheappropriateregion.
Example:
Graphthesolutionsetofthefollowingsystemofinequality: 1
Step1:Graphtheunderlying
equation.
Step2:Determinewhethertheline
shouldbesolidordotted:
1 the>signdoesnot
contain=,sothelineisdotted
Step3:Determinetheregiontobe
shadedbasedonthesigninthe
equation:
1 the>signindicates
shadingabovetheline
Thesolutionsetistheshadedarea.


Algebra
GraphsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
DashedLine DashedLine
BelowtheLine AbovetheLine
SolidLine SolidLine
BelowtheLine AbovetheLine

Algebra
AbsoluteValueFunctions
Equations
GraphsofequationsinvolvingabsolutevaluesgenerallyhaveaVpattern.Wheneveryousee
aVinagraph,thinkabsolutevalue.Ageneralequationforanabsolutevaluefunctionisof
theform:
| | | |
where,
the sign indicates whether the graph opens up ( sign) or down ( sign).
| |istheabsolutevalueoftheslopesofthelinesinthegraph.
(h,k)isthelocationofthevertex(i.e.,thesharppoint)inthegraph.

Examples:

Equation: | 1| 2
Vertex = 1, 2

1; |slopes| 1
Graph opens up

Equation: | 2 1 | 3
Vertex = 1, 3
2; |slopes| 2
Graph opens up
Equation: 3
Vertex = ,3
; |slopes|
Graph opens down

Algebra
AbsoluteValueFunctions(contd)

Inequalities
Sinceapositivenumberandanegativenumbercanhavethesameabsolutevalue,inequalities
involvingabsolutevaluesmustbebrokenintotwoseparateequations.Forexample:
Thefirstnewequationissimplytheoriginal
3 4
equationwithouttheabsolutevaluesign.
| 3| 4
Inthesecondnewequation,twothings
Signthatdetermines 3 4 change:(1)thesignflips,and(2)thevalueon
useofANDorOR therightsideoftheinequalitychangesitssign.

Atthispointtheabsolutevalueproblemhasconvertedintoapairofcompoundinequalities.
Equation1 Equation2
Solve: 3 4 Solve: 3 4
Step1:Add3 3 3 Step1:Add3 3 3
Result: 7 Result: 1
Next,weneedtoknowwhethertouseANDorORwiththeresults.Todecidewhichword
touse,lookatthesignintheinequality;then
Note:theEnglishispoor,butthemath
UsethewordANDwithlessthandsigns.
iseasiertorememberwiththistrick!
UsethewordORwithgreatorsigns.
Thesolutiontotheaboveabsolutevalueproblem,then,isthesameasthesolutiontothe
followingsetofcompoundinequalities:
7 1 Thesolutionsetisallxintherange(1,7)

Note:thesolutionsettothisexampleisgiveninrangenotation.Whenusingthisnotation,
useparentheses()wheneveranendpointisnotincludedinthesolutionset,and
usesquarebrackets[]wheneveranendpointisincludedinthesolutionset.
Alwaysuseparentheses()withinfinitysigns( ).
Examples:
Therange: 6 2 Therange: 2
Notation: 2, 6 Notation: , 2

Algebra
SystemsofEquations
Asystemofequationsisasetof2ormoreequationsforwhichwewishtodetermineall
solutionswhichsatisfyeachequation.Generally,therewillbethesamenumberofequations
asvariablesandasinglesolutiontoeachvariablewillbesought.However,sometimesthereis
eithernosolutionorthereisaninfinitenumberofsolutions.
Therearemanymethodsavailabletosolveasystemofequations.Wewillshowthreeofthem
below.
GraphingaSolution
Inthesimplestcases,asetof2equationsin2unknownscanbesolvedusingagraph.Asingle
equationintwounknownsisaline,sotwoequationsgiveus2lines.Thefollowingsituations
arepossiblewith2lines:
Theywillintersect.Inthiscase,thepointofintersectionistheonlysolution.
Theywillbethesameline.Inthiscase,allpointsonthelinearesolutions(note:thisis
aninfiniteset).
Theywillbeparallelbutnotthesameline.Inthiscase,therearenosolutions.
Examples
SolutionSet: SolutionSet: SolutionSet:

Thepointofintersection Theemptyset; Allpointsontheline.
canbereadoffthegraph; theseparallellines Althoughtheequationslook
thepoint(2,0). willnevercross. different,theyactually
describethesameline.


Algebra
SystemsofEquations(contd)
SubstitutionMethod
IntheSubstitutionMethod,weeliminateoneofthevariablesbysubstitutingintooneofthe
equationsitsequivalentintermsoftheothervariable.Thenwesolveforeachvariableinturn
andchecktheresult.Thestepsinthisprocessareillustratedintheexamplebelow.
Example:Solveforxandyif:
and:2 .
Step1:Reviewthetwoequations.Lookforavariablethatcanbesubstitutedfromone
equationintotheother.Inthisexample,weseeasingleyinthefirstequation;thisisaprime
candidateforsubstitution.
Wewillsubstitute fromthefirstequationfor inthesecondequation.
Step2:Performthesubstitution.
becomes:
Step3:Solvetheresultingequationforthesinglevariablethatisleft.

Step4:Substitutetheknownvariableintooneoftheoriginalequationstosolveforthe
remainingvariable.

Afterthisstep,thesolutionistentativelyidentifiedas:
, ,meaningthepoint(3,1).

Step5:ChecktheresultbysubstitutingthesolutionintotheequationnotusedinStep4.Ifthe
solutioniscorrect,theresultshouldbeatruestatement.Ifitisnot,youhavemadeamistake
andshouldcheckyourworkcarefully.

Sincethisisatruemathematical
statement,thesolution(3,1)can

beacceptedascorrect.


Algebra
EliminationMethod
IntheSubstitutionMethod,wemanipulateoneorbothoftheequationssothatwecanadd
themandeliminateoneofthevariables.Thenwesolveforeachvariableinturnandcheckthe
result.Thisisanoutstandingmethodforsystemsofequationswithuglycoefficients.The
stepsinthisprocessareillustratedintheexamplebelow.Notetheflowofthesolutiononthe
page.
Example:Solveforxandyif:
and:2 .
Step1:Rewritetheequationsin Step2: Multiplyeachequationbyavalue

selectedsothat,whentheequationsareadded,
standardform.
avariablewillbeeliminated.
(Multiplyby2)
2 (Multiplyby1) 2
Step3: Addtheresultingequations.
Step5:Substitutetheresultinto
oneoftheoriginalequationsand U 2
solvefortheothervariable.

Step4: Solveforthevariable.

Step6:Checktheresultbysubstituting

thesolutionintotheequationnotusedin

Step5.Ifthesolutioniscorrect,the

resultshouldbeatruestatement.Ifitis
not,youhavemadeamistakeandshould Sincethisisatruemathematicalstatement,the
checkyourwork. solution(3,1)canbeacceptedascorrect.


Algebra
ClassificationofSystems
Therearetwomainclassificationsofsystemsofequations:Consistentvs.Inconsistent,and
Dependentvs.Independent.
Consistentvs.Inconsistent
ConsistentSystemshaveoneormoresolutions.
InconsistentSystemshavenosolutions.Whenyoutrytosolveaninconsistentsetof
equations,youoftengettoapointwhereyouhaveanimpossiblestatement,suchas
1 2.Thisindicatesthatthereisnosolutiontothesystem.
Dependentvs.Independent
LinearlyDependentSystemshaveaninfinitenumberofsolutions.InLinearAlgebra,a
systemislinearlydependentifthereisasetofrealnumbers(notallzero)that,when
theyaremultipliedbytheequationsinthesystemandtheresultsareadded,thefinal
resultiszero.
LinearlyIndependentSystemshaveatmostonesolution.InLinearAlgebra,asystemis
linearlyindependentifitisnotlinearlydependent.Note:sometextbooksindicatethat
anindependentsystemmusthaveasolution.Thisisnotcorrect;theycanhaveno
solutions(seethemiddleexamplebelow).Formoreonthis,seethenextpage.
Examples
OneSolution NoSolution InfiniteSolutions
Consistent Inconsistent Consistent

Independent Independent Dependent

ADVANCED
Algebra
LinearDependence
LineardependenceisaconceptfromLinearAlgebra,andisveryusefulindeterminingif
solutionstocomplexsystemsofequationsexist.Essentially,asystemoffunctions isdefined
tobelinearlydependentifthereisasetofrealnumbers (notallzero),suchthat:
0or,insummationnotation, 0
Ifthereisnosetofrealnumbers ,suchthattheaboveequationsaretrue,thesystemissaid
tobelinearlyindependent.
Theexpression iscalledalinearcombinationofthefunctions .The

importanceoftheconceptoflineardependenceliesintherecognitionthatadependent
systemisredundant,i.e.,thesystemcanbedefinedwithfewerequations.Itisusefultonote
thatalinearlydependentsystemofequationshasadeterminantofcoefficientsequalto0.
Example:
Considerthefollowingsystemofequations:
Noticethat: .
Therefore,thesystemislinearly
dependent.

Checkingthedeterminantofthecoefficientmatrix:
3 2 1
2 1 3 1 3 2
1 1 2 1 0 5 1 5 0 7 5 1 0.
1 2 1 2 1 1
1 0 5
ItshouldbenotedthatthefactthatD 0issufficienttoprovelineardependenceonlyifthere
arenoconstanttermsinthefunctions(e.g.,iftheprobleminvolvesvectors).Ifthereare
constantterms,itisalsonecessarythatthesetermscombineproperly.Thereareadditional
techniquestotestthis,suchastheuseofaugmentedmatricesandGaussJordanElimination.
MuchofLinearAlgebraconcernsitselfwithsetsofequationsthatarelinearlyindependent.If
thedeterminantofthecoefficientmatrixisnonzero,thenthesetofequationsislinearly
independent.

Algebra
SystemsofInequalitiesinTwoDimensions
Systemsofinequalitiesaresetsofmorethanoneinequality.Tographasystemofinequalities,
grapheachinequalityseparately(includingshadingintheappropriateregion).Thesolutionset,
then,iseithertheoverlapoftheregionsoftheseparateinequalities(ANDSystems)orthe
unionoftheregionsoftheseparateinequalities(ORSystems).
Examples:
Graphthesolutionsetofthefollowingsystemofinequalities:
(a) 2 3AND 1 (b) 2 3OR 1
Step1:Graphtheunderlyingequations.
Step2:Determinewhethereachlineshouldbe
solidordotted:
2 3thesigncontains=,sothe
lineissolid
1the>signdoesnotcontain=,
sothelineisdotted
Step3:Determinetheregionstobeshadedbasedonthesignsintheequations:
2 3thesignindicatesshadingbelowtheline
1the>signindicatesshadingabovetheline
Step4:Determinethefinalsolutionset.
(a) IftheproblemhasanANDbetween (b) IftheproblemhasanORbetween

theinequalities,thesolutionsetisthe theinequalities,thesolutionsetisthe
overlapoftheshadedareas(i.e.,the unionofalloftheshadedareas(i.e.,
greenpartinthegraphbelow). thebluepartinthegraphbelow).

Algebra
ParametricEquations
ParametricEquationsin2dimensionsarefunctionsthatexpresseachofthetwokeyvariables
intermsofaoneormoreothers.Forexa
intermsofaoneormoreothers.Forexample,
mple,

Parametricequationsaresometimesthemostusefulwaytosolveaproblem.
PythagoreanTriples
Asanexample,thefollowingparametricequationscanbeusedtofindPythagoreanTriples:
Let , berelativelyprimeintegersandlet .Then,thefollowingequationsproduceaset
ofintegervaluesthatsatisfythePythagoreanTheorem:

Examples:
s t a b c PythagoreanRelationship
3 2 5 12 13 5 12 13
4 3 7 24 25 7 24 25
5 2 21 20 29 21 20 29
5 3 16 30 34 16 30 34
CreatingaStandardEquationfromParametricEquations
Tocreateastandardequationfromasetof
parametricequationsintwodimensions, Example:Createastandardequationforthe
parametricequations:
Solveoneparametricequationfort.

Substitutethisvalueoftintotheother
Solvingfortinthefirstequation,weget:
equation.
Cleanuptheremainingexpressionas
necessary. Substitutingintothesecondequationgives:
Note:anyothermethodofsolving
simultaneousequationscanalsobeusedfor Cleaningthisup,wegetthesolutionweseek:
seek:
thispurpose.

Algebra
ExponentFormulas
Word Description Math Description Limitations

Examples
of Property of Property on variables

Product of Powers

Quotient of Powers
Power of a Power
Anything to the zero power is 1

, if , ,
Negative powers generate the

reciprocal of what a positive
power generates
Power of a product
Power of a quotient
Converting a root to a power

Algebra
ScientificNotation
Format
Anumberinscientificnotationhastwoparts:
Anumberwhichisatleast1andislessthan10(i.e.,itmusthaveonlyonedigitbefore
thedecimalpoint).Thisnumberiscalledthecoefficient.
Apowerof10whichismultipliedbythefirstnumber.
Hereareafewexamplesofregularnumbersexpressedinscientificnotation.
32 3.2 10 0.00034 3.4 10 1 1 10

1,420,000 1.42 10 1000 1 10 450 4.5 10
Howmanydigits?Howmanyzeroes?
Thereareacoupleofsimplerulesforconvertingfromscientificnotationtoaregularnumberor
forconvertingfromaregularnumbertoscientificnotation:
Ifaregularnumberislessthan1,theexponentof10inscientificnotationisnegative.
Thenumberofleadingzeroesintheregularnumberisequaltotheabsolutevalueof
thisexponent.Inapplyingthisrule,youmustcountthezerobeforethedecimalpointin
theregularnumber.Examples:
OriginalNumber Action Conversion
0.00034 Count4zeroes 3.4x104
6.234x108 Add8zeroesbeforethedigits 0.00000006234
Ifthenumberisgreaterthan1,thenumberofdigitsafterthefirstoneintheregular
numberisequaltotheexponentof10inthescientificnotation.
OriginalNumber Action Conversion
4,800,000 Count6digitsafterthe4 4.8x106
9.6x103 Add3digitsafterthe9 9,600
Asageneralrule,multiplyingbypowersof10movesthedecimalpointoneplacefor
eachpowerof10.
o Multiplyingbypositivepowersof10movesthedecimaltotheright.
o Multiplyingbynegativepowersof10movesthedecimaltotheleft.

Algebra
AddingandSubtractingwithScientificNotation
Whenaddingorsubtractingnumbersinscientificnotation:
Adjustthenumberssotheyhavethesamepowerof10.Thisworksbestifyouadjust
therepresentationofthesmallernumbersothatithasthesamepowerof10asthe
largernumber.Todothis:
o Callthedifferencebetweentheexponentsof10inthetwonumbersn.
o Raisethepowerof10ofthesmallernumberbyn,and
o Movethedecimalpointofthecoefficientofthesmallernumbernplacesto
theleft.
Addthecoefficients,keepingthepowerof10unchanged.
Iftheresultisnotinscientificnotation,adjustitsothatitis.
o Ifthecoefficientisatleast1andlessthan10,theanswerisinthecorrectform.
o Ifthecoefficientis10orgreater,increasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheleft.
o Ifthecoefficientislessthan1,decreasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheright.
Examples:
Explanation:Aconversionofthesmaller
3.2 10 0.32 10
numberisrequiredpriortoaddingbecausethe
9.9 10 9.90 10 exponentsofthetwonumbersaredifferent.
10. 22 10 Afteradding,theresultisnolongerinscientific

notation,soanextrastepisneededtoconvertit
1.022 10 intotheappropriateformat.
6.1 10 6.1 10 Explanation:Noconversionisnecessary

becausetheexponentsofthetwonumbersare
2.3 10 2.3 10 thesame.Afteradding,theresultisinscientific
8. 4 10 notation,sonoadditionalstepsarerequired.

Explanation:Aconversionofthesmaller
1.2 10 1.20 10
numberisrequiredpriortosubtractingbecause
4.5 10 0.45 10 theexponentsofthetwonumbersaredifferent.
0.75 10 Aftersubtracting,theresultisnolongerin
scientificnotation,soanextrastepisneededto
7.5 10 convertitintotheappropriateformat.


Algebra
MultiplyingandDividingwithScientificNotation
Whenmultiplyingordividingnumbersinscientificnotation:
Multiplyordividethecoefficients.
Multiplyordividethepowersof10.Rememberthatthismeansaddingorsubtracting
theexponentswhilekeepingthebaseof10unchanged.
o Ifyouaremultiplying,addtheexponentsof10.
o Ifyouaredividing,subtracttheexponentsof10.
Iftheresultisnotinscientificnotation,adjustitsothatitis.
o Ifthecoefficientisatleast1andlessthan10,theanswerisinthecorrectform.
o Ifthecoefficientis10orgreater,increasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheleft.
o Ifthecoefficientislessthan1,decreasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheright.
Examples:
4 10 Explanation:Thecoefficientsaremultipliedand
theexponentsareadded.Aftermultiplying,the
5 10
resultisnolongerinscientificnotation,soan
20 10 extrastepisneededtoconvertitintothe
2.0 10 appropriateformat.

1.2 10 Explanation:Thecoefficientsaremultipliedand
theexponentsareadded.Aftermultiplying,the
2.0 10 resultisinscientificnotation,sonoadditional
2. 4 10 stepsarerequired.
3.3 10 Explanation:Thecoefficientsaredividedand
theexponentsaresubtracted.Afterdividing,
5.5 10
theresultisnolongerinscientificnotation,so
0.6 10 anextrastepisneededtoconvertitintothe
appropriateformat.
6.0 10

Algebra
IntroductiontoPolynomials
WhatisaPolynomial?
Apolynomialisanexpressionthatcanbewrittenasatermorasumofterms,eachofwhichis
theproductofascalar(thecoefficient)andaseriesofvariables.Eachofthetermsisalsocalled
amonomial.
Examples(allofthesearepolynomials):
Monomial 3 4
Binomial 2 8 15 12
Trinomial 6 9 7 3
Other 4 6 4 1 2 6 3 8 2
Definitions:
Scalar:Arealnumber.
Monomial:Polynomialwithoneterm.
Binomial:Polynomialwithtwoterms.
Trinomial:Polynomialwiththreeterms.
DegreeofaPolynomial
Thedegreeofamonomialisthesumoftheexponentsonitsvariables.
Thedegreeofapolynomialisthehighestdegreeofanyofitsmonomialterms.
Examples:
Polynomial Degree Polynomial Degree
6 0 3 6 6
3 1 15 12 9
3 3 7 3 5

Algebra
AddingandSubtractingPolynomials
Problemsaskingthestudenttoaddorsubtractpolynomialsareoftenwritteninlinearform:
Add: 3 2 4 2 4 6
Theproblemismuchmoreeasilysolvediftheproblemiswrittenincolumnform,witheach
polynomialwritteninstandardform.
Definitions
StandardForm:Apolynomialinstandardformhasitstermswrittenfromhighestdegreeto
lowestdegreefromlefttoright.
Example:Thestandardformof 3 4 is 3 4
LikeTerms:Termswiththesamevariablesraisedtothesamepowers.Onlythenumerical
coefficientsaredifferent.
Example:2 , 6 ,and areliketerms.
AdditionandSubtractionSteps
Step1:Writeeachpolynomialinstandardform.Leaveblankspacesformissingterms.For
example,ifadding 3 2 4 ,leavespaceforthemissing term.
Step2:Ifyouaresubtracting,changethesignofeachtermofthepolynomialtobesubtracted
andaddinstead.Addingismucheasierthansubtracting.
Step3:Placethepolynomialsincolumnform,beingcarefultolineupliketerms.
Step4:Addthepolynomials.
Examples:
: 3 2 4 2 4 6 : 3 2 4 2 4 6
Solution: Solution:
3 2 4 3 2 4
2 4 6 2 4 6
3 2 6 2 3 2 2 10

Algebra
MultiplyingBinomials
Thethreemethodsshownbelowareequivalent.Usewhicheveroneyoulikebest.
FOILMethod
FOILstandsforFirst,Outside,Inside,Last.TomultiplyusingtheFOILmethod,youmakefour
separatemultiplicationsandaddtheresults.
Example:Multiply 2 3 3 4 Theresultisobtainedbyaddingtheresultsof
First: 2 3 6 the4separatemultiplications.
Outside: 2 4 8 FOIL
Inside: 3 3 9 2 3 3 4 6 8 9 12
Last: 3 4 12 6 12
BoxMethod
TheBoxMethodisprettymuchthesameastheFOILmethod,exceptforthepresentation.In
theboxmethod,a2x2arrayofmultiplicationsiscreated,the4multiplicationsareperformed,
andtheresultsareadded.
Example:Multiply 2 3 3 4
Theresult isobtainedbyaddingtheresultsof
Multiply 3x the4separatemultiplications.
2x 6 8 2 3 3 4 6 8 9 12
6 12
+3 9 12
StackedPolynomialMethod
Athirdmethodistomultiplythebinomials 2 3
likeyouwouldmultiply2digitnumbers. 3 4
Thenamecomesfromhowthetwo 8 12
polynomialsareplacedinastackin
6 9
preparationformultiplication.
6 12
Example:Multiply 2 3 3 4

Algebra
MultiplyingPolynomials
Ifthepolynomialstobemultipliedcontainmorethantwoterms(i.e.,theyarelargerthan
binomials),theFOILMethodwillnotwork.Instead,eithertheBoxMethodortheStacked
PolynomialMethodshouldbeused.Noticethateachofthesemethodsisessentiallyawayto
applythedistributivepropertyofmultiplicationoveraddition.
Themethodsshownbelowareequivalent.Usewhicheveroneyoulikebest.
BoxMethod
TheBoxMethodisthesameforlargerpolynomialsasitisforbinomials,excepttheboxis
bigger.Anarrayofmultiplicationsiscreated;themultiplicationsareperformed;andliketerms
areadded.
Example:Multiply 2 2 3 2 3 4
Multiply Results:
2 2 3 2 3 4
2 3 4
2
4 6 8
4 3
4 6 8
4 6 4
6 9 12
6 6 8
9 8
StackedPolynomialMethod
Results:
IntheStackedPolynomialMethod,the 2 2 3
polynomialsaremultipliedusingthesame
2 3 4
techniquetomultiplymultidigitnumbers
Onehelpfultipistoplacethesmaller 4 8 8 12
polynomialbelowthelargeroneinthe 3 6 6 9
stack.
2 4 4 6
2 7 6 8 17 12

Algebra
DividingPolynomials
Dividingpolynomialsisperformedmuchlikedividinglargenumberslonghand.
LongDivisionMethod
Thisprocessisbestdescribedbyexample:
Thisproce ssisbestdescribedbyexample:
Example: 2 5 2 2
Step1:Setupthedivisionlikeatypicallonghand
divisionproblem. 22 5 2
Step2:Dividetheleadingtermofthedividendby
2
theleadingtermofthedivisor.Placetheresult
abovethetermoflikedegreeofthedividend. 22 5 2
2 2
2
Step3:Multiplythenewtermontopbythedivisor 22 5 2
andsubtractfromthedividend.
andsubtractfromthedividend. 2 4
2 2 2 4 2
Step4:Repeatsteps2and3ontheremainderof 2 1
thedivisionuntiltheproblemiscompleted.
22 5 2
Thisprocessresultsinthefinalanswerappearing 2 4
abovethedividend,sothat: 2
2
2 5 2 2 2 1
2
Remainders 2
Iftherewerearemainder,itwouldbeappendedto 0
theresultoftheproblemintheformofafraction,justlikewhendividingintegers.For
theresultoftheproblemintheformofafraction,justlikewhendividingintegers.For
example,intheproblemabove,iftheremainderwere3,thefraction wouldbeaddedto
theresultofthedivision. 2 5 1 2 2 1
Alternatives
Thisprocesscanbetedious.Fortunately,therearebettermethodsfordividingpolynomials
thanlongdivision.TheseincludeFactoring,whichisdiscussednextandelsewhereinthis
Guide,andSyntheticDivision,whichisdiscussedinthechapteronPolynomialsIntermediate.

Algebra
FactoringPolynomials
Polynomialscannotbedividedinthesamewaynumberscan.Inordertodividepolynomials,it
isoftenusefultofactorthemfirst.Factoringinvolvesextractingsimplertermsfromthemore
complexpolynomial.
GreatestCommonFactor
TheGreatestCommonFactorofthetermsofapolynomialisdeterminedasfollows:
Step1:FindtheGreatestCommonFactorofthecoefficients.
Step2:FindtheGreatestCommonFactorforeachvariable.Thisissimplyeachvariabletaken
tothelowestpowerthatexistsforthatvariableinanyoftheterms.
Step3:MultiplytheGCFofthecoefficientsbytheGCFforeachvariable.
Example:
FindtheGCFof 18 42 30 GCF 18, 42, 30 6
GCF , ,
TheGCFofthecoefficientsandeachvariableareshown
GCF , ,1 1
intheboxtotheright.TheGCFofthepolynomialisthe
productofthefourindividualGCFs. GCF , ,
So,GCF polynomial 6
FactoringSteps
Step1:FactoroutofalltermstheGCFofthepolynomial.
Step2:Factoroutoftheremainingpolynomialanybinomialsthatcanbe Note:Typicallyonly
steps1and2are
extracted.
neededinhighschool
Step3:Factoroutoftheremainingpolynomialanytrinomialsthatcan algebraproblems.
beextracted.
Step4:Continuethisprocessuntilnofurthersimplificationispossible.
Examples:
Factor: 3 18 27 Factor: 6 24
3 6 9 6 4
3 3 6 2 2
Thefactoringofthebluetrinomial(2ndline)into Thefactoringofthebluebinomial(2ndline)into
thesquareofabinomialistheresultof binomialsoflowerdegreeistheresultof
recognizingthespecialformitrepresents.Special recognizingthespecialformitrepresents.Special
formsareshownonthenexttwopages. formsareshownonthenexttwopages.

Algebra
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions
Itishelpfultobeabletorecognizeacouplespecialformsofquadraticfunctions.Inparticular,
ifyoucanrecognizeperfectsquaresanddifferencesofsquares,yourworkwillbecomeeasier
andmoreaccurate.
PerfectSquares
Perfectsquaresareoftheform:

IdentificationandSolution
Thefollowingstepsallowthestudenttoidentifyandsolveatrinomialthatisaperfectsquare:
Step1:Noticethefirsttermofthetrinomialisasquare.Takeitssquareroot.
Step2:Noticethelasttermofthetrinomialisasquare.Takeitssquareroot.
Step3:Multiplytheresultsofthefirst2stepsanddoublethatproduct.Iftheresultisthe
middletermofthetrinomial,theexpressionisaperfectsquare.
Step4:Thebinomialinthesolutionisthesumordifferenceofthesquarerootscalculatedin
steps1and2.Thesignbetweenthetermsofthebinomialisthesignofthemiddle
termofthetrinomial.

Example:
Noticethatthemiddletermisdoubletheproduct
ofthetwosquareroots( and ).Thisisa
telltalesignthattheexpressionisaperfectsquare.

Identifythetrinomialasaperfectsquare:
Takethesquarerootsofthefirstandlastterms.Theyare2 and3 .
Testthemiddleterm.Multiplytherootsfromthepreviousstep,thendoubletheresult:
2 3 2 12 .Theresult(witha signinfront)isthemiddletermofthe
originaltrinomial.Therefore,theexpressionisaperfectsquare.
Toexpressthetrinomialasthesquareofabinomial:
Thesquarerootsofthefirstandlastterms 2 and3 makeupthebinomialweseek.
Wemaychoosethesignofthefirstterm,soletschoosethe sign.
Havingchosenthe signforthefirstterm,thesecondtermofthebinomialtakesthe
signofthemiddletermoftheoriginaltrinomial( ).Therefore,theresultis:

Algebra
SpecialFormsofQuadraticFunctions
DifferencesofSquares
Differencesofsquaresareoftheform:
Thesearemucheasiertorecognizethantheperfectsquaresbecausethereisnomiddleterm
toconsider.Noticewhythereisnomiddleterm:

thesetwo
termscancel
Identification
Toseeifanexpressionisadifferenceofsquares,youmustansweryestofourquestions:
1. Arethereonlytwoterms?
2. Istherea signbetweenthetwoterms?
3. Isthefirsttermasquare?Ifso,takeitssquareroot.
4. Isthesecondtermasquare?Ifso,takeitssquareroot.
Thesolutionistheproductofa)thesumofthesquarerootsinquestions3and4,andb)the
differenceofthesquarerootsinsteps3and4.
Note:Atelltalesignofwhenanexpressionmightbethedifferenceof2squaresiswhenthe
coefficientsonthevariablesaresquares:1,4,9,16,25,36,49,64,81,etc.
Examples:
(1)

(2)
(3)

(4)
ADVANCED:Overthefieldofcomplexnumbers,itisalsopossibletofactorthesumof2squares:

Thisisnotpossibleoverthefieldofrealnumbers.

Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsSimpleCaseMethod
AcommonprobleminElementaryAlgebraisthefactoringofatrinomialthatisneithera
perfectsquarenoradifferenceofsquares.
Considerthesimplecasewherethecoefficientof is1.Thegeneralformforthiscaseis:

sign1 sign2
coefficient constant
ofx
Inordertosimplifytheillustrationoffactoringapolynomialwherethecoefficientof is1,we
willusetheorangedescriptorsaboveforthecomponentsofthetrinomialbeingfactored.
SimpleCaseMethod Example:Factor
Step1:Setupparenthesesforapairofbinomials.Putxinthe

lefthandpositionofeachbinomial.
Step2:Putsign1inthemiddlepositionintheleftbinomial.
Step3:Multiplysign1andsign2togetthesignfortheright
binomial.Remember:

Step4:Findtwonumbersthat: Thenumbersweseekare
Fillin: 4and 7because:
(a)Multiplytogettheconstant,and ___ ___ ___ 4 7 28,and
(b)Addtogetthecoefficientof ___ ___ ___ 4 7 3

Step5:Placethenumbersinthebinomialssothattheirsigns

matchthesignsfromSteps2and3.Thisisthefinal
answer.
Step6:Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthetwobinomialstosee 7 4
ifyougettheoriginaltrinomial. 4 7 28
3 28

Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsACMethod

Therearetimeswhenthesimplemethodoffactoringatrinomialisnotsufficient.Primarilythis
occurswhenthecoefficientof isnot1.Inthiscase,youmayusetheACmethodpresented
here,oryoumayuseeitherthebruteforcemethodorthequadraticformulamethod
(describedonthenextcoupleofpages).
ACMethod
TheACMethodderivesitsnamefromthefirststepofthe Example:Factor
process,whichistomultiplythevaluesof and fromthe
generalformofthequadraticequation:
6 2
Step1:Multiplythevaluesof and .
12
Step2:Findtwonumbersthat:
Fillin:
(a) Multiplytogetthevalueof ,
___ ___ ___ 4 3 12
and
___ ___ ___ 4 3 1
(b)Addtogetthecoefficientof

Step3:Splitthemiddletermintotwoterms,withcoefficients 6 4 3 2
equaltothevaluesfoundinStep2.(Tip:ifonlyoneof
thecoefficientsisnegative,putthattermfirst.)

Step4:Groupthetermsintopairs. 6 4 3 2

Step5:Factoreachpairofterms. 2 3 2 1 3 2

Step6:Usethedistributivepropertytocombinethe
multipliersofthecommonterm.Thisisthefinal

answer.
Step7:Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthetwobinomialsto 2 1 3 2
seeifyougettheoriginaltrinomial. 6 4 3 2
6 2

Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsBruteForceMethod
Whenthecoefficientof isnot1,thefactoringprocessbecomesmoredifficult.Therearea
numberofmethodsthatcanbeusedinthiscase.
Ifthequestionbeingaskedistofindrootsoftheequation,andnottofactorit,thestudentmay
wanttousethequadraticformulawheneverthecoefficientof isnot1.Evenifyouare
requiredtofactor,andnotjustfindroots,thequadraticformulamaybeaviableapproach.
BruteForceMethod
Thismethodisexactlywhatitsoundslike.Multipleequationsarepossibleandyoumusttry
eachofthemuntilyoufindtheonethatworks.Herearethestepstofindingwhichequations
arecandidatesolutions:
Example:Factor
Step1:Findallsetsofwholenumbersthatmultiplyto
getthecoefficientofthefirstterminthe Combinationsthatproduceaproduct
trinomial.Ifthefirsttermispositive,youneed of4are:
1and4or2and2
onlyconsiderpositivefactors.
Step2:Findallsetsofwholenumbersthatmultiplyto Combinationsthatproduceaproduct
getthecoefficientofthelastterminthe of 3are:
trinomial.Youmustconsiderbothpositiveand 1and3or1and 3
negativefactors.
1 4 3
1 4 3
Step3:Createallpossibleproductsofbinomialsthat 3 4 1
containthewholenumbersfoundinthefirst 3 4 1
twosteps. 2 1 2 3
2 1 2 3
1 4 3 4 3
Step4:Multiplythebinomialpairsuntilyoufindone 1 4 3 4 3
3 4 1 4 11 3
thatresultsinthetrinomialyouaretryingto 3 4 1 4 11 3
factor. 2 1 2 3 4 4 3
2 1 2 3 4 4 3
Step5:Identifythecorrectsolution. 4 4 3
NoticethepatternsinthecandidatesolutionsinStep4.Eachpairofequationsisidenticalexceptfor
thesignofthemiddletermintheproduct.Therefore,youcancutyourworkinhalfbyconsideringonly
oneofeachpairuntilyouseeamiddletermcoefficientthathastherightabsolutevalue.Ifyouhave
everythingrightbutthesignofthemiddleterm,switchthesignsinthebinomialstoobtainthecorrect
solution.Remembertocheckyourwork!

Algebra
FactoringTrinomialsQuadraticFormulaMethod
QuadraticFormulaMethod
TheQuadraticFormulaisdesignedspecificallytofindrootsofaseconddegreeequation.
However,itcanalsobeusedasabackdoormethodtofactorequationsofseconddegree.The
stepsare:
Step1:Applythequadraticformulatodeterminetherootsoftheequation.
Step2:Puteachrootintotheform: 0.
Step3:Showthetwo binomialsasaproduct.Notethatthesebinomialsmay
containfractions.Wewilleliminatethefractions,ifpossible,inthenextstep.
Step4:MultiplythebinomialsinStep3bythecoefficientof thefollowingway:
(a) Breakthecoefficientof intoitsprimefactors.
(b) Allocatetheprimefactorstothebinomialsinawaythateliminatesthefractions.
Step5:Checkyourwork.
Example:
Factor:

Step1: or
Step2:Thetwoequationscontainingrootsare: 0and 0.
Step3:
Step4:Thecoefficientof intheoriginalequationis4,and4 2 2.Aninspectionofthe

binomialsinStep3indicatesweneedtomultiplyeachbinomialby2inorderto
eliminatethefractions:
2 2 3 and 2 2 1
Sothat: 4 4 3 infactoredform
Step5:Check(usingFOIL) 2 3 2 1 4 2 6 3 4 4 3,
whichistheequationweweretryingtofactor.
9

Algebra
SolvingEquationsbyFactoring
Thereareanumberofreasonstofactorapolynomialinalgebra;oneofthemostcommon
reasonsistofindthezeroesofthepolynomial.Azeroisadomainvalue(e.g.,xvalue)for
whichthepolynomialgeneratesavalueofzero.Eachzeroisasolutionofthepolynomial.
Infactoredform,itismucheasiertofindapolynomialszeroes.Considerthefollowing:
2 4 8 3 isthefactoredformofapolynomial.
Ifanumberofitemsaremultipliedtogether,theresultiszerowheneveranyoftheindividual
itemsiszero.Thisistrueforconstantsandforpolynomials.Therefore,ifanyofthefactorsof
thepolynomialhasavalueofzero,thenthewholepolynomialmustbezero.Weusethisfact
tofindzeroesofpolynomialsinfactoredform.
Example1:
Findthezeroesof 2 4 8 3 .
Step1:Settheequationequaltozero.
Step1:Settheequationequaltozero.
2 4 8 3 0
Step2:Thewholeequationiszerowheneveranyofitsfactorsiszero.Fortheexample,this
occurswhen:
2 0,or Thesolutionset,then,is:
4 0,or 2, 4, 8, , 3
8 0,or or,moreconventionally,thexvaluesareput
innumericalorderfromsmallesttolargest:
0,or
4, 3, 2, , 8
3 0
SetNotation: Wemaylisttheset
Example2: ofsolutionstoaproblemby
Findthezeroesof 7 6 placingthesolutionsinbraces{},
separatedbycommas.
7 6 0
6 1 0
Thesolutionsetcontainsthetwo
domainvaluesthatmaketheoriginal
6 0 1 0 equationzero,namely:
6 1 1, 6

Algebra
IntroductiontoQuadraticFunctions
StandardFormofaQuadraticFunction
TheStandardFormofaseconddegreepolynomialis:
with 0
Anequationofthisformiscalledaquadraticfunction.
Thegraphofthisequationiscalledaparabola.
Upordown?
Thedirectioninwhichtheparabolaopensonagraphis
basedonthesign( or )of intheequation.
If 0,theparabolapointsdownanditopensup.
If 0,theparabolapointsupanditopensdown.
Ifyouforgetthisrule,justrememberthatupordown
dependsonthesignof ,anddoaquickgraphof ,
where 1 onyourpaper.
VertexandAxisofSymmetry
InStandardForm,thevertexoftheparabolahascoordinates: , whereyiscalculated
bysubstituting forxintheequation.Thevertexiseitherthehighestpointonthegraph
(calledamaximum)orthelowestpointonthegraph(calledaminimum).Italsoliesontheaxis
ofsymmetryofthegraph.
Theequation
2
iscalledtheaxisofsymmetryoftheparabola.
VertexFormofaQuadraticFunction
Asecondusefulformofaquadraticfunctionisbasedonthevertex,andiscalledVertexForm:
where h, k is the vertex of the parabola
ItispossibletoconvertfromStandardFormtoVertexFormandfromVertexFormtoStandard
Form.Bothareequallycorrect.

Algebra
CompletingtheSquare

AveryusefulmethodforsolvingquadraticequationsisCompletingtheSquare.Infact,thisis
themethodusedtoderivethequadraticformulafromthegeneralquadraticequationin
StandardForm.ThestepsinvolvedinCompletingtheSquareandanexampleareprovided
below:
Considerthestartingequation:
Step1:Modifytheequationsothatthecoefficientof is1.Todothis,simplydividethe
wholeequationbythevalueof .
Example: Considertheequation: 3 18 21 0
Divideby3toget: 6 7 0
Step2:Getridofthepeskyconstant.Wewillgenerateourown.
Example: Add 7tobothsides: 6 7

Step3:Calculateanewconstant.Therequiredconstantisthesquareofonehalfofthe
coefficientof .Addittobothsidesoftheequation.
Example: 6 7
Halfit,thensquaretheresult: 3,3 9.
Result: 6 9 7 9
Step4:Recognizethelefthandsideoftheequationasaperfectsquare.Afterall,thatwasthe
reasonweselectedthenewconstantthewaywedid.
Example: 3 16
Step5:Takethesquarerootofbothsides.Rememberthe signontheconstantterm.
Example: 3 16
3 4
Step6:Breaktheresultingequationintotwoseparateequations,andsolve.
Example: 3 4 3 4
1 7
Solution: ,


Algebra
TableofPowersandRoots
SquareRoot Number Square Cube 4thPower

1 1.000 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 1.414 2 2 4 2 8 2 16
3 1.732 3 3 9 3 27 3 81
4 2.000 4 4 16 4 64 4 256
5 2.236 5 5 25 5 125 5 625

6 2.449 6 6 36 6 216 6 1,296
7 2.646 7 7 49 7 343 7 2,401
8 2.828 8 8 64 8 512 8 4,096
9 3.000 9 9 81 9 729 9 6,561
10 3.162 10 10 100 10 1,000 10 10,000

11 3.317 11 11 121 11 1,331 11 14,641
12 3.464 12 12 144 12 1,728 12 20,736
13 3.606 13 13 169 13 2,197 13 28,561
14 3.742 14 14 196 14 2,744 14 38,416
15 3.873 15 15 225 15 3,375 15 50,625

16 4.000 16 16 256 16 4,096 16 65,536
17 4.123 17 17 289 17 4.913 17 83,521
18 4.243 18 18 324 18 5,832 18 104,976
19 4.359 19 19 361 19 6,859 19 130,321
20 4.472 20 20 400 20 8,000 20 160,000

21 4.583 21 21 441 21 9,261 21 194,481
22 4.690 22 22 484 22 10,648 22 234,256
23 4.796 23 23 529 23 12,167 23 279841
24 4.899 24 24 576 24 13,824 24 331,776
25 5.000 25 25 625 25 15,625 25 390,625

Algebra
TheQuadraticFormula
TheQuadraticFormulaisoneofthefirstdifficultmathformulasthatstudentsareaskedto
memorize.Masteringtheformula,thoughdifficult,isfullofrewards.Byknowingwhyitworks
andwhatthevariouspartsoftheformulaare,astudentcangeneratealotofknowledgeina
shortperiodoftime.
Foraquadraticfunctionoftheform:
Quadratic
Theformulafortheroots(i.e.,wherey=0)is: Formula
HowManyRealRoots?
Thediscriminantisthepartundertheradical:
Ifthediscriminantisnegative,thequadraticfunctionhas0realroots.Thisisbecausea
negativenumberundertheradicalresultsinimaginaryrootsinsteadofrealroots.In
thiscasethegraphthegraphwillnotcrossthexaxis.Itwillbeeitherentirelyabovethe
xaxisorentirelybelowthexaxis,dependingonthevalueofa.
Ifthediscriminantiszero,thequadraticfunctionhas1realroot.Thesquarerootof
zeroiszero,sotheradicaldisappearsandtheonlyrootis .Inthiscase,the
2
graphwillappeartobounceoffthexaxis;ittouchesthexaxisatonlyonespotthe
valueoftheroot.
Ifthediscriminantispositive,thequadraticfunctionhas2realroots.Thisisbecausea
realsquarerootexists,anditmustbeaddedintheformulatogetonerootand
subtractedtogettheotherroot.Inthiscase,thegraphwillcrossthexaxisintwo
places,thevaluesoftheroots.
WherearetheVertexandAxisofSymmetry?
Thexcoordinateofthevertexisalsoeasilycalculatedfromthequadraticformulabecausethe
vertexishalfwaybetweenthetworoots.Ifweaveragethetworoots,the portionofthe
formuladisappearsandtheresultingxvalueis .Theyvalueofthevertexmuststill
2
becalculated,butthexvaluecanbereaddirectlyoutofthequadraticformula.
Also,oncethexvalueofthevertexisknown,theequationfortheaxisofsymmetryisalso
known.Itistheverticallinecontainingthevertex:
2
.

Algebra
QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable
Note:Thesameprocessworksfor
Solvetheinequalityoftheform: 0 inequalitieswith<,,or>signs.
Step1:If" "isnegative,multiplythewholeinequalityby" 1".Thiswillmaketheproblem

easiertoworkwith.Dontforgettochangethesignoftheinequality.
Example:convert 3 9 6 0 to 3 9 6 0
Step2:Factoroutanyscalarsthatdivideintoallofthetermsoftheinequality.Thiswillalso
maketheproblemeasiertoworkwith.
Example:factor 3 9 6 0 to 3 3 2 0
thendivideby3toget:[ 3 2 0
Step3:Solvetheequationthatcorrespondstotheinequality.Thesolutionsoftheequation
arethecriticalvaluesinthesolutionoftheinequality.
Example:solve[ 3 2 0 ,whichgives: 1, 2
Thesolutiontotheinequality,whenshownonanumberline,mustbeeitheroutside
thesolutionsorbetweenthesolutions.Thatis,either:
1 or 2
1 and 2
But,whichone? 12
Step4:Orvs.And.Lookattheinequalityyouareworkingwith(attheendofStep2).Asin
solvinginequalitieswithabsolutevalues,usethefollowingtricktorememberifthe
answerusesOrvs.And.
Iftheinequalitycontainsa sign,useand.Think:lessthand
Iftheinequalitycontainsa sign,useor.Think:greator
Dontforgettouse , insteadof , iftheyareintheoriginalinequality.
Example:Usingthismethod,westartwith 3 2 0 andnotethe partof

theinequality.Thismeanstheresultintheexamplewouldbe .
Inintervalnotationthissolutionsetisshownas: ,
Insetnotation,thissolutionisshownas: |


Algebra
QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable(contd)

Step5:CheckingyourOrvs.Anddecision.ThesolutionstotheequationinStep3break
thenumberlineinto3distinctpieces;intheexample:
Lessthan1 a bc
Between1and2
Morethan2 12

Testtoseeiftheoriginalinequalityiscorrectforanumberineachofthesesegmentsof
thenumberline.Althoughyoucouldtestaderivationoftheoriginalinequality(e.g.,
afterSteps1or2),itisbesttoworkwiththeoriginalwhencheckingyourwork.
So,youmighttestvalueslikethefollowing:
a. Lessthan1:trythevalue0
b. Between1and2:trythevalue
c. Morethan2:trythevalue3
Intheexample,youfindthat works,but0and3donotwork.Theanswermustthen
beinthemiddleinterval.ThismatchestheanswerobtainedinStep4.

Step5Alternative:Anotherwaytocheckyourwork.
Analternativewaytocheckyourworkistographthe
equationcorrespondingtotheinequality.
Usetheequation 3 2 0fromStep2
onlyifyouaresureyouperformedSteps1and2
correctly.
Thegraphofthecorrespondingequationisatright.
Noticethattheportionofthegraphthatisbelow
zeroistheportionbetween1and2.
Becausethesignincludestheequalssign,the
endpointsoftheintervalsareincludedinthesolutionset.
Therefore,thesolutionoftheinequalityis:
Theportionofthegraphbelowthe axis
| iswherethe 3 2 0
ThismatchestheanswerobtainedinStep4.


ADVANCED
Algebra
FittingaQuadraticEquationthroughThreePoints
Ittakesthreepointstodefineaquadraticequation,justlikeittakes2pointstodefinealine.In
general,ittakes(n+1)pointstodefineapolynomialofdegreen.
Startingwith:
thebasicquadraticequation: ,and
threepoints: , , , , , ,
itispossibletocalculatethecoefficientsofthequadraticequationbysubstitutinginthexand
yvaluesofthe3pointstocreateasystemof3equationsin3unknowns:

Now,thatsalotofsymbols,soletslookatanexample.
Example:
Findthequadraticequationthatpassesthroughthethreepoints:
1, 8 , 1, 4 , 2, 13
Usingthebasicquadraticequation,andsubstitutinginxvaluesandyvalues,weget3
equationsin3unknowns:
8
4
13 4 2
These3equationscanbesolvedbyeliminatingvariablesorbyusingCramersRule,whichever
thestudentfindsmorecomfortable.Solvingbyeithermethodgives:
, ,
Sothat:
Theoddthingaboutthisprocessisthatinmostalgebraproblemsthestudentisaskedtosolve
for or ,butthatisnotthecaseincurvefitting.Instead,thestudentisaskedtoderivea
quadraticequationgiven3setsof sand s,whichrequiressolvingfor , ,and instead.

Algebra
ComplexNumbersIntroduction
Definitions
1.
ImaginaryNumberAnynumberthatcanbeexpressedintheform whereaisreal.
Examples: 7,6 , 23,3
ComplexNumberAnynumberthatcanbeexpressedintheform wherea,barereal.
Examples:6 2 , 6 3
Note:allrealnumbersandallimaginarynumbersarealsocomplexnumbers.
Intheform ,
iscalledtherealpartofthecomplexnumber,and
iscalledtheimaginarypartofthecomplexnumber.
AbsoluteValueofaComplexNumber
Theabsolutevalueofacomplexnumberisalsocalleditsmagnitude.Algebraically,itis:
| |
ConjugateofaComplexNumber
Theconjugateofacomplexnumber isdenoted ; .
Examples:
ComplexNumber Conjugate ComplexNumber Conjugate
2 3 2 3 6 6

6 6 2 2 2 2
2 2 7 3 7 3
Commentsaboutconjugates:
1. Theconjugateofaconjugateisthenumberyoustatedwith.
, ,
2. Theproductofconjugatesisarealnumber.

3. Conjugatenumbershavethesameabsolutevalue.
| | | |

Algebra
OperationswithComplexNumbers
AddingandSubtracting
AddorsubtractboththeRealandImaginaryparts:
Example: 1 3 3 6 2 3
Multiplying
Step1:Multiplylikeyoumultiplybinomials.
Step2:Substitute 1for andsimplify.
Example: 1 3 3 6 3 6 9 18
3 6 9 18
15 15
Dividing
Step1:Multiplybyafractionwhosenumeratoranddenominatoraretheconjugateofthe
originalexpressionsdenominator.
Step2:Substitute 1for andsimplify.
Theresultingcomplexnumberwillhaveadenominatorthatisfreeofimaginarynumbers.
Rememberthemethod,nottheformula!
Example:
1 3 1 3 3 6 3 6 9 18

3 6 3 6 3 6 9 36
3 6 9 18 21 3

9 36 45


ADVANCED
Algebra
TheSquareRootofi
If ,whatis ?
Thisisaninterestingquestionandsolvingitwillillustrateaveryusefulmethodinworkingwith
complexnumbers.Youcanusethismethodtocalculatethesquarerootofanycomplex
number.
Recallthateachcomplexnumberisoftheform ,whereaandbarereal.
Wewantacomplexnumberthat,whensquared,generates .
So,wewanttocalculateaandbsuchthat
Letssolvethatequation:

2
Now,breakthisinto2equations,onefortherealpart,andonefortheimaginarypart.
Herearethe2equations: 0and2 1
and
Substitutingfor ,
Since 0,and isreal,

or
Since or

So,ourcandidatesfor are: or or or

Letstrythem:
Results:
2 2

2 2
So,wehavefoundnotonlythetwosquarerootsof ,but 2 2

alsothetwosquarerootsof . 2 2

Algebra
ComplexNumbersGraphicalRepresentation
Complexnumbersoftheform canberepresentedonasetofaxesthatrepresentReal
andImaginarynumbersinsteadof and .Considerthecomplexnumber3 4 .Itwould
looklikethisonasetofReal(R)andImaginary(I)axes:
I
4i
Graphical
R representationof
3 3 4
PolarCoordinates
Representedinthismanner,complexnumbershaveinterestingproperties(seethenextpage
forsomeofthese).Eachcomplexnumbercanbethoughtofasnotonlyapairofrectangular
coordinates,e.g.,(3,4),butalsoasasetofpolarcoordinateswithmagnitude(i.e.,length) and
angle .Then,tomultiplycomplexnumbers,youmultiplytheirmagnitudesandaddtheir
angles.
Powersofi
Thisisausefulbitofinformationforseeingthevalueof ingraphicalterms.Since 1,
algebraically,wehave:
1 1 1
1 1 1etc.
Since hasmagnitude1,allpowers alsohavemagnitude1.Eachsucceedingpowerof ,

then,resultsonlyinachangeoftheangle,andcanbeconsidereda90rotationinthe
coordinateplanecontainingtheRealandImaginaryaxes,likeso:
I I I I
R R R R
Thisshowstherotatingpatterninthevaluesofthepowersof every4increments.After4
rotationsyoureturntowhereyoustarted.

ADVANCED
Algebra
ComplexNumberOperationsinPolarCoordinates
PolarCoordinates
Ifacomplexnumberisexpressedintermsofitspolarcoordinates,manycalculationsaremade
mucheasier.First,letsinvestigatetherelationshipbetweenapointsrectangularcoordinates
, anditspolarcoordinates , .
Themagnitude,, isthedistanceofthepointfromthe
origin:
Theangle,,istheanglethelinefromthepointtothe
originmakeswiththepositiveportionofthexaxis.
Generally,thisangleisexpressedinradians,notdegrees.
tan or tan
Conversionfrompolarcoordinatestorectangularcoordinatesisstraightforward:
cos and sin
Example:Intheillustrationabove,thepointshownhas:
Rectangularcoordinates: 4, 4
PolarCoordinates: 42,
ComplexNumberFormulas:
Toseehowusefulthiscanbe,considerthefollowingformulasforcomplexnumbers:
Multiplication: , , ,
So,tomultiplycomplexnumbers,youmultiplytheirmagnitudesandaddtheirangles.
Division: , , ,
So,todividecomplexnumbers,youdividetheirmagnitudesandsubtracttheirangles.
Powers: , , Noteon :
Thisresultsdirectlyfromthemultiplicationrule. Sinceiinpolarcoordinatesis 1, ,
Usingtherootformula, 1,
Roots: , ,
Inrectangularcoordinates,then,
Thisresultsdirectlyfromthepowerruleifthe

exponentisafraction.

Algebra
ComplexSolutionstoQuadraticEquations
Overthefieldofrealnumberstherearenorootstoaquadraticfunctionifthediscriminantis
lessthanzero.Overthefieldofcomplexnumbers,however,suchaquadraticfunctionhastwo
roots.
QuadraticRefresher
Foraquadraticfunctionoftheform:
Quadratic
Theformulafortheroots(i.e.,wherey=0)is: Formula
Thediscriminantisthepartundertheradical:
HowManyRoots?
Thefollowingtabletellsushowmanyrealorcomplexrootsexistforafunction,basedonits
discriminant:
ValueofDiscriminant NumberofRoots
4 0 2complex
4 0 1real
4 0 2real
Note:becauseofthe signinthequadraticformula,whenthereare2complexrootsthey
areconjugates.
Example1:Solve 2 10 0
4 2 2 4 1 10 2 36 2 6

2 2 1 2 2
Example2:Solve2 4 7 0
4 4 4 4 2 7 4 40 4 210

2 2 2 4 4

Algebra
RadicalRules
SimpleRulesInvolvingRadicals
GeneralRadicalRule RuleforSquareRoots Example
12 4 3 23
5 5 5

4 4 2
Notealsothat:
e.g., ,sotherulesforexponentsalsoapplyforroots.
RationalizingtheDenominator
Mathematiciansprefertokeepradicalsoutofthedenominator.Herearetwo
methodstoaccomplishthis,dependingonwhatsinthedenominator.
Case1:Simpleradicalinthedenominator.Solution:multiplythebeginning
expressionbyafractionwhichistheoffendingradicaldividedbyitself.

Example:

Case2:Numberandradicalinthedenominator.Solution:multiplybythe
beginningexpressionbyafractionwhichisdesignedtoeliminatetheradicalfrom
thedenominator.Thenumeratoranddenominatorofthefractionarecreatedby
changingthesignbetweenthenumberandtheradicalinthedenominator.

Example:


Algebra
SimplifyingSquareRootsTwoMethods

Method1:ExtractingSquares
Inthismethod,youpullsquaresoutfromundertheradical.Thisisthequickest
methodifyouarecomfortablewithwhatthesquaresareandwithdividingthem
outoflargernumbers.
1 1 11 121
Examples: (1)98 49 2 2 4 12 144
72
3 9 13 169
(2)9600 100 96 4 16 14 196
100 16 6 5 25 15 225
10 4 6 6 36 16 256
406
7 49 17 289
8 64 18 324
Method2:ExtractingPrimeNumbers
9 81 19 361
IfyouarenotcomfortablewithMethod1,youcanpull
10 100 20 400
primenumbersoutfromundertheradicalandpairthem
uptosimplifythesquareroot.
Example: 54 2 27 Method2maytakealotlongerthan
Method1,butitworks.Agoodusefor
2 3 9
Method2iswhenyoutryusingthe
2 3 3 3 quickerMethod1butgetstuckthen
2 3 3 3 workingwithprimescangetyouback
ontracktowardsolvingtheproblem.
2 3 3
3 2 3
3 6 Notethatthelaststepis torecombineroots
thatdonotcomeinpairs.

Algebra
SolvingRadicalEquations
Whenanequationinvolvesradicals,theradicalsmustbeeliminatedinordertoobtaina
solution.Theonespecialthingabouttheseequationsisthat,intheprocessofeliminatingthe
radical,itispossibletoaddanothersolutionthatisnotasolutiontotheoriginalproblem.
SolutionsthatareaddedbytheprocessusedtosolvetheproblemarecalledExtraneous
Solutions.Attheendoftheproblem,wemustcheckforextraneoussolutionsandeliminate
them.
SolvingaRadicalEquation
Thestepstosolvinganequationinvolvingradicalsare:
Isolatetheradicalononesideoftheequation.Todothis,addorsubtractanyvariables
orconstantsthatareonthesamesideoftheequationastheradical.
Iftheradicalisasquareroot,squarebothsidesoftheequation.Iftheradicalisacube
root,cubebothsides,etc.Thisshouldgetridoftheradical.
Ifthereareanyradicalsremainingintheproblem,repeatthefirsttwostepsuntilthey
aregone.
Solvetheequationthatremains.
Checkallsolutionstotheproblemusingtheequationintheoriginalstatementofthe
problem.
Discardextraneousroots.
Example:Solve4 5
StartingProblem: 2 6 1
Subtract1frombothsides: 2 6 1 Ifweallowed to
Squarebothsides: 2 6 2 1 be2,theequationwould
workand1wouldworkasa
Subtract frombothsides: 4 5 0 solution.However,the
Factor: 5 1 0 squarerootofanumberis
definedtobethepositive
ObtainPreliminarySolutions: 1, 5 rootonly.So,1failsasa
Test asasolution: 2 1 6 1 1 ? solutiontotheproblem.
Test asasolution: 4 5 5 5 ?9
IdentifythefinalSolutionSet:

Algebra
SolvingRadicalEquations(contd)
WhyOnlyPositiveSquareRoots?
Itisgenerallytaughtinhighschoolalgebrathatsquarerootshavebothpositiveandnegative
roots.Sowhyarewenowsayingthatthesquarerootofanumberisdefinedtobeapositive
numberonly?
Theanswerliesinthemissingstep,whichisoftennottaughttohighschoolstudents.What
youlearnisthis:
, .And,thatiscorrect,butnotbecause whichitdoesnot!
TheMissingStep
Intheboxtotherightisthedevelopmentwiththe
missingstepincluded.Noticethat: StartingProblem:
| | Takesquareroots: | |
Whenwetakesquareroots,wehavepositive Solveforx:
numbersoneachsideoftheresultingequation.
Both| |and2arepositive.
Thetwopossiblevaluesforxcomefromsolvingthemiddleequation| | .
Thissolvestheapparentarbitrarinessofwhenarootisonlypositiveandwhenitisboth
positiveandnegative.
Inequalities
Themissingstepalsoprovidesanexplanationforthemethodusedtosolveinequalities.
Considertheinequality: 9.Theprocessforsolvingthiswiththemissingstepincludedis:
StartingProblem: 9
Takesquareroots: | | 3 Noticethat| |convertsto inCaseIandto
inCaseii.Bytheendoftheproblem,you
Casei Caseii seethatthesigninCaseiihasbeenflipped
aroundfromtheoriginalproblem.Thisisnot
3 and 3
magic;itistheresultofTheMissingStep
3 and 3 beingappliedinallitsmathematicalglory!
Solution: | 3


Algebra
MatrixAdditionandScalarMultiplication
WhatisaMatrix?
Amatrixisanorderedsetofnumberssetupina2dimensionalarray.Matricesareveryuseful
inalgebra,statisticsandotherapplicationsbecausetheyprovideaconcisewaytocarryout
morecomplexmathematicalmethodsandprocesses.
Matriceshavedimensions,expressedasthenumberofrowsxthenumberofcolumns.For
example,a2x3matrix(read2by3matrix)has2rowsand3columns.Knowingthe
dimensionsofamatrixisimportantbecausemanymatrixoperationscanonlyoccuron
matriceswithcertaindimensions.
AddingMatrices
Eachnumberinamatrixiscalledanelement.Matricesareaddedbyaddingthecorresponding
elementsinthematrices.Matricesmusthavethesamedimensionstobeadded.
Example:
2 3 1 1 2 4 1 1 5

5 1 2 2 1 0 3 2 2
1strow,1stcolumn:2 + (1) = 1
1strow,2ndcolumn:(3) + 2 = 1
ScalarMultiplication
Multiplyingamatrixbyascalar(i.e.,anumber)isaccomplishedbymultiplyingeachelementin
thematrixbythescalar.Thetermscalarsimplyreferstoscalingthematrixbymakingits
valueslargerorsmaller.Scalarmultiplicationcanbeperformedonmatricesofanydimensions.
Example:
1 2 4 3 6 12
3
2 1 0 6 3 0
1strow,1stcolumn:3 (1) = 3
1strow,2ndcolumn:3 2 = 6


Algebra
MatrixMultiplication
MultiplyingMatrices
Multiplicationofmatricesisamorecomplexprocess.Althoughthestudentmayfinditdifficult
atfirst,itisapowerfultoolthatisusefulinmanyfieldsofmathematicsandscience.
Matrixmultiplicationcanbeperformedonlyonmatricesthatareconformable(i.e.,compatible
insize).Inorderfortwomatricestobemultipliedtogether,thenumberofcolumnsinthefirst
matrixmustequalthenumberofrowsinthesecondmatrix.Ifanm x nmatrixismultipliedby
ann x pmatrix,theresultisanm x pmatrix.Thisisillustratedasfollows:
mustmatch
sizeofresultingmatrix
Tomultiplymatrices,youmultiplytheelementsinarowofonematrixbythecorresponding
elementsinacolumnoftheothermatrixandaddtheresults.Ifrowiinthefirstmatrixis
multipliedbyrowjinthesecondmatrix,theresultisplacedinrowi,columnjoftheresulting
matrix.Theelementinpositioni, jofamatrixisoftendenoted , .
Example1:
Noticethatmultiplyinga2x3
1 2
2 3 1 1 0 matrixbya3x2matrixresults
2 1
5 1 2 1 13 ina2x2matrix.
3 1
1strow,1stcolumn:[ 2 1] + [ (3) 2] + [ 1 3] = 1
1strow,2ndcolumn:[ 2 (2) ] + [ (3) (1) ] + [ 1 1] = 0
2ndrow,1stcolumn:[ 5 1] + [ 1 2] + [ (2) 3] = 1
2ndrow,2ndcolumn:[ 5 (2) ] + [ 1 (1) ] + [ (2) 1] = 13
Example2:
1 2 8 5 5 Noticethatmultiplyinga3x2
2 3 1
2 1 1 7 4 matrixbya2x3matrixresults
5 1 2 ina3x3matrix.
3 1 11 8 1
Fromtheexamples,itisclearthatmatrixmultiplicationisnotcommutative.Thatis,ifwe
nametwomatricesAandB,itisnotnecessarilytruethatAB=BA.Further,ifmatricesare
notsquare(i.e.,havingthesamenumberofrowsandcolumns),matrixmultiplicationisnever
commutative;thatisABBA.

Algebra
MatrixDivisionandIdentityMatrices
Multiplicationanddivisionareinverseprocesseswithwhichthestudentisfamiliarwhen
workingwithrealnumbers.Multiplicationofmatrices,asdescribedaboveismuchmore
complexthanmultiplicationofrealnumbers.So,howdoyoudividematrices?
Divisionofrealnumberscanbeconsideredtheprocessofmultiplyinganumberbytheinverse
ofthenumberbywhichyouwanttodivide.Forexample:
12 4(i.e.,12dividedby3isthesameas12times ;theresultis4eitherway)
dividingby3isthesameamultiplyingbytheinverseof3,whichis
3and aremultiplicativeinversesbecausewhenmultiplied,theyresultin1,whichis
calledthemultiplicativeidentity
Matrixdivisionworksinasimilarfashion.First,weneedtoidentifyanidentitymatrix,thenwe
needtodeterminehowtocalculateaninversematrixwhich,whenmultipliedbytheoriginal
matrix,resultsintheidentitymatrix.Onlysquarematriceshaveinverses.Identitymatrices
mustalso,bydefinition,besquare.
IdentityMatrices
Identitymatricesexistforeachsquaredimension.Identitymatriceshave1sdownthediagonal
and0sineveryotherlocation.Forexample,thefollowingareidentitymatrices,generally
denotedbytheletter" ":
1 0 0 0
1 0 0
1 0 0 1 0 0
0 1 0
0 1 0 0 1 0
0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Whenamatrixismultipliedbyanidentitymatrix,theresultistheoriginalmatrix.
Example:Ifwenameamatrix ,then asfollows:
2 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 1 2 1 1
3 2 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 2 1 3 2 1
4 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 0 3 4 0 3


Algebra
Inverseofa2x2Matrix
Usingmatrixnotation:
Lettheidentitymatrixofsize becalled
Letan matrixbecalled
Letthedeterminantofmatrix bedenoted| |
Lettheinverseofmatrix bedenoted 1
Then, 1 1
Notallsquarematriceshaveinverses.Inorderforamatrixtohaveaninverse,itsdeterminant
mustbenonzero.Thatis,matrix hasaninverseifandonlyif:| | .
FormulafortheInverseofa2x2Matrix

1
Ifa2x2matrixhaselements , , andd,suchthat ,then:
Inwords,theinverseiscalculatedasfollows:
Fromtheoriginalmatrix,switchelementsaandd,andchangethesignsofbandc.
Dividetheresultingmatrixbythedeterminantoftheoriginalmatrix.(Note:the
determinantofamatrixisascalar).
Thedeterminantofmatrix ,iscalculatedas| | .
Example:2x2MatrixInverseCalculation

Let:

Then: | |

So: 1

1
. .

1 1
Finally,checktomakesure:

. . . .
and


ADVANCED
Algebra
CalculatingInversesTheGeneralCase
Thecalculationoftheinverseofamatrixofsizegreaterthan2x2canbeperformedbya
processcalledGaussJordanElimination.Theprocessisalsocalled,moregenerically,Row
Reduction.Inthisprocess,youbeginwithtwosidebysidematrices,theoneyouwantto
invert(thesubjectmatrix)andtheidentitymatrixofthesamesize.Operationsareperformed
onbothmatrices,graduallyconvertingtheoriginalmatrixtotheidentityMatrix.
Allowableoperationsare:
Multiplyingordividingarowbyascalar(i.e.,anumber).
Switchingrows.
Addingorsubtractingamultipleofonerowtoorfromanother.
Whenthisprocessiscomplete,theoriginalidentitymatrixhasbeenconvertedtotheinverse
matrix.Belowisanexampleofthedevelopmentofaninverseofa3x3matrixusingthis
process:

Startwiththeidentity

matrixtotherightofthe
originalsubjectmatrix.
Eachoperation
performedontheoriginal
subjectmatrixisalso
performedontheoriginal
identitymatrix.
Endwiththeinverse
matrixtotherightofthe
newidentitymatrix.

Algebra ADVANCED
DeterminantsTheGeneralCase
Determinantsareveryusefulinmatrixoperations.Thedeterminantofa2x2matrixisdefinedtobe:
| |
Inwords,thediagonalsaremultipliedandtheproductofseconddiagonalissubtractedfromthe
productofthefirstdiagonal.Thisprocessisgeneralizedindeterminantsoflargermatricesusingwhat
arereferredtoasminors.Aminoriswhatisleftofadeterminantwhentherowandcolumnofthe
elementareeliminated.
Thedeterminantofamatrixcanbecalculatedbyselectingarowandmultiplyingeachelementofthe
rowbyitscorrespondingminor.Theresultsarealternatelyaddedandsubtractedtogetthevalueofthe
determinant.Thesignoftheeachtermisdeterminedbytherowandcolumninwhichitresides.The
signfortheelementinrowmandcolumnnis .Thefollowingmatricesofsignsshowhow
theyareappliedtoeachrowelement:
2x2: 3x3: 4x4:
Usingminorsofthefirstrowtoevaluatea3x3matrix,
Or,usingminorsofthesecondcolumntoevaluatethesame3x3matrix,
Theresultsofthecalculationwillbethesame,regardlessofwhichrowisselected,becauseofthepower
ofmatricesanddeterminants.
Examplefora3x3matrixusingminorsofthefirstrow:
3 1 1 Note:thisisthematrixthatforms
2 1 1 1 1 2
1 2 1 3 1 1 thedenominatorinthesolutionof
2 3 2 3 2 2
2 2 3 thesystemofequationsinthe
CramersRuleexample.
3 4 1 1 1 2
Thesameprocessisfollowedforlargerdeterminants.Forexample,a5x5determinantisfirstreduced
toasumoffiveelementseachmultipliedbytheir4x4minors.Eachofthe4x4minorsisreducedtoa
sumoffourelementseachmultipliedbytheir3x3minors,etc.Theprocessiscalculationintensive;
todayitwouldtypicallybeperformedusingacomputer.

Algebra
CramersRule2Equations
CramersRuleprovidesapowerfulandsimplewaytosolvesystemsoftwoorthreelinear
equations.Inlargersystemsofequations,itisausefulwaytosolveforjustoneofthe
variables,withouthavingtosolvetheentiresystemofequations.Tosolveanentiresystemof
fourormoreequations,abettertechniquewouldbeGaussJordanElimination,especiallyifthe
studentisaidedbyacomputerandspreadsheetsoftwaresuchasMicrosoftExcel.
CramersRuleworksaslongasthedeterminantofvariablecoefficients(i.e.,thedeterminantin
thedenominator)isnonzero.Ifthisdeterminantiszero,thenthereisnouniquesolutionto
thesystemofequations.
GeneralCasefor2Equationsin2Unknowns
Thestandardformoftheequationsis:

Usingdeterminantnotation,CramersRulestatesthatthesolutionsforxandyare:
Noticethatthedeterminantsinthedenominatorsarethesame;thecolumnsinthese
determinantsarethecoefficientsofthevariablesintheequations.Thedeterminantsinthe
numeratorsarealmostthesameastheonesinthedenominators;theonlydifferenceisthat
thecolumnofcoefficientsassociatedwiththevariablebeingevaluatedisreplacedbythe
equationsconstantterms.
Example:Considertheseequations: 3 6 18
3 7
Then,
12

3

ADVANCED
Algebra
CramersRule3Equations
GeneralCasefor3Equationsin3Unknowns
Thestandardformoftheequationsis:

Usingdeterminantnotation,CramersRulestatesthatthesolutionsforx, yandzare:
Asinthecasewithtwoequations,thedeterminantsinthedenominatorsareallthesame;the
columnsinthesedeterminantsarethecoefficientsofthevariablesintheequations.The
determinantsinthenumeratorsarealmostthesameastheonesinthedenominators;theonly
differenceisthatthecolumnofcoefficientsassociatedwiththevariablebeingevaluatedis
replacedbytheequationsconstantterms.
Notethatthedeterminantof
Example:Considertheseequations: 3 7 variablecoefficientsmustbenon
2 2 zeroinordertouseCramers
2 2 3 4 Rule.Ifthisdeterminantiszero,
thereisnouniquesolutiontothe
systemofequations.
Usingdeterminantnotation:
Performingtherequiredcalculations,weobtaintheuniquesolution:

2 3 2

ADVANCED
Algebra
AugmentedMatrices
SolvingSimultaneousEquations
Onerelativelyadvancedmethodofsolvingsimultaneousequationsisthroughtheuseofan
AugmentedMatrix.Amatrixisconsideredaugmentedifitconsistsofthematrixofthe
coefficientsofthevariables,augmentedbytheconstantterms.Inorderforasystemof
equationstobesolvedinthisform,theymustbewritteninstandardform.
Example:
Tosolvethe 3 13 Theaugmented 1 3 13

system: 2 4 matrixwouldbe: 2 1 4
GaussJordanElimination
AprocesscalledGaussJordanElimination(GJE)isusedtomanipulatetheaugmentedmatrixto
obtainasolutiontotheequations.GJEisalsocalledRowReductionbecauseeachstepadjusts
thevaluesinonerowoftheaugmentedmatrix.Attheendoftheprocess,therowsofthe
coefficientmatrixarereducedtotheIdentityMatrix.
Thefollowingmanipulationsoftherowsareallowed:
Multiplyingordividingarowbyascalar(i.e.,anumber).
Switchingrows.
Addingorsubtractingamultipleofonerowtoorfromanother.
Whenthisprocessiscomplete,theconstantcolumnoftheaugmentedmatrixhasbeen
convertedtothesolutionofthesystemofequations.Whydoesthiswork?Theprocessusedis
essentiallythesameassolvingasystemofequationsbytheeliminationmethod.InGJE,you
ignorethevariablenamesbyusingmatrices,butthemanipulationsarethesame.
InverseMatrix
ThisprocesscanalsobeusedtodevelopanInverseMatrix.Todothis,
Placeanidentitymatrixtotherightoftheaugmentedmatrixatthestart.
Performallrowoperationsonthismatrixasyouprogress.
Attheend,theoriginalidentitymatrixwillhavebeenconvertedtotheinversematrix.
Inthefollowingexamples,augmentedmatricesaremanipulatedtodevelopsolutionsto
systemsofequationsandidentitymatricesareconvertedtoinversematrices.

Algebra
2x2AugmentedMatrixExamples
Problem:solvethefollowingsetofsimultaneousequationsusingrowreduction 2x+8y=36
(formallycalledGaussJordanElimination) x+5y=10
ActionTaken Why? AugmentedMatrix InverseMatrix

Start x y =
StartingAugmentedMatrix 2 8 36 1 0
1 5 10 0 1
AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a11)>Row1 Togeta"1"incolumn1 1 4 18 0.5 0
Row2(nochange) 1 5 10 0 1
Adjust2ndRow
Row1(nochange) 1 4 18 0.5 0
(Row2)(a21*Row1)>Row2 Togeta"0"incolumn1 0 1 8 0.5 1
Adjust2ndRow
Row1(nochange) 1 4 18 0.5 0
(Row2)(a22)>Row2 Togeta"1"incolumn2 0 1 8 0.5 1
AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a12*Row2)>Row1 Togeta"0"incolumn2 1 0 50 =x 2.5 4
Row2(nochange) 0 1 8 =y 0.5 1
InverseMatrix
MatrixInverseTest OriginalMatrix InverseMatrix ProductMatrix

2 8 2.5 4 1 0
1 5 0.5 1 0 1
Problem:solvethefollowingsetofsimultaneousequationsusingrowreduction x+3y=13
(formallycalledGaussJordanElimination) 2xy=4

Start x y =
StartingAugmentedMatrix 1 3 13 1 0
2 1 4 0 1
AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a11)>Row1 Togeta"1"incolumn1 1 3 13 1 0
Adjust2ndRow
(Row2)(a21*Row1)>Row2 Togeta"0"incolumn1 0 5 30 2 1
Adjust2ndRow
(Row2)(a22)>Row2 Togeta"1"incolumn2 0 1 6 0.4 0.2
AdjustTopRow
(Row1)(a12*Row2)>Row1 Togeta"0"incolumn2 1 0 5 =x 0.2 0.6
Row2(nochange) 0 1 6 =y 0.4 0.2
InverseMatrix

1 3 0.2 0.6 1 0
2 1 0.4 0.2 0 1

Algebra
3x3AugmentedMatrixExample
Problem:solvethefollowingsetofsimultaneous 2xy+3z=7
equationsusingrowreduction(formallycalled x+4y2z=17
GaussJordanElimination) 3x+y+2z=2

StartingAugmentedMatrix x y z =
StartingAugmentedMatrix 2 1 3 7 1 0 0
1 4 2 17 0 1 0
3 1 2 2 0 0 1
WorkDown
Row1*1/2>Row1 Togeta"1"incolumn1 1 0.5 1.5 3.5 0.5 0 0
Row2(newRow1)>Row2 Togeta"0"incolumn1 0 4.5 3.5 20.5 0.5 1 0
Row3(3*newRow1)>Row3 Togeta"0"incolumn1 0 2.5 2.5 12.5 1.5 0 1
WorkDown
Row1(nochange) 1 0.5 1.5 3.5 0.5 0 0
SwitchRows2and3 NewRow2lookseasiertoworkwith 0 2.5 2.5 12.5 1.5 0 1
SwitchRows2and3 NewRow2lookseasiertoworkwith 0 4.5 3.5 20.5 0.5 1 0
WorkDown
Row1(nochange) 1 0.5 1.5 3.5 0.5 0 0
Row2/2.5>Row2 Togeta"1"incolumn2 0 1 1 5 0.6 0 0.4
Row3*2>Row3 Togetridofthefractions 0 9 7 41 1 2 0
WorkDown
Row1(nochange) 1 0.5 1.5 3.5 0.5 0 0
Row2(nochange) 0 1 1 5 0.6 0 0.4
Row3(9*Row2)>Row3 Togeta"0"incolumn2 0 0 2 4 4.4 2 3.6
WorkDown
Row1(nochange) 1 0.5 1.5 3.5 0.5 0 0
Row2(nochange) 0 1 1 5 0.6 0 0.4
Row3*.5>Row3 Togeta"1"incolumn3 0 0 1 2 2.2 1 1.8
WorkUp
Row1(Row3*1.5)>Row1 Togeta"0"incolumn3 1 0.5 0 0.5 2.8 1.5 2.7
Row2+Row3>Row2 Togeta"0"incolumn3 0 1 0 3 1.6 1 1.4
Row3(nochange) 0 0 1 2 2.2 1 1.8
WorkUp
Row1+(Row2*.5)>Row1 Togeta"0"incolumn2 1 0 0 1 =x 2 1 2
Row2(nochange) 0 1 0 3 =y 1.6 1 1.4
Row3(nochange) 0 0 1 2 =z 2.2 1 1.8
InverseMatrix

2 1 3 2 1 2 1 0 0
1 4 2 1.6 1 1.4 0 1 0
3 1 2 2.2 1 1.8 0 0 1
Algebra
ExponentFormulas

Examples

Product of Powers

Quotient of Powers
Power of a Power
Anything to the zero power is 1

, if , ,
Negative powers generate the

reciprocal of what a positive
power generates
Power of a product
Power of a quotient
Converting a root to a power

Algebra
LogarithmFormulas

Examples
, 0 implies
Definition of logarithm implies
isundefined
0
Log (base anything) of 1 is
zero
Exponents and logs are , 0
inverse operators, leaving
what you started with
Logs and exponents are , 0
inverse operators, leaving
what you started with
The log of a product is the , , 0
sum of the logs
The log of a quotient is the , , 0

difference of the logs
The log of something to a , 0

power is the power times the

log
Change the base to whatever , , 0
you want by dividing by the ,
log of the old base

ADVANCED
Algebra
e
Whatise?
eisatranscendentalnumber,meaningthatitisnottherootofanypolynomialwith
integercoefficients.
eisthebaseofthenaturallogarithms.
WhatMakesesoSpecial?
eshowsupoverandoverinmathematics,especiallyinregardtolimits,derivatives,and
integrals.Inparticular,itisnoteworthythat:
1
lim 1 lim 1
!
Perhaps,mostinterestingly,thefollowingequation,calledEulersEquation,relatesfive
seeminglyunrelatedmathematicalconstantstoeachother.

SomeSeriesRepresentationsofe

1 1 1 1 1 Therearemanymoreseriesinvolvinge.
1 1
! 2 6 24 120 Asamplingoftheseisprovidedat:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/e.html.

1 1

! 1 1 1 1
1 1
2 6 24 120
DecimalExpansion
2.7 1828 1828 4590 4523 5360 2874 7135 2662 4977 5724 7093 6999 5957 4966
The web site http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/e.2mil shows the decimal
expansion of e to over 2 million digits.


Algebra
TableofExponentsandLogarithms
Definition: ifandonlyif

024


Algebra
ConvertingBetweenExponentialandLogarithmicForms

Toconvertbetweenanexponentialexpressionandalogarithmicexpression,itisoftenhelpful
tousethefirstlastmiddleruletoperformtheconversion.Ifnecessasy,settheexpression
equalto beforeapplyingtherule.
Note:thefirstlastmiddlerulerequiresthatthelogarithmicorexponentialportionofthe
expressionbeonthelefthandsideoftheequation.
Converting from Logarithmic Form Converting from Exponential Form

to Exponential Form to Logarithmic Form
using firstlastmiddle using firstlastmiddle
Examples: Examples:
1) Solvefor : 64 . 1 Converttheexpression,2 32to

Firstis4,lastis andmiddleis logarithmicform.
64.So,4 64. Firstis2,lastis32andmiddleis
Then,4 4; 4 16; 4 64 5.
So,wehave:
So,wehave:
2 Solvefor :ln 2 Converttheexpression,7 343to

(remember isshorthandfor ) logarithmicform.
Using firstlastmiddle, Using firstlastmiddle,
convertsto: 7 343convertsto: 343 3
So,wehave: So,wehave:


Algebra
ExpandingLogarithmicExpressions

Expandingalogarithmicexpressionisaprocessbestdescribedbyexample.Eachstepofthe
processisdescribedandillustratedintheexamplebelow.
Expand:
Whenexpanded:
Eachiteminthenumeratorwillbecomeatermprecededbya+sign
Eachiteminthedenominatorwillbecomeatermprecededbyasign.
Allexponentsbecometermcoefficientsinexpandedform.
Step1:Simplifytermsintheoriginalexpression,ifpossible:
Step2:Writethelogofalloftheitemsinparenthesesinthesimplifiedexpression:
2 3
Step3:Writetheexponentsfromthesimplifiedexpressionascoefficientsofeachlog:
2 3
Step4:Writethesigns( foritemsinthenumerator; foritemsinthedenominator):

2 3 2 3 4
Step5:Simplifytermsinthesolution,ifpossible:
1 3 2 3 4
Result: 1 3 2 3 4

Algebra
CondensingLogarithmicExpressions
Condensingalogarithmicexpressionisaprocessbestdescribedbyexample.Eachstepofthe
processisdescribedandillustratedintheexamplebelow.
Condense:1 2 2 3 4
Step1:Reviewtheexpressionandidentifyeachelement.
Theargumentofeachlogwillbecomethebaseofanexponentialterm.
Thecoefficientofeachlogwillbecomeanexponentonthatterm
Thesignofeachtermdetermineswhethertheexponentialtermgoesinthe
numerator(+)ordenominatorofthecondensedexpression.
exponents Whencondensed,eachtermwill
becomeexponentialinform.All
termsinthenumeratorwillbe
1 2 2 3 4 multipliedtogether.Alltermsin
thedenominatorwillbemultiplied
together.
indicatesthataterm +indicatesthataterm
goesinthedenominator goesinthenumerator
Step2:Setupthelogexpressionwiththeproperbaseandparenthesestocontainthevarious
terms.Ifthereisatleastonenegativesign,setupafractioninsidetheparentheses:

Step3:Convertanyconstantstopowersofthebaseofthelog:

Step4:Bringineachtermcontainingavariableasanexponentialexpressionwiththeproper
exponentandbase:

Step5:Simplifytotheextentpossible:


Algebra
CondensingLogarithmicExpressionsMoreExamples
Suggestionsfordoingproblems:
Useparenthesesliberallytohelpyourselfseewhatisgoingonintheproblem.
Dotheproblemsonestepatatime,workingcarefullydownthepage.
Leaveyourselfalotofroomtodothework;theremaybealotofsteps.

Someadditionalexamplestohelpseehowthevariousrulesfittogether:
1
8 log log 2 log log
4
6 ln 3 6 ln 3 ln 11 ln 3
2 3 log log 1 log 16 log 0 log 16
log 3
log log log log
log 100 2
1
log 6 2 4 6
16

Algebra
GraphinganExponentialFunction
Graphinganexponentialorlogarithmicfunctionisaprocessbestdescribedbyexample.Each
stepoftheprocessisdescribedandillustratedintheexamplesoverthenextfewpages.
Graphthefunction:
Step1:Thehorizontalasymptoteoccursatthe

valueoftheconstantterm.Thisisbecausethe
exponentialtermapproacheszeroasthe
exponentbecomesmoreandmorenegative.
istheasymptote.
Step2:Selectpointsforthegraph:
Inselectingpointsforan

Inthisexample,select sothat:
exponentialcurve,good
1 1 so, 0 0 3 2 1.67
choicesoftenrelatetothe
valueoftheexponent.
1 0 so,
1 1 3 2 1
Choosevaluesthatmake
theexponent1,0and1;or
1 1 so, 2 2 3 2 1
1,0and2.
Step3:Graphtheexponentialfunction:
3A:Graphthe
asymptote 2 3B:Graphthepoints 3C:Sketchinthecurve

Note: exponential and logarithmic
Four Exponential Function Graphs functions that are inverses of
each other (on this page and the
Impact of varying base (above 1 and below 1) one following) are the same color.


Algebra
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction
Method 1: Direct Method
GraphthesampleFunction: 1 3
Step1:Findtheverticalasymptoteatthevalueof

xthatmakestheargumentofthelogzero.
1 0 so, istheasymptote.
Inselectingpointsforalogarithmiccurve,goodchoicesoftenrelatetothevalueoftheargument.
Choosevaluesthatmaketheargument1andthebaseofthelogarithm(1and4inthisexample).
Inthisexample,select
sothat:

1 1 so,
2 2 2 1 3 1 3

1 4 so,
5 5 5 1 3 4 3
Seewhathappenswhenwedothis
Byselectingxssothatthevaluesinparenthesesare
1and
inthetabletotheright: thebaseofthelog,thecalculationofysbecomeseasy.
Notethattwopointsmaybesufficient tographthecurveif wehavealsodrawntheasymptote.
Step3:Graphthelogarithmicfunction:
3A:Graphthe

Algebra
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction(contd)
Natural Logarithm Notation:

"ln" standsforlogarithmusnaturalis(Latinfornaturallogarithm)andisthelogarithmwithbase" ".
Thelnnotationwasinventedinthelate1800s,whenalotofworkwasdonebyhand(therewereno
electroniccalculatorsorcomputers).Thosewhoworkedwithlogarithmsoftenusednaturallogarithms
extensively,sothisshorthandnotationbecamequitepopular,andhassurvivedtothisday.
So,whenyousee:ln thinklog .
Method 1: Direct Method when the base of the logarithm is
Step1:Findtheverticalasymptoteatthevalueof

xthatmakestheargumentofthelogzero.
1 0 so, istheasymptote.
Inselectingpointsforalogarithmiccurve,goodchoicesoftenrelatetothevalueoftheargument.
Choosevaluesthatmaketheargument1andthebaseofthelogarithm(1andeinthisexample).
Inthisexample,select
sothat:

1 1 so,
2 2 ln 2 1 3 ln 1 3

1 e so,
1 3.7 ln 1 1 3 ln 3
Youneedtoknowthat
~ 2.7. Byselectingxssothatthevaluesinparenthesesare
1and
So, 1 ~ 3.7. thebaseofthelog,thecalculationofysbecomeseasy.
Notethattwopointsmaybesufficient tographthecurveif wehavealsodrawntheasymptote.
3A:Graphthe

Algebra
GraphingaLogarithmicFunction(contd)
Method 2: DoubleInverse Method
Step1:Findtheinversefunction: Step2:Findthevertical
Switchvariables: 1 3 asymptoteatthevalueofx
Subtracttheconstant: 3 3 thatmakestheargumentof
thelogzero.
Result: 3 1
1 0
Takepowersofthelogbase: 4 4 so, istheasymptote.
Simplify: 4 1
Subtracttheconstant: 1 1
ResultingINVERSEFunction: 4 1 or
Inselectingpointsforan

Inthisexample,select sothat:
exponentialcurve,good
3 1 so, 2 2 4 1 1.25
choicesoftenrelatetothe
valueoftheexponent.
3 0 so,
3 3 4 1 2
Choosevaluesthatmake
theexponent1,0and1;or
3 1 so, 4 4 4 1 5
1,0and2.
Step4:Switchthexandyvaluestogetpointsforthelogarithmicfunction:
.

5A:Graphthe


Note: exponential and logarithmic functions that
Four Logarithmic Graphs are inverses of each other (on the earlier page and
Impact of varying base (above 1 and below 1) on this one) are the same color.


Algebra
p
GraphsofVariousFunctions
y=2x y=()x
10.0 10.0
5.0 5.0
0.0 0.0
10.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0
5.0 5.0
10.0 10.0
y=log2 x y=log x
10.0 10.0
5.0 5.0
0.0
00 0.0
10.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0
5.0 5.0
10.0 10.0
y=x y=x2 y=x3

10.0 10.0 10.0
5.0 5.0 5.0
0.0 0.0 0.0

10.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0
5.0 5.0 5.0
10.0 10.0 10.0

Algebra
ApplicationsofExponentialFunctions

ExponentialGrowthandDecay
Note:ifyoulettheendvaluebe
1 representedby andthe
startvalueby ,yougetsimilar
formulastotheinterest
1 formulasbelow.
InterestFormulas
Let: =Amountofmoneyattime
=Principal(startingamountofmoney);notethat 0
=theannualrateofinterest(e.g.,4%or.04)
=thenumberoftimesperyearthatinterestiscredited
Compoundinterestpaysinterestanumberoftimesduringtheyear;thatis,in
periodsafterthefirst,interestispaidontheoriginalamountinvestedplus
interestearnedinpriorperiods.
Compoundinterestpaidntimesayear:

Simplecase.Ifinterestiscompoundedonanannualbasis,wegetthesimplest
formula:

Annualinterestpaidonceayear:

Continuouscompounding.Themorefrequentthecompoundingofinterest,the
moremoneyyouget.Thebestreturnonyourmoneyoccursifinterestis
compoundedcontinuously.Becauseofthedefinitionofthemathematical
constant" ",wegetthefollowingformula(knownasthePertformula).

Interestcompoundedcontinuously:

Algebra
SolvingExponentialandLogarithmicEquations
Logarithmsandexponentsareinverseoperationsinthesamewayadditionandsubtractionare,
andinthesamewaymultiplicationanddivisionare.So,toundoanexponent,youtakea
logarithm,andtoundoalogarithm,youtakeanexponent.
SolvinganExponentialEquation
Sometimesanequationhasavariableinanexponent.Tosolvethiskindofequation,follow
thesesteps:
Isolatethetermwiththeexponentononeside Example:
oftheequation.Thatis,undoanyadditions,
Start: 2 43 110
subtractions,multiplications,anddivisionsin
theequation. Subtract2:4 3 108
Takealogarithmofbothsidesoftheequation. Divideby4: 3 27
Usethebasethatexistsintheexponential Takelogs: log 3 log 27
term.
Simplify: 2 3
Add2:
Note:intheexampleatright,thebaseof3isselected
forthelogarithmsbecauseitisthebaseoftheexponentintheproblem.
SolvingaLogarithmicEquation
Tosolveanequationwithalogarithminit,followthesesteps:
Isolatethelogarithmononesideofthe
equation.Thatis,undoanyadditions, Example:
subtractions,multiplications,anddivisionsin
Start: 1 log 1 1
theequation.
Takethebaseofthelogarithmtothepowerof Add1: log 1 2
bothsidesoftheequation.Usethesamebase Multiplyby : log 1 3
thatexistsinthelogarithmicterm.
Exponentiate: 2 2
Simplify: 1 8
Note:intheexampleatright,thebaseof2isselected
Subtract1:
foruseinexponentiationbecauseitisthebaseofthe
logarithmintheproblem.

Algebra
PolynomialFunctionGraphs
Definitions
LocalMaximumThelargestvaluethatafunctiontakesinaneighborhoodaroundthe
point.Theremustbesmallervaluesonbothsidesofthelocalmaximum.
LocalMinimumThesmallestvaluethatafunctiontakesinaneighborhoodaroundthe
point.Theremustbelargervaluesonbothsidesofthelocalminimum.
AfunctionisIncreasingoveranintervalifit
generateslargervaluesasxincreasesoverthe
sameinterval.
AfunctionisDecreasingoveranintervalifit
generatessmallervaluesasxincreasesoverthe
sameinterval.
Thegraphattherighthastwolocalmaximaandtwolocal
minima.Italsohasthreeintervalswhereitisincreasing
andtwointervalswhereitisdecreasing.
CharacteristicsoftheGraphofaPolynomial
If isapolynomialofdegree ,then
iscontinuousoverallvaluesofx.
Roots(i.e.,zeroes)of existwhereverthegraphintersectsthexaxis.Thereareat
most ofthem.
Theyinterceptofthegraphoccursat 0 ,whichistheconstanttermofthe
polynomial.
willhaveatmost 1localextrema(eithermaximaorminima).Forexample,a
th
5 degreepolynomialwillhaveatmost4extrema;theexampleabovehas4extrema.
Ateachextreme,theslopeofalinetangenttothecurvewillbezero.However,ifthe
slopeofthetangentlinetothecurveatapointiszero,thepointisnotnecessarilyan
extreme.
Atalocalmaximum,thepolynomialmustbeincreasingontheleftanddecreasingon
theright.
Atalocalminimum,thepolynomialmustbedecreasingontheleftandincreasingon
theright.


ADVANCED
Algebra
FindingExtremawithDerivatives
Derivatives
Thederivativeofamonomialis:
Thenotation meanstakeaderivativewithrespecttothevariablex.Weneedtoknowtwo
otherthingsaboutderivativesinordertofindextremawiththem.
Thederivativeofasumisthesumofthederivatives.Thatis:
Derivativesprovideinformationabouttheslopesoflinestangenttothecurveateach
point.Sincetheslopeofatangentlineataminimumormaximumiszero,wecan
calculatethederivativeofapolynomialandsetitequaltozerotofindthexvaluesofits
extrema.
FindingExtremawithDerivatives
If isapolynomial,anyextremalieatpointswhere .
Example1:Takethegeneralquadraticequation:
Weknowthatthegraphofthisequationhasasinglemaximumorminimumwhichisthevertex
oftheparabola.Takingaderivativeofthisformulaandsettingitequaltozero,weget:
Solvingforx,weget: ,whichwealreadyknowisthexvalueofthevertex.
Example2:
Findlocalmaximaandminimaforthecubicequation:
Solvingthisforx,wefindlocalmaximaorminimamayexistat , .
Onecaution:Whenaderivativeisequaltozero,itonlyprovidesthepossibilityofanextreme;
itdoesnotguaranteeanextreme.Itispossiblefortheslopeofacurvetobezeroandnothave
eitheralocalmaximumorminimum.Foranexampleofthis,lookat where 0.

Algebra
FactoringHigherDegreePolynomials
SumandDifferenceofCubes
Thesumofcubesisoftheform:
Thedifferenceofcubesisoftheform:
Noticethefollowingaboutthesetwoformulas:
Eachformulafactorsintoabinomialandatrinomial.
Eachterminthebinomialisofdegree1.
Eachterminthetrinomialisofdegree2.
Eachformulahasoneminussigninitsfactorization.
Ineachformula,thesecondtermofthebinomialfactortakesthesignofthesecond
termoftheoriginalexpression.
Identification
Toseeifanexpressionisasumordifferenceofcubes,youmustansweryes
tothreequestions: Tableof
1. Arethereonlytwoterms? Cubes
2. Isthefirsttermacube?Ifso,takeitscuberoottogetthevalueofa.
1 1
3. Isthesecondtermacube?Ifso,takeitscuberoottogetthevalueofb.
2 8
Thesolutionisbasedontheappropriateformulaabove,substitutingthecube
rootsofthetwotermsforaandb.Becareful! 3 27
4 64
Note:Atelltalesignofwhenanexpressionmightbethesumordifferenceof2
cubesiswhenthecoefficientsonthevariablesarecubesandtheexponentson 5 125
thevariablesaremultiplesof3.
6 216
Examples: 7 343
(1) 8 512
(2) 9 729
(3) 10 1,000
11 1,331
(4) 12 1,728

Algebra
VariableSubstitution
Onoccasionyouwillencounterapolynomialthatlooksfamiliarexceptthattheexponentson
thevariablesarehigherthanusual.Inthiscase,atechniquecalledVariableSubstitutionmay
beuseful.
Thestepsforvariablesubstitutionare:
Identifywhichkindofequationtheproblemresembles.
Identifywhattermsarelikelytorequiresubstitution.Oftenthereareonlyoneortwo
termsthatneedtobesubstituted.
Createnewvariablesforpurposesofsubstitution.
Rewritetheproblemintermsofthenewvariables.
Solvetheproblemintermsofthenewvariables.
Substitutetheoriginalvariablesintothesolution.
Performanyadditionalworkthatisneededbasedontheoriginalvariables.
Checkyourwork.
Example1:
Factor:
Thislookslikeatypicaltrinomialfactoringproblemexceptforthelargeexponents.
Createtwonewvariables: and
Rewritetheexpression:
Factortheexpression:
Substituteoriginalvariables:
Performadditionalwork:
Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthefactoredformtoseeifyougettheoriginalpolynomial.
Example2:
Factor:
Thislookslikeasumofcubes.
Createtwonewvariables: and
Usethesumofcubesformula:
Substituteoriginalvariables:
Checkyourworkbymultiplyingthefactoredformtoseeifyougettheoriginalpolynomial.

Algebra
SyntheticDivision
SyntheticDivisionisashortcuttodividingpolynomialsbyalinearfactor.Hereshowitworks.
Wewilluseanexampletoillustratetheprocess.
Example1: 2 5 2 2
Step1:Inthelinearterm takethevaluerasthedivisor.Intheexample,thedivisor
willbe .Weusetheletterrtoindicatethatthevalueisactuallyarootoftheequation.So,
insyntheticdivision,therootisusedasthedivisor.
Step2:Lineupthecoefficientsofthetermsfromhighest
2 2 5 1 2
degreetolowestdegreeinarowtotherightofthedivisor.If
atermismissing,useazeroforthecoefficientofthatterm.
Wewillcallthisarrayofcoefficientsthedividend. 2
Step3:Bringtheleadingcoefficientdownbelowtheline.
Step4:Multiplythedivisorbythenumberjustplacedbelow 2 2 5 1 2
thelineandputtheresultabovethelineandonecolumnto 4
theright.Addthetwonumbersinthatcolumntogeta
numberbelowthelineforthatcolumn. 2 1
Step5:RepeatStep4untilallofthecolumnshavebeen 2 2 5 1 2
completed.
4 2 2
Thefinalresultisasetofcoefficientsofthepolynomialthat
2 1 1 0
resultsfromthedivision.Theexponentsofthetermsofthe
resultingpolynomialbeginonelowerthanthedegreeofthe 1 rem
originalpolynomial.
Intheexample,theresultis ,witharemainderof0.Theremainderof0isagood
indicationthatthedivisionwasperformedproperly.
Example2: 3 4 1
Fromthesyntheticdivisiontotheright,weget: 1 1 0 3 0 4 0
1 1 4 4 0
1 1 4 4 0 0
Thereisnoconstanttermandnoremainderinthe
solutiontothisexample. 1 rem

Algebra
ComparingSyntheticDivisiontoLongDivision
AdvantagesofSyntheticDivision
Syntheticdivisionhasthefollowingadvantagesoverlongdivision:
Thedivisorisapossiblerootofthepolynomial;itisarootiftheremainderiszero.
Itisshorter.
Itismuchquicker.
Itworksbyadditionandmultiplicationinsteadofbysubtractionanddivision.Because
ofthis,itismuchlesspronetoerror.
ComparisonofMethods
Itisinstructivetocomparesyntheticdivisionandlongdivisiontogetabetterideaofwhy
syntheticdivisionworks.Considerthedivision: 2 5 2 2
Thetwomethodsofperformingthisdivisionarelaidoutbelow.Noticethefollowing
correspondencesbetweentheexamples:
Rootvs.Factor.Syntheticdivisionusestherootofthe SyntheticDivision
polynomialasthedivisor.Longdivisionusesthewholefactor.
Thesignsontherootareoppositeinthetwomethods. 2 2 5 1 2
Dividend.Thedividendsinthetwomethodsarethesame 4 2 2
(exceptthatsyntheticdivisionleavesoutthevariables).
2 1 1 0
SecondRow.Thesecondrowinsyntheticdivision
correspondstothesecondarycoefficientsof
eachdivisioninlongdivision(butwithopposite
LongDivision
signs).
AnswerRow.Insyntheticdivisiontheanswerrow
2 1 1
(ofcoefficients)iscalculateddirectlybyaddingthe
valuesintherowsaboveit.Inlongdivision,itis 22 5 1 2
necessarytosubtractexpressionstodetermine 2 4
anotherexpressionthatmustbedividedbythe 1 2
divisortogetthenexttermoftheanswer. 2
AddingVariables.Insyntheticdivision,itis 1 2
necessarytoaddthevariablesaftertheansweris 1 2
determined.Inlongdivision,theansweris 0
provideddirectly.

Algebra
ZeroesofPolynomials
DevelopingPossibleRoots
Ifapolynomialhastheform:

Then,
willhaveexactly complexroots.Forexample,a5thdegreepolynomialwillhave
exactly5complexroots.Note:someoftheserootsmaybethesame,andsomeof
themmaybereal.
willhaveexactly realroots,where isawholenumber.Forexample,a
th
5 degreepolynomialwillhaveeither5realroots,3realroots,or1realroot.
DescartesRuleofSigns.(Notehowthistiesintothebulletabove.)
o Thenumberofpositiverealrootsofapolynomial isequaltothenumberof
signchangesin ,orislessthanthisbyamultipleof2.
o Thenumberofnegativerealrootsofapolynomial isequaltothenumber
ofsignchangesin ,orislessthanthisbyamultipleof2.Note:to
generate quickly,justchangethesignsofthetermswithoddexponents.
willhaveanevennumberofnonrealroots.Forexample,a5thdegreepolynomial
willhaveeither0nonrealroots,2nonrealroots,or4nonrealroots.Further,the
nonrealrootsexistinconjugatepairs;soif isarootof ,thensois
.
RationalRootTheorem.Anyrationalrootshavethecharacteristic .This
factisespeciallyusefuliftheleadcoefficientofthepolynomialis1;inthiscase,anyreal
rootsarefactorsoftheconstantterm.Thisfact,incombinationwiththeeaseof
syntheticdivision,makesfindingintegerrootsaquickprocess.
Example:
Whatcanwesayabouttherootsof ?(note:4signchanges)
First,notethat (note:zerosignchanges)
So, has4complexroots.0,2,or4ofthemarereal;allrealrootsarepositive.
Therealrootsmustbe1,2,or4(thepositivefactorsoftheconstantterm4).
Tofindoutmore,wehavetotestthepossiblerealrootvalues.


Algebra
ZeroesofPolynomials
TestingPossibleRoots
Thefollowingtwotheoremsareveryusefulintestingpossibleroots(zeroes)ofPolynomials.
FactorTheorem: isafactorofapolynomial ifandonlyif 0.

RemainderTheorem:If isdividedby ,thentheremainderis .
MethodsofTestingPossibleRoots
Ifapolynomialcanbefactored,thenfirst,factorthepolynomial;theproblemwillbeeasierto
solveafterfactoring.Inaddition,ifyouareabletoproducelinearorquadraticfactors,the
rootsofthosefactorswillberootsofthepolynomial.
Afterfactoring,thefollowingmethodscanbeusedtotestpossiblerootsofapolynomial.
Usesyntheticdivisiontotestpossibleroots.Becausesyntheticdivisionisquick,several
potentialrootscanbetestedinashortperiodoftime.
Substitutepossiblerootsintothepolynomialtoseeiftheremainderiszero.
If ,then isarootof .
Graphthepolynomial.Realrootsexistwhereverthegraphcrossesthexaxis.Although
thismethodmayhelpfindtheapproximatelocationofroots,itisnotareliablemethod
fordeterminingexactvaluesofroots.
Example:Factorandfindtherootsof
Usingsyntheticdivision:
Tryingfirstthepossibleroot 1,thenthepossibleroot
1 1 2 1 4 4
2,wefindthattheybothwork.So,
1 1 0 4

1 1 0 4 0

Usingthequadraticformulaonthequadraticfactorinthis
2 1 1 0 4
expressionwefindtwononrealroots.Sothefourrootsare:
2 2 4

1 1 2 0 , , ,


Algebra
IntersectionsofCurves
GeneralCase(BezoutsTheorem)
BezoutsTheoremstatesthatthemaximumnumberofintersectionsoftwodistinctcurvesin
thecomplexfieldistheproductofthedegreesofthecurves.(Note:forthesepurposes,aline
isconsideredacurveofdegree1.)Forgraphsintwodimensions,ifthedegreesoftwodistinct
curvesarerands,then:
Thereareatmost intersectionsofthetwocurves.
Therearealsocaseswherefewerthan intersectionsexist.
Tosolveforthepointsofintersection,eithersetthetwoequationsequaltoeachother
orusevariablesubstitution;thensolve.
Toapplythistheorem,itisusefultosetupeachcurveasanequationequaltozero.Examples
areprovidedbelowandonthepagesthatfollow.
TwoLines
Twodistinctlinesmayhaveeitherzerooronepointofintersection,asshowninthefollowing
illustrations:
ParallelLines: IntersectingLines:
0pointsofintersection 1pointofintersection
Lineshavetheform: ,sotheequationsofanytwolinescanbewrittenas:
0and 0
Noticethatbothlinesareofdegree1;i.e., 1and 1.UsingBezoutsTheorem:

Themaximumnumberofintersectionsis: .
Theremaybelessthanoneintersection.

Algebra
ALineandaParabola
Thegeneralformsforalineandaparabolaare: Note:weusethelettertinsteadof
Line: bintheequationofalineinorderto
avoidconfusionwiththecoefficient
Parabola:
bintheequationofaparabola.
ForpurposesofBezoutsTheorem,theseconvertto:
Line:
Parabola:
UsingBezoutsTheorem,themaximumnumberofintersectionsis: .Casesfor0,1,
and2intersectionsareprovidedbelow:
0pointsofintersection 1pointofintersection 2pointsofintersection
FindingthePoint(s)ofIntersection
Inordertofindanypointsofintersection,setthetwooriginalequationsequaltoeachother
andsolve:

Thisequationcanbesolvedforxbyanyofthemethodsusedtofindtherootsofaquadratic
equation.Thevalueofycanbecalculatedforeachvalueofxbysubstitutingxintoeitherof
theoriginalequations.


Algebra
ACircleandanEllipse
Thegeneralformsforacircleandanellipseare:
Circle:
Ellipse:
ForpurposesofBezoutsTheorem,theseconvertto:
Circle:
Ellipse:
UsingBezoutsTheorem,themaximumnumberofintersectionsis: .Casesfor0,1,2,
3and4intersectionsareprovidedbelow:
0pointsofintersection 1pointofintersection 2pointsofintersection
3pointsofintersection 4pointsofintersection

Algebra
DomainsofRationalFunctions
RationalExpressionsarefractionswithpolynomialsinboththenumeratoranddenominator.If
therationalexpressionisafunction,itisaRationalFunction.
FindingtheDomainofaRationalFunction
Thedomain(e.g.,xvalues)ofarationalfunctionisthesetofallvaluesthatresultinvalidrange
values(e.g.,yvalues).Generally,therearetwosituationswhereavalueisnotincludedinthe
domainofarationalfunction:
Anyxthatgeneratesazerointhedenominator.
Anyxthatgeneratesasquarerootofanegativenumber.
Example1:
Considertherationalfunction: .
Sincetherearenosquareroots,theonlyvalueforwhich
wecannotcalculate iswhere or,where
.Sothedomainisallrealxexcept ,or:
|
Noticetheholeinthegraphofthefunctionatthepoint
2, 4 .Thisindicatesthatthefunctiondoesnothave
avaluefor .
Example2:
Considerthefunction:
Thisfunctionhasnovalidxvaluesfor 3because
theywouldgeneratethesquarerootofanegative
numberinthenumerator.Inaddition,thedenominator
wouldbezeroif .Sothedomainisallrealx
greaterthan3except ,or:
| 3

Algebra
HolesandAsymptotes
Holes
Aholeinagraphexistswheneverafactor occurs
moretimesinthenumeratorthaninthedenominatorofa
rationalfunction.
Example:Inthefunction thefactor is
inboththenumeratorandthedenominator.Infact,the
functioncanbereducedto exceptatthepoint
wherethefunctionisundefined.
VerticalAsymptotes
Averticalasymptoteexistswheneverafactor occursmoretimesinthedenominator
thaninthenumeratorofarationalfunction.
Example:In the
factors and occurinthedenominatorbutnot
inthenumeratorofthefunction,sotheygeneratevertical
asymptotes.Theverticalasymptotesareshownasred
dottedlinesat and inthegraphatright.
HorizontalAsymptotes
Therearethreeseparatecasesforhorizontalasymptotesofarationalfunction :
1. IfthedegreeofP(x) >thedegreeofQ(x),thereisnohorizontalasymptote.
2. IfthedegreeofP(x) = the degree ofQ(x),ahorizontalasymptoteexistsattheline:

.

3. IfthedegreeofP(x) <thedegreeofQ(x),ahorizontalasymptoteexistsattheline .
Example:Inthefunction thedegreesofthepolynomialsinthenumerator
anddenominatorarethesame,andtheratiooftheirleadcoefficientsis .Thelocation
ofthehorizontalasymptoteisshownasthereddottedline inthegraphabove.

Algebra
GraphingRationalFunctions
Rationalfunctionsareoftwotypes:
Simplerationalfunctionsareoftheform oranequivalentformthatdoes
notcontainapolynomialofdegreehigherthan1(i.e.,no , , etc.just sand
constants).
Generalrationalfunctionsareoftheform whereeither or isa

polynomialofdegree2orhigher(i.e.,containsan , , .).
Ingeneral,itisagoodideatofindtheasymptotesforafunctionfirst,andthenfindpointsthat
helpgraphthecurve.Thedomainandanyholescantypicallybeeasilyidentifiedduringthis
process.Therangeandtheendbehaviorbecomeidentifiableoncethefunctionisgraphed.
SimpleRationalFunctions
Ifyoucanputarationalfunctionintheform ,hereswhatyouget:
VerticalAsymptote:Occursat .Theverticalasymptoteiseasytofindbecauseitoccurs
at .Atthisvalueof ,thedenominatoris 0,andyoucannotdividebyzero.
Hence,as approaches ,thedenominatorof becomesverysmall,andthegraphshoots
offeitherupordown.
HorizontalAsymptote:Occursat .Thefunctioncannothaveavalueof because

thatwouldrequiretheleadterm, tobezero,whichcanneverhappensince 0.
Hence,thefunctionwillapproach ,butwillneverreachit.
Domain:AllReal .Novalueof existsatanyverticalasymptote.
Range:AllReal .Novalueof existsatahorizontalasymptoteinsimplerational

functions.
Holes:None.
EndBehavior:Bothendsofthefunctiontendtowardthehorizontalasymptote,so:
, and ,


Algebra
SimpleRationalFunctionsExample
Recallthatthesimplerational
Example: 2
formis:
First,notethat and
VerticalAsymptote:Occursat 1becauseif 1,thedenominator, 1,wouldbe

zero.
HorizontalAsymptote:Occursat 2becausetheleadterm, ,canneverbe

zero.Hence,thefunctioncanapproach 2,butwillneverreachit.
Domain:AllReal 1.Novalueof existsatanyverticalasymptote.
Range:AllReal 2.Novalueof existsatahorizontalasymptoteinasimplerational

function.
Holes:None.
EndBehavior:Bothendsofthefunctiontendtowardthehorizontalasymptote,so:
, 2 and , 2

Graphing:
Step1.Graphtheverticalandhorizontalasymptotes
(thedashedhorizontalandverticallinesshown).
Step2.Picksome valuesandcalculatethe
correspondingyvalues.Iliketopickacoupleof
valuestotheleftoftheverticalasymptote( 1)and
acoupleofxvaluestoitsright.So,letstrysome.
2 3.67
1 4.5 Notethattheintersectionofthe
asymptoteshascoordinates , .
0 7
2 3 Step3.Drawacurveoneachsideof
theverticalasymptote:throughthe
3 0.5 pointsonthatsideandapproaching
4 0.33 boththehorizontalandvertical
asymptotes.

Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctions
Generalrationalfunctionsareoftheform:
Theeasiestwaytographageneralrationalfunctionistofactorboththenumeratorand
denominatorandsimplifyingtheresultingfraction.
Example:in the 2 inthenumeratoranddenominatorcanbe

eliminatedtoobtainthefunctiontobegraphed: .
VerticalAsymptotesandHoles:Anyroot(alsocalledazero)ofthedenominatorofarational
function(priortosimplification)willproduceeitheraverticalasymptoteorahole.
VerticalAsymptote:If isarootofthedenominatorisalsoarootofthesimplified
denominator,then isaverticalasymptoteofthefunction.
Hole:If isarootofthedenominatorandisnotarootofthesimplifieddenominator,then
definesthelocationofaholeinthefunction.
HorizontalAsymptote:Onewaytofindthehorizontalasymptotesofageneralrational
function(also,seethesectiononHolesandAsymptotes,above)istoeliminatealltermsof
thepolynomialsinboththenumeratoranddenominatorexcepttheoneswiththesingle
greatestexponentofalltheterms.Then,
Ifalltermsareeliminatedfromthenumerator,thehorizontalasymptoteoccursat
0.
Example: hasahorizontalasymptoteat 0.

Notethatalltermsinthenumeratorwereeliminatedbecausenoneofthemhadthe
greatestexponentintherationalfunction,whichinthisexampleis2.
Ifatermremainsinboththenumeratoranddenominator,thehorizontalasymptote
occursatthereducedformoftheremainingterms.
Example: hasahorizontalasymptoteat

.
Ifalltermsareeliminatedfromthedenominator,thefunctiondoesnothavea
horizontalasymptote.
Example: doesnothaveahorizontalasymptote.

Notethatalltermsinthedenominatorwereeliminatedbecausenoneofthemhadthe
greatestexponentintherationalfunction,whichinthisexampleis2.

Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctions(contd)
Domain:ThedomainisalwaysallReal exceptwherethereisaverticalasymptoteorahole.
Nofunctionvalueisassociatedwith ateitheraverticalasymptoteorahole(orwhenaneven
rootofanegativenumberisrequired).
Range:Therangeisabittrickier.Youwillneedtolookatthegraphtodeterminetherange.
Youmightthinkthatno valuewouldexistatahorizontalasymptote,likeinsimplerational
functions.However,itispossibleforafunctiontocrossoveritshorizontalasymptoteandthen
workitswaybacktotheasymptoteas oras .Oddbuttrue(seebelow,right).

Forodditiesintherangeofafunction,checktheseoutthesetworationalfunctions:
EndBehavior:Bothendsofthefunctiontendtowardthehorizontalasymptoteifthereisone.
However,ifthereisnotone,youcanlookatthegraphtodetermineendbehavior.Notethat
thefunctionbelowdoesnothaveahorizontalasymptote:
Inthisfunction,
, ,

,

Althoughthisfunctiondoesnothavea
horizontalasymptote,itdoeshavea
slantasymptote:theline .

Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctionsExample
Example:
Factorboththenumeratorandthedenominator:
: . ,
GettheRoots:
: ,
Simplify:Since1isarootofboththenumeratorandthedenominator,thefunctionmaybe
simplifiedasfollows:

VerticalAsymptotesandHoles: 1and1arerootsoftheoriginaldenominator,sothey
mustgenerateeitherverticalasymptotesorholes.
VerticalAsymptote:Aftersimplification,thisfunctionstillcontains 1asarootinthe
denominator.Therefore, isaverticalasymptoteofthefunction.
Hole:1isarootofthedenominatoroftheoriginalfunctionbutisnotarootofthe
denominatorofthesimplifiedfunction.Therefore,thisfunctionhasaholeat .
HorizontalAsymptote:Eliminatealltermsofbothpolynomialsexceptanywiththesingle
greatestexponentofalltheterms.Inthiscase:
isahorizontalasymptote.Sinceatermremainsinboththe

numeratoranddenominator,thehorizontalasymptoteoccursatthereducedformofthe
remainingterms.
Domain:AllReal exceptwherethereisaverticalasymptoteorahole.
So,thedomainisallReal .
Wemustgraphthefunctioninordertogetagoodlookatitsrangeandendbehavior.We
mustplotpointsonbothsidesoftheverticalasymptote.
(graphonnextpage)

Algebra
GeneralRationalFunctionsExample(contd)
Graphing:
Step1.Graphtheverticalandhorizontalasymptotes.
Step2.Picksome valuesoneachsideoftheverticalasymptoteandcalculatethe
correspondingyvalues.
Step3.Drawacurveoneachsideoftheverticalasymptote:
throughthepointsonthatsideandapproachingboththe
x horizontalandverticalasymptotes.

4 1.67 Step4:Drawanopencircleatthepointofanyholes.
3 1.5
2 1
Seethehole
0 3
at , . !
1 2.5(ahole)
2 2.33
Range:Therangecanbedeterminedfromthegraph.
Itappearsthattherangeexcludesonlythehorizontalasymptoteandthehole.
Sotherangeis:allReal , . .
EndBehavior:Inthisfunction,
, , ,


Algebra
OperatingwithRationalExpressions
Performingoperationswithrationalexpressionsisverysimilartoperformingoperationswith
fractions.Afterall,thatsreallywhatrationalexpressionsarefractionsinvolvingpolynomials.
AdditionandSubtraction
Toaddorsubtractrationalexpressions:
Factorboththenumeratoranddenominatorasmuchaspossible.
Createacommondenominator.
Addorsubtractexpressions.
Afterthenumeratorsareadded,youmust
Simplify. checktoseeifthenewnumeratorcanbe
factored.Ifso,furthersimplificationmay
Example: bepossible.Note:nofurther
simplificationispossibleinthisexample.
MultiplicationandDivision
Tomultiplyordividerationalexpressions:
Factorboththenumeratoranddenominatorasmuchaspossible.
Multiplyordivideexpressions.(Remember,todivide,flipthatguyandmultiply.)
Cancelallfactorsthatappearinboththenumeratoranddenominator.
Simplify.
Notethatyoucancrossoutcommon
Example: factorsinthenumeratorand
denominatoracrosstheexpressions
thatarebeingmultiplied.


Algebra
SolvingRationalEquations
SolvingRationalEquations
Solvingrationalequationsinvolvesonemainrule:Getridofthedenominators!
Afullerlistingofthestepsinvolvedis:
Multiplybywhateverexpressionsarenecessarytoeliminatethedenominators.
Paycarefulattentiontowhichvaluesmaketheexpressionsyouuseequaltozero
(becauseyouarenotallowedtomultiplybothsidesofanequationbyzero).
Solvetheremainingproblem.
Checkeachanswertoseeifitisasolutiontotheoriginalproblem.Note:aslongasyou
donotmultiplybyzero,yoursolutionsarelikelytobevalid.
Example1:Solve Example2:Solve
Firstnotethatxcannotbe3or1since Firstnotethatxcannotbe8or3since
eachofthesecreatesanundefined eachofthesecreatesanundefined
fractionintheoriginalproblem. fractionintheoriginalproblem.
Theeasiestwaytostartthisproblemisto Theeasiestwaytostartthisproblemisto
crossmultiplytoget: crossmultiplytoget:
1 3 3 8
2 1 2 8 0
6 9 Then,
Then,
So, 8 8 So, 4 2 0
Andfinally, Andfinally,
Checkwork: Check4: ?
?
?
?

Check2: ?

Algebra
SolvingRationalInequalities
SolvingRationalInequalities
SolvingRationalInequalitiesisabitmoreinvolvedthansolvingRationalEquations.Thekey
issueintheInequalitiesiswhetherinthestepwhereyoueliminatethedenominator,youare
multiplyingbyanegativenumber.Remember,whenyoumultiplybyanegativenumber,you
mustflipaninequalitysign.
Thestepsinvolvedaresimilartothoseforsolvingrationalequations:
Multiplybywhateverexpressionsarenecessarytoeliminatethedenominators.
Identifywhenthedenominatorsarepositiveandwhentheyarenegative;setupcases
foreachsituation.Withineachcase,youwillneedtomeetmultipleconditions(i.e.,
usingthewordandbetweenconditionswithinacase).
Paycarefulattentiontowhichvaluesmaketheexpressionyoumultiplyequaltozero
(becauseyouarenotallowedtomultiplybothsidesofaninequalitybyzero).
Solvetheremainingproblems.Anyofthecasesproducesvalidresults,soyoumust
combinethesolutionsforthevariouscaseswithors.
Checksampleanswersineachrangeyoudeveloptoseeiftheyaresolutionstothe
originalproblem.Alternatively,graphthesolutiontoseeiftheresultsarecorrect.
Example:Solve 2
Wewanttoeliminatethedenominator butweneedtocreate2cases:
Thecombinedresultofthetwocasesis:
Case1: 0 1
1 3
Then: 3 5 2 2
So, 3 Tochecktheresult,wegraphthefunctionandsee
Thesolutionhererequires: whereitproducesayvalueabove2;thisistheset
1 3 ofxvalueswherethedarkgreencurveintersects
Whichsimplifiesto: 3 thelightgreenregioninthegraphbelow.

Case2: 0 1
Then: 3 5 2 2
So, 3
Thesolutionhererequires:
1 3
Whichsimplifiesto: 1

Algebra
IntroductiontoConicSections
Theintersectionofaconeandaplaneiscalledaconicsection.
Therearefourtypesofcurvesthatresultfromtheseintersections
thatareofparticularinterest:
Parabola
Circle
Ellipse
Hyperbola
Eachofthesehasageometricdefinition,fromwhichthealgebraic
formisderived.
GeometricDefinitions
ParabolaThe
setofallpoints
thatarethe

samedistance
fromapoint
(calledthe
focus)anda
line(calledthe
Directrix).

EllipseThesetofallpointsfor
CircleThesetofallpointsthatarethe whichthesumofthedistancesto
samedistancefromapoint(calledthe
twopoints(calledfoci)isconstant.
center).Thedistanceiscalledtheradius.

Hyperbola
Thesetofall
pointsfor
whichthe
differenceof

thedistances
totwopoints
(calledfoci)is
constant.

Algebra
ParabolawithVertexattheOrigin(StandardPosition)

HorizontalDirectrix VerticalDirectrix
CharacteristicsofaParabolainStandardPosition
1 1
Equation
4 4
If 0 opensup opensright
If 0 opensdown opensleft
Eccentricity(e) 1 1
Valueofp(inillustration) 1 1
Vertex 0, 0 theorigin 0, 0 theorigin
Focus 0, ,0
Directrix
Axisofsymmetry 0(yaxis) 0(xaxis)

Algebra
ParabolawithVertexat ,

CharacteristicsofaParabolawithVertexatPoint ,
1 1
Equation
4 4
If 0 opensup opensright
If 0 opensdown opensleft
Eccentricity(e) 1 1
Vertex , ,
Focus , ,
Directrix
Axisofsymmetry

Algebra
ParabolainPolarForm
CharacteristicsofaParabolasinPolarForm
Equation(simplified)
1 sin 1 cos
opensup opensright
If" "indenominator
DirectrixbelowPole DirectrixleftofPole
opensdown opensleft
If" "indenominator
DirectrixabovePole DirectrixrightofPole
Eccentricity(e) 1 1
distancebetweentheDirectrixandtheFocus
FocalParameter(p)
Note:pinPolarFormisdifferentfrompinCartesianForm
CoordinatesofKeyPoints:(changeallinstancesofpbelowtopif+isinthedenominator)
Vertex 0, /2 /2, 0
Focus 0,0 0,0)
Directrix


Algebra
Circles

CharacteristicsofaCircle

inStandardPosition

Equation

Center 0,0 theorigin

Radius

Intheexample 4

CenteredatPoint(h,k)
Equation
Center ,
Radius
inPolarForm
Equation
Pole 0, 0
Radius

Algebra
EllipseCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
VerticalMajorAxis
HorizontalMajorAxis
CharacteristicsofanEllipseinStandardPosition
HorizontalMajorAxis VerticalMajorAxis
Intheaboveexample 5, 4, 3 5, 4, 3
Equation 1 1
Valuesof" "and" "
Valueof" "
Eccentricity(e) / 0 1
MajorAxisVertices ,0 0,
MinorAxisVertices 0, ,0
Foci ,0 0,
Directrixes(notshown) / /

Algebra
EllipseCenteredat ,
VerticalMajorAxis
HorizontalMajorAxis
CharacteristicsofanEllipseCenteredatPoint ,
Equation 1 1
Valuesof" "and" "
Valueof" "
Center ,
MajorAxisVertices , ,
MinorAxisVertices , ,
Foci , ,

Algebra
EllipseinPolarForm(Pole=OneFocus)
VerticalMajorAxis
HorizontalMajorAxis
CharacteristicsofanEllipseinPolarForm
Equation
1 cos 1 sin
Valueofa distancefromtheCentertoeachmajoraxisVertex
Valueofc distancefromtheCentertoeachFocus
FocalParameter(p) distance from each Focus to its Directrix /
CoordinatesofKeyPoints:
If" "indenominator allcoordinatevaluesareshownbelow
If" "indenominator changeallinstancesof" ", below,to" "
Center ,0 0,
MajorAxisVertices ,0 0,
Foci ,0 0,
Directrixes / /

Algebra
HyperbolaCenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
HorizontalTransverseAxis VerticalTransverseAxis
CharacteristicsofaHyperbolainStandardPosition
Intheaboveexample 3, 4, 5 4, 3, 5
Equation 1 1
Valueofc
Eccentricity(e) / 1
Vertices ,0 0,
Foci ,0 0,
Asymptotes

Algebra
HyperbolaCenteredat ,
CharacteristicsofaHyperbolaCenteredatPoint ,
Equation 1 1
Valueofc
Eccentricity(e) / 1
Center ,
Vertices , ,
Foci , ,
Asymptotes

Algebra
HyperbolainPolarForm(Pole=OneFocus)
CharacteristicsofaHyperbolainPolarForm
Equation
1 cos 1 sin
Valueofa distancefromtheCentertoeachVertex
Valueofc distancefromtheCentertoeachFocus
Eccentricity(e) / 1
FocalParameter(p) distance from each Focus to its Directrix /
CoordinatesofKeyPoints:
If" "indenominator allcoordinatevaluesareshownbelow
If" "indenominator changeallinstancesof" ", below,to" "
Center ,0 0,
Vertices ,0 0,
Foci ,0 0,
Directrixes / /

Algebra
HyperbolainPolarForm(Pole=OneFocus)
PartialConstructionOvertheDomain: to
Itisinstructivetolookatpartialconstructionsofahyperbolainpolarform.Letstakealookat
acurveconstructedbyvarying from0to2 ,quadrantbyquadrant:
: : , , ,
Intheplotsbelow,eachquadrantinthedomainisrepresentedbyaseparatecolor.The
portionofthecurveaddedineachillustrationispresentedasathickerlinethantherestofthe
curve.TheFociofthecurvearedarkbluepointsandtheDirectrixesarelightblueverticallines.

Thefinalcurvelookslikethis. Thecosinefunctionhasamajor Q I:Domain0 /2.Note
Thecurveisplottedoverthe impactonhowthecurvegraphs. thatthecurvestartsoutonthe
domain0 2 butcould Notethetwoyellowpoints leftandswitchestotherightat
wherecos 0.5.Atthese /3,wherethecurveis
alsobeplottedoverthedomain
points,thecurveisundefined. undefined.
.

Q II:Domain /2 .The Q III:Domain 3 /2. Q IV:Domain3 /2 2 .
curvecontinuesontherightside Thecurvecontinuesitsgentle Thecurvecontinuesontheright
ofthegraphandgentlycurves swingbelowthexaxis. Q IIIis andswitchestotheleftat
downtothexaxis. essentiallyareflectionofthe 5 /3,wherethecurveis
curveinQ IIoverthexaxis. undefined.

Algebra
GeneralConicEquationClassification
TheGeneralCaseoftheConicEquationis:

ThesecondtermmaybeomittedifthecurveisnotrotatedrelativetotheaxesintheCartesian
Plane,givingthesimplerform:

ConicClassificationTree
Inthisform,itisrelativelyeasytoidentifywhichtypeofcurvetheequationrepresents,using
thefollowingdecisiontree:
Examples:
Are and Theequationisnot 3 2 4 0

yes
bothmissing? aconic.Itisaline. 2 7 1 0
0
no
Iseither or
yes Theequationisa 3 2 7 3 0
missing?
parabola. 4 2 1 0
0
no
Arethesignson
yes Theequationisa 4 9 8 27 2 0
and
hyperbola. 3 6 12 15 0
different?
0
no
Are and the

yes Theequationisa 4 10 0
samenumber?
circle. 4 4 16 8 5 0

no
Are and Theequationisan 5 3 20 12 3 0

yes
differentnumbers? ellipse. 2 8 12 13 0
( )

Algebra
GeneralConicEquationManipulation
Afteraconicequationisclassified,itmustbealgebraicallymanipulatedintotheproperform.
Thestepsinvolvedare:
1. Iftherearenegativecoefficientsinfrontofthesquareterms( and/or ),youmay
choosetoeliminatethembymultiplyingtheentireequationby 1.
2. Groupthextermsontheleft,theytermsontheright,andmovetheconstanttothe
rightsideofthe=sign.Setupparenthesesaroundthextermsandtheyterms.
3. Factoroutthecoefficientsofthe and terms.
4. Completethesquaresforboththextermsandtheyterms.Becarefultoaddthesame
numberstoboththerightandleftsidesoftheequations.
5. Reducethecompletedsquarestosquaredbinomialform.
6. Ifnecessary,dividebothsidesbytherequiredscalarandrearrangetermstoobtainthe
properform.
Example1:
Solve: Equation 3 6 12 15 0
Step1: Changesigns 3 6 12 15 0
Step2: Groupvariables 3 6 ___ 12 ___ 15
Step3: Factorcoefficients 3 2 ___ 12 ___ 15
Step4: CompleteSquares 3 2 1 12 36 15 3 36
Step5: ReduceSquareTerms 3 1 6 48
Step6: Divideby 48 1
Thefinalresultisahyperbola
withcenter(1,6)anda
RearrangeTerms 1
verticaltransverseaxis.
Example2:
Solve: Equation 4 4 16 8 5 0
Step1: Changesigns 4 4 16 8 5 0
Step2: Groupvariables 4 16 ___ 4 8 ___ 5
Step3: FactorCoefficients 4 4 ___ 4 2 ___ 5
Step4: CompleteSquares 4 4 4 4 2 1 5 16 4
Step5: ReduceSquareTerms 4 2 4 1 25
Thefinalresultisacircle with
Step6: Divideby4 2 1
center(2,1)andradius .


ADVANCED
Algebra
ParametricEquationsofConicSections

Parabola(note:4 1
ParametricEquations ParametricEquations
CenteredattheOrigin Centeredat(h,k)
Circle
Ellipse
Hyperbola

Algebra
IntroductiontoSequencesandSeries
Definitions
ASequenceisanorderedsetofnumbers.
ATermisanelementinthesetoforderednumbers.
AnInfiniteSequencehasnoend.AFiniteSequencehasafinalterm.
AnExplicitFormulaisonethatspecificallydefinesthetermsofthesequencebasedonthe
numberoftheterm.Byconvention,thenumberofthetermisusuallyexpressedinterms
ofthevariables or .Wetalkofthenthtermorthekthtermofthesequenceorseries.
ARecursiveFormuladefinesatermbasedononeormorepreviousterms.
ASeriesisanorderedsummationofasequence.
Example(SequenceandSeries):
Considerthesequencedefinedbytheexplicitformula: 3 1.
Thenotation referstothenthtermofthesequence.So,wecanconstructbothasequence
andaseriesfromthis.Herearethefirstseventermsofthesequenceandtheseries:
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4 7 10 13 16 19 22
Sumof 4 11 21 34 50 69 91
Example(RecursiveFormula):
OneofthesimplestandmostfamousrecursiveformulasistheFibonacciSequence,definedas:

Thissimplymeansthateachtermisthesumofthetwotermsbeforeit.TheFibonacci
Sequencebeginswithapairofones,andusestherecursiveformulatoobtainallotherterms:
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 1 2 3 5 8 13
Sumof 1 2 4 7 12 20 33
Thissequencehassomeveryinterestingproperties,whichwillbediscussedonanotherpage.

ADVANCED
Algebra
TheFibonacciSequence
TheFibonacciSequencewasfirstpublishedin1202byLeonardoFibonacci(ofPisa).Itstarts
withapairofonesandcontinueswiththerecursiveformula: .Thebeginning
ofthesequencelookslikethis:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987,
PropertiesoftheFibonacciSequence
Itispossibletospendalongtimeexploringthepropertiesofthissimplesequence.Herearea
fewofthemoreinterestingproperties:
Illustration1:Addthesequencetocreateaseries.
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55
1 2 4 7 12 20 33 54 88 143
Noticethat: .
Thatis,thenthsumisonelessthanthetermoftheoriginalsequencetwopositionsfurtherto
theright!
Illustration2:Calculatethesquaresandaddtheresultingsequencetocreateaseries.
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55
1 1 4 9 25 64 169 441 1156 3025
1 2 6 15 40 104 273 714 1870 4895
Noticethat: .
Thatis,thenthsumofthesquaresistheproductofthetwotermsfromtheoriginalsequence,
oneofwhichisinthesamepositionandoneofwhichisonepositiontotheright!
TheGoldenRatio(f)

RatiosofsuccessivevaluesoftheFibonacciSequenceapproachtheGoldenRatio:f .
1.6 1.625 1.615 1.619 Onewaytoexpressthisresultis:

Theapproximatevalueoff 1.618034 f

Algebra
SummationNotationandProperties
SummationNotation
Mathematiciansarefondoffindingshorthandwaysofexpressingthings,sotheyinvented
notationforthesummationofnumbers.Ifweconsidertheseriesfor 3 1,the
notationfortheserieswouldbe:
3 1
Thissimplymeansthatthenthtermoftheseriesisdefinedbyaddingthefirstntermofthe
sequencefor 3 1.
Example:
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4 7 10 13 16 19 22
4 11 21 34 50 69 91
Notethat 4 7 10 21.
Althoughitlookscomplicatedatfirst,afteryouwriteafewserieslonghand,youwillbeginto
appreciatetheshorthandnotation.
SummationProperties
Hereareacoupleofusefulpropertiesofsummations,allofwhicharebasedonthealgebraic
propertiesofaddition,multiplicationandequality. and aretwoseries.canddarereal.
Youcanfactoraconstantoutofa
summationifisafactorofalltheterms.
Thesumoftwoseriescanbebrokenout

intothesummationsforeachseries.
Thisisbasicallythedistributivepropertyof

multiplicationoveraddition.

Algebra
SomeInterestingSummationFormulas
Thefollowingareafewinterestingsummationseries.Thedevelopmentofsomeserieslikethis
maybepossiblewithalgebra,butothersrequireeithercalculusorthecalculusoffinite
differences.Note:parenthesesareusedintheformulastoaidreadingthem;theparentheses
arenotrequired.
1 1
1 2
2 2
1 2 1 1 2 1
1 2
6 6
1 1
1 2
2 2
1 1
1 1 1
1 1
1
! 2! 3! 4!
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
ln ln
2 2 3
1 ln 1
ln 1
2 3 4
1 1
1 cos 1 cos
2 ! 2! 4! 6!
1 sin sin
2 1 ! 3! 5! 7!

Algebra
ArithmeticSequences
AnArithmeticSequenceisoneinwhichthetermsareseparatedbyaconstant.Theconstant,
oftenindicatedbytheletterd,iscalledtheCommonDifference.Arithmeticsequences,then
meetthecondition:
,wheredisthecommondifference.
Example:
n 1 2 3 4 5 6
9 12 15 18 21 24
FirstDifferences 3 3 3 3 3
Inthissequence,thecommondifferenceis3.Ifthereisnotacommondifference,the
sequenceisnotarithmetic.
nthTermofanArithmeticSequence
Theformulaforthenthtermofanarithmeticsequenceis:

Theproblemwiththisformulaisthe thatgetsmultipliedbyd.Sometimesthisishard
toremember.Analternativemethodwouldbetofirstcalculateatermzero,

Then: ,whichseemsanicerformula
Thevalueofthisalternativeisthatitalsoallowsthestudenttoestablishaformulain
formforthesequence,where istheyintercept,and ,thecommondifference,
istheslope.
Example:Intheaboveexample,thenthtermofthesequencecanbewritten:

Thesetwoequations
areequivalent.
Or,firstcalculate:
Then: or
Eithermethodworks;thestudentshouldusewhicheveronetheyfindmorecomfortable.

Algebra
ArithmeticSeries
AnArithmeticSeriesisthesumoftheelementsofanarithmeticsequence.Thesumofthefirst
ntermsofanarithmeticsequenceis:

Inwords,thesumistheproductofnandtheaverageterm.
Since ,wecanderivethefollowingformula: Noticethatthe lastterm
isthesumofthefirstn
integers.Thatis,

1

2
Or,perhapsbetter:
Thislastequationprovidesamethodforsolvingmanyarithmeticseriesproblems.
Example:Findthe8thsumofthesequence .
3 6 6 3

89
86 3 48 108 156
2
Tocheckthis,letsbuildatable:
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
9 21 36 54 75 99 126 156
9


Algebra
PythagoreanMeans
Considerasetofnvalues.Wecantakeameanofthesenvaluesinseveralways.Thethree
classicalmethodsofcalculatingameanarecalledPythagoreanMeans.
ArithmeticMean
Thearithmeticmeanistheonethatstudentsaremostfamiliarwith.Itisalsocalledthe
average.Itissimplythesumofthenitems,dividedbyn.

Example:Calculatethearithmeticmeanof5testscores:92,94,85,72,99
92 94 86 74 99
89
5
Trick:Ashortcuttocalculatinganarithmeticmean:
TrickExample:
Estimateavaluefortheaveragebyeyeballingthevalues.For Score Valuevs.90
theexampleabove,itlookslike90wouldbeagoodestimate.
92 +2
Subtracttheestimatefromeachvaluetogetasetofn 94 +4
differences. 86 4
Addthendifferencesanddividebyn. 74 16
Addtheresulttotheoriginalestimate.Theresultisthe 99 +9
arithmeticmeanoftheoriginalsetofvalues.Intheabove Total 5
example,theresultis:90 1 89. Average 1
GeometricMean
Thegeometricmeanisthenthrootoftheproductofthenvalues.
Example:Calculatethegeometricmeanof2,9,and12:
2 9 12 216 6

Algebra
PythagoreanMeans(contd)
HarmonicMean
Theharmonicmeanisreciprocalofthearithmeticmeanofthereciprocalsofthenvalues.It
hasapplicationsinscience.
1 1 1

1 1 1 1

Example:Sincetheharmonicmeanlookssoodd,itisusefultolookatareallifeexample.
Consideracarthattravels15milesat30milesperhour,thenanother15milesat15milesper
hour.Theaveragespeedofthecaroverthisdistanceisgeneratedbytheharmonicmean.
First,calculatetheaveragespeedfrombasicprinciples:
15milesat30milesperhourtakes30minutes.
15milesat15milesperhourtakes60minutes.
Totaltripis30milesin90minutes,foranaveragespeedof20milesperhour.
Now,calculatetheharmonicmeanofthetwospeeds:
2 2 60
20
1 1 3 3
30 15 30
ComparingMeans
ComparethevaluesofthethreePythagoreanMeansof3,6,and12:
:arithmeticmean
Ingeneral,itistruethat:
:geometicmean 3 6 12
:harmonicmean However,ifthevaluesbeing
averagedareallthesame,

Algebra
GeometricSequences
AnGeometricSequenceisoneinwhichtheratioofsuccessivetermsisthesame.Theratio,
oftenindicatedbytheletterr,iscalledtheCommonRatio.Geometricsequences,thenmeet
thecondition:
,whereristhecommonratio.
Example:
n 1 2 3 4 5 6
6 12 24 48 96 192
FirstRatios 2 2 2 2 2
Inthissequence,thecommonratiois2.Ifthereisnotacommonratio,thesequenceisnot
geometric.
nthTermofanGeometricSequence
Theformulaforthenthtermofanarithmeticsequenceis:
Theproblemwiththisformulaisthe thatistheexponentofr.Sometimesthisishard
toremember.Analternativemethodwouldbetofirstcalculateatermzero,

Then: ,whichseemsanicerformula
Example:Intheaboveexample,thenthtermofthesequencecanbewritten:

Thesetwoequations
Or,firstcalculate: areequivalent.
Then:
Eithermethodworks;thestudentshouldusewhicheveronetheyfindmorecomfortable.

Algebra
GeometricSeries
AnGeometricSeriesisthesumoftheelementsofangeometricsequence.Thesumofthefirst
ntermsofangeometricsequenceis:
InfiniteGeometricSeries
OfparticularinterestareInfiniteGeometricSeries.Theseseriesneverend;theygoonforever.
Aninfinitegeometricseriesmayhaveasumastheseriesgoestoinfinity.Thesumsalongthe
wayarecalledPartialSums.Theformulaaboveworksforthepartialsumsofaninfinite
geometricseries.
Startingwiththeaboveformula,foraseriesthatdoesnotend,considerthecasewhere| | 1:
1
lim
1
So,
The termshrinksasngetslarger,andintheinfinitecase,itdisappearsaltogether.
Convergence
Aninfiniteseriesconvergesifitapproachesasinglevalueasmoretermsareadded.Otherwise
theseriesdiverges.
Example:Showexamplesofwheretheseries:
For theseriesgives: Thislooksgood!
For theseriesgives: Uhoh!Thislooksverywrong!
Noticethatinthisseries,thecommonratio .Thereasonwhythefirstvalueofxworks
andtheseconddoesnotisbecausethisseriesconvergesonlywhen| | 1.Thisisvery
commonforinfiniteserieswithincreasingexponents.
ThesetofvaluesforwhichaseriesconvergesiscalledtheIntervalofConvergence.Forthe
seriesintheexample,theintervalofconvergenceis| | 1or | 1 .

Algebra
AFewSpecialSeries
SeriesInvolving
1 1 1 1 1

6 1 2 3 4 6
1 1 1 1 1

90 1 2 3 4 90
SeriesInvolvinge
1 1 1 1 1
1 1
! 2! 3! 4! 5!
1 2 1 1 3 5 7 9 1
1
2 ! 2! 4! 6! 8! 10!
CubesofNaturalNumbers
ConsidertheSeriesofcubesofthenaturalnumbers:
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 8 27 54 125 216 343
1 9 36 100 225 441 784

So,thesumsofcubesaresquares.InfactsuccessivesumsarethesquaresoftheTriangle
Numbers.TheTriangleNumbersarethesumsofthesequenceofnaturalnumbers:
n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 3 6 10 15 21 28

Algebra
PascalsTriangle
PascalsTrianglestartswiththenumberoneatthetopandcreatesentriesinsuccessiverows
byaddingthetwonumbersaboveit.Forexample,inthe4throw,thenumber6isthesumof
the3toitsupperleftandthe3toitsupperright.Thetrianglecontinuesforeverandhassome
veryinterestingproperties.
1 Row0
1 1 Row1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1
1 6 15 20 15 6 1
PropertiesofPascalsTriangle
TheTrianglestartswithRow0.Thenumberofarowisthevalueofthesecondnumberinthe
row.Then,therthnumberinrownisgivenby:
!
,
! !
Thesymbol comesfromProbabilityTheory,andrepresentsthenumberofwaysritems
canbeselectedfromasetofnitems.ThisvalueisalsoaBinomialCoefficient;thebinomial
coefficientsarethecoefficientsofthevariablesintheexpansionof .
HereareafewotherinterestingpropertiesofPascalsTriangle:
Itissymmetricalongaverticallinecontainingthetopentry.
The rowcontains 1 elements.
Thesumoftheentriesinrow is2 .
Itcontainsthenaturalnumbersintheseconddiagonal.
Itcontainsthetrianglenumbersinthethirddiagonal.
,whichishowthetriangleisformedinthefirstplace.
TwoOutcomeExperiments
Inatwooutcomeexperiment,likeflippingacoin,theprobabilityofan
eventoccurringexactlyrtimesinanexperimentofntrialsisgivenbythe
expressionatright.Thisisbecausethereare outcomesforthe
eventoutofatotalof totalpossibleoutcomes.

Algebra
BinomialExpansion
4StepstoaConstructingaBinomialExpansion
1. Startwiththebinomialcoefficients
2. Addinthepowersofthefirsttermofthebinomial
3. Addinthepowersofthesecondtermofthebinomial
4. Simplify
Considerthefollowingexample:Expandandsimplify
Step1:Startwiththebinomialcoefficients
4 4 4 4 4

0 1 2 3 4
Step2:Addinthepowersofthefirsttermofthebinomial
4 4 4 4 4
2 2 2 2 2
0 1 2 3 4
Step3:Addinthepowersofthesecondtermofthebinomial
4 4 4 4 4
2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3
0 1 2 3 4
Step4:Simplify:
1 16 1 4 8 3 6 4 9 4 2 27 1 1 81
Noticethefollowingabouttheexpansion:
1. Thereare terms,where istheexponentofthebinomialbeingexpanded.
2. isthetopnumberineverybinomialcoefficient.
3. Thebottomnumbersinthebinomialcoefficientscountupfrom0to .
4. Whenatermoftheoriginalbinomialisnegative,thesignsinthesolutionalternate.
5. Theexponentofthefirsttermintheoriginalbinomialcountsdownfrom to0.
6. Theexponentofthesecondtermintheoriginalbinomialcountsupfrom0to .
7. Theexponentsofthetwotermsintheoriginalbinomialaddto ineverytermofthe
expansion.

ADVANCED
Algebra
GammaFunctionandn!

Definition
TheGammaFunctionisdefinedbythefollowingdefiniteintegralfor 0:
Initially,thisintegralappearsdaunting,butitsimplifiesnicelyundercertainconditions,andhas
someveryinterestingproperties.
PropertiesandValues
ThefollowingpropertiesandvaluesoftheGammaFunctionareofparticularinterest:
!forintegervaluesof
Factorials
forvaluesof where exists
!
!

!
for 0 1 !
!
foranyvalueof !
. . .
SomeotherfunctionsrelatetotheGammaFunction.Examples:

: : ,
StirlingsFormula
Forlargevaluesofn,StirlingsFormulaprovidestheapproximation: ! ~
Example: DirectCalculation: 100! ~ 9.3326 x 10
UsingStirlingsFormula: 100! ~ 200 ~ 9.3248 x 10
Thisrepresentsanerroroflessthan0.1%.

ADVANCED
Algebra
GraphingtheGammaFunction
GammaFunctionGraph
HereisagraphoftheGammaFunction.For 0,thefunctioniscontinuousandpasses
throughallthefactorials.
For0 1,thegraphmoves
asymptoticallyverticalas 0.
For 0,thefunctionhas
verticalasymptotesateach
integervalueandformsaU
betweentheintegers,with
alternatingpositiveandnegative
valuesbyinterval.
approaches 0as
becomesincreasinglynegative.
CalculatingG(x)
EachvalueofG(x)canbecalculatedusingthe
definitionoftheGammaFunctionontheprevious
page.Recallthatadefiniteintegralisameasure
oftheareaunderthecurveofthefunctionbeing
integrated.Basedonthis,wehavethefollowing
examplesofG(x) valuesandgraphsthatillustrate
thecurveswhichdeterminethosevalues.

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page Subject
15 AbsoluteValue
AbsoluteValueFunctions
47 Equations
48 Inequalities
16 AlgebraicProperties
161 ArithmeticMean
16 AssociativeProperty
Asymptotes
148,149 ConicSections
109 ExponentialFunctions
169 GammaFunction
111113 LogarithmicFunctions
130136 RationalFunctions
167 BinomialExpansion
BoxMethod
62 MultiplyingBinomials
10 CartesianPlane
144 Circles
16 ClosureProperty
22 Combinations
16 CommutativeProperty
ComplexNumbers
80 AbsoluteValue
81 AddingandSubtracting
80 Conjugate
80 Definition
83 GraphicalRepresentation
81 MultiplyingandDividing
84 OperationsinPolarCoordinates
107 CondensingaLogarithmicExpression
ConicEquations
141,149 Characteristics
152 Classification
153 Manipulation

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page Subject
ConicSections
140 Definitions
154 ParametricEquations
(alsoseeentriesforspecificcurves)
52,53 ConsistentLines
105 ConvertingBetweenExponentialandLogarithmicExpressions
10 CoordinatesinaPlane
Cramer'sRule
96 2Equations
97 3Equations
120 CubicEquationsSumandDifferenceFormulas
116 Decay(Exponential)
52,53 DependentLines
124 DescartesRuleofSigns
Determinants
93 2x2Matrix
95 GeneralCase
16 DistributiveProperty
64 DividingPolynomials
103 e
Ellipse
146 CenteredatPoint(h, k)
145 CenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
147 PolarForm
72 EquationsSolvingbyFactoring
103 Euler'sEquation
106 ExpandingaLogarithmicExpression
117 ExponentialEquations
ExponentialFunctionGraphs
109 GraphingaFunction
110,115 SampleGraphs
Exponents
105 ConvertinganExponentialExpressiontoLogarithmicForm
117 ExponentialEquations
116 ExponentialFunctionsGrowth,Decay,Interest
56 Formulas
104 TableofExponents

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page Subject
168 Factorials
Factoring
69 ACMethod
70 BruteForceMethod
71 QuadraticFormulaMethod
68 SimpleCaseMethod
62 FOILMethodofMultiplyingBinomials
Functions
27 Compositions
24 Definitions
116 Exponential(Growth,Decay,Interest)
115 GraphsofVariousFunctions
28 Inverses
24 LineTests
26 Notation
26 Operations
29 TransformationBuildingaGraph
GammaFunction
169 GammaFunctionCalculating
168 GammaFunctionDefinition
169 GammaFunctionGraphing
94 GaussJordanElimination
161 GeometricMean
156 GoldenRatio(f)
Graph(look up the type of curve you are trying to graph)
25 GreatestIntegerFunction
116 Growth(Exponential)
162 HarmonicMean
Hyperbola
149 CenteredatPoint(h, k)
148 CenteredontheOrigin(StandardPosition)
150 PolarForm
151 PolarFormConstructionOvertheDomain:0to2
80 i

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page Subject
16 IdentityProperty
ImaginaryNumbers
80 i
80 Definition
83 Powersofi
82 SquareRootofi
52,53 InconsistentLines
52,53 IndependentLines
Inequalities
44 CompoundinOneDimension
43 GraphsinOneDimension
46 GraphsinTwoDimensions
45 TwoDimensions
14 Integers
IntegerFunctions
25 GreatestIntegerFunction
25 LeastIntegerFunctions
25 NearestIntegerFunctions
IntersectionofCurves
128 CircleandEllipse
126 GeneralCase
127 LineandParabola
126 Lines
16 InverseProperty
25 LeastIntegerFunctions
53 LinearDependence
LinearEquations
38 PointSlopeFormofaLine
38 SlopeInterceptFormofaLine
38 StandardFormofaLine
11 LinearPatterns
112 ln
117 LogarithmicEquations
LogarithmicFunctionGraphs
111 GraphingMethods
114,115 SampleGraphs

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page Subject
Logarithms
107,108 CondensingaLogarithmicExpression
105 ConvertingaLogarithmicExpressiontoExponentialForm
106 ExpandingaLogarithmicExpression
102 Formulas
117 LogarithmicEquations
104 TableofLogarithms
64 LongDivisionofPolynomials
Matrices
90 Addition
98 AugmentedMatrices
99 AugmentedMatrixExamples(2x2)
100 AugmentedMatrixExample(3x3)
92 Division
92 IdentityMatrices
93 Inverseofa2x2Matrix
94 InverseofaGeneralMatrix
91 Multiplication
90 ScalarMultiplication
161,162 MeansPythagorean
MultiStepEquations
18 ReversePEMDAS
19 TipsandTricks
168 n!
112 NaturalLogarithms
14 NaturalNumbers
25 NearestIntegerFunctions
NumberPatterns
13 CompletingNumberPatterns
11 ConvertingaLinearPatterntoanEquation
12 IdentifyingNumberPatterns
11 RecognizingLinearPatterns
14 NumberSetsBasic
20 Odds
15 OperatingwithRealNumbers

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page Subject
OrderofOperations
9 ParentheticalDevice
9 PEMDAS
Parabola
142 VertexatPoint(h, k)
141 VertexattheOrigin(StandardPosition)
143 PolarForm
ParallelandPerpendicularLines
39 ParallelandPerpendicularLinesSlopes
41 Parallel,CoincidentorIntersectingLinesFlowchart
40 Parallel,PerpendicularorNeitherLinesFlowchart
ParametricEquations
154 ConicSections
55 General
9 ParentheticalDevice
166 PascalsTriangle
9 PEMDAS
10 PlottingPointsonaCoordinatePlane
38 PointSlopeFormofaLine
83,84 PolarCoordinates
Polynomials
60 Definition
60 Degree
124 PolynomialsDevelopingPossibleRoots
65 Factoring
119 FindingExtremawithDerivatives
118 Graphs
65 GreatestCommonFactor
62 MultiplyingBinomials(FOIL,Box,NumericalMethods)
61 StandardForm
120 SumandDifferenceofCubes
122,123 SyntheticDivision
125 TestingPossibleRoots
121 VariableSubstitution
75 PowersandRootsTable

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page Subject
Probability
20 ProbabilityandOdds
21 ProbabilitywithDice
PropertiesofAlgebra
16 PropertiesofAdditionandMultiplication
16 PropertiesofEquality
16 PropertiesofZero
PropertiesofInequality
42 AdditionandSubtraction
42 MultiplicationandDivision
161,162 PythagoreanMeans
85 QuadraticEquationsComplexSolutions
76 QuadraticFormula
QuadraticFunctions
74 CompletingtheSquare
67 DifferencesofSquares
79 FittingwithThreePoints
73 OpeningUporDown
66 PerfectSquares
73 StandardForm
73 VertexandAxisofSymmetry
73 VertexForm
77 QuadraticInequalitiesinOneVariable
88,89 RadicalEquations
138 RationalEquations
RationalExpressions
137 AdditionandSubtraction
137 MultiplicationandDivision
RationalFunctions
129 Domain
133 GeneralRationalFunctions
130 HolesandAsymptotes
132 SimpleRationalFunctions
139 RationalInequalities
14 RationalNumbers
17 ReflexiveProperty
14 RealNumbers

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page Subject
Roots
124,125 Polynomials(i.e.,zeros)
86 RadicalRules
86 RationalizingtheDenominator
87 SimplifyingSquareRoots
ScientificNotation
57 ConversiontoandfromDecimals
57 Format
Sequences
159 Arithmetic
155 Definitions
163 Geometric
Series
160 Arithmetic
155 Definitions
164 Geometric
165 Special(,e,cubes)
158 SummationFormulas
157 SummationNotationandProperties
Signs
15 SignsofAddedorSubtractedNumbers
15 SignsofMultipliedorDividedNumbers
Slope
37 SlopeofaLine8Variations
35 SlopeofaLineMathematicalDefinition
36 SlopeofaLineRiseoverRun
38 SlopeInterceptFormofaLine
39 SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines
62 StackedPolynomialMethodofMultiplyingBinomials
63 StackedPolynomialMethodofMultiplyingPolynomials
38 StandardFormofaLine
23 StatisticalMeasures
168 Stirling'sFormula
17 SubstitutionProperty

Algebra Handbook
Index
Page Subject
Summation(S)
158 Formulas
157 NotationandProperties
17 SymmetricProperty
SyntheticDivision
123 SyntheticDivisionComparisontoLongDivision
122 SyntheticDivisionProcess
SystemsofEquations
52 Classification
51 EliminationMethod
49 GraphingaSolution
50 SubstitutionMethod
54 SystemsofInequalitiesTwoDimensions
Transformations
34 BuildingaGraph
31 HorizontalStretchandCompression
32 Reflection
33 Summary
29 Translation
30 VerticalStretchandCompression
17 TransitiveProperty
14 WholeNumbers
124,125 ZerosofPolynomials

Algebra Handbook

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NumberSet Definition Examples

NaturalNumbers(or, Numbersthatyouwouldnormally 1,2,3,4,5,6,

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| 5| 5 |3| 3 |0| 0 |1.5| 1.5

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Property DefinitionforAddition DefinitionforMultiplication

ClosureProperty isarealnumber isarealnumber

Divisionby0 is undefined even if a 0

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SubstitutionProperty If , then either can be substituted for the

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Solve: 8 Explanation:Since isthereciprocalof ,

Example2 Explanation: 4isthereciprocalof ,so

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Example:Howmanydifferent Example:Howmanydifferent Example:Howmanydesigns

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Concept Description Calculation Example1 Example2

DataSet Numbers 35,35,37,38,45 15,20,20,22,25,54

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Figure1: Figure2: Figure3:

Notafunction. Isafunction,butnotaone Isaonetoonefunction.

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Notethatin thereistherequirement 1.Thisisbecause 1 0inthe

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Anotherwayofsayingthisisthatif ,then forall inthedomainof .

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XAxisReflection YAxis Reflection

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Step1:Startwiththebasic Step2:Translate3unitsto Step3:Stretchverticallyby

Step4:Reflectoverthe Step5:Translateup4 FinalResult:Showthegraph

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Also,ifonelineisvertical(i.e., isundefined)andonelineishorizontal(i.e., 0).

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Arethe Arethey Result:The

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Multiplication For 0, For 0,

Division For 0, For 0,