DesmosArewereadytohavesomerealfunnow?Thisweekwearegoingtostartontheadventureoftechnologyinmath.We’vebecomeincrediblehumancalculatingmachines.Nowlet’stakealookatwhatyourbrainisactuallycalculating.Thereisanplace,averyspecialplace,wheregraphingmakesmegigglewithexcitement.Itiscalled‘Desmos’.ThisweekwearegoingtoexplorethecrazyincrediblethingsthatDesmoscandoforyou.Let’sstartbyopeningabrowseronyourcomputer,iPad,orphone,ifyouprefer.Entertheurl:www.desmos.comTheopeningscreenshouldlooklikethis:

Clickon‘StartGraphing’andletthepartybegin.Desmosisfreetouse.Nocost,nocreditcard,no.Youcanestablishanaccount/profile,whichwillallowyoutosaveandretrieveyourwork.ButthissiteisFREE.

Theopeningscreenwilllooklikethis.Graphpaperontheright,whichyoucanzoomin,andzoomouttomakebiggersmaller.

Ontheleftiswhereyouwillenterthefunctionthatyouwishtograph.Ihighlysuggestusing‘y’asanalternativetof(x).Itwillmakethingseasierinthelongrun.InthispicturebelowIhavegraphedasimplelinearfunction.But,asyoucanprobablytell,thelimitsareprettylimitlessastowhatyoucangraph.

Goahead,tryoneonyourown.Btw,thissoftwareisimpossibletobreak.Ihavetrieditmanytimes.Insituationswhereyouneeddifferentmathsymbolsthereisanexpandablemathnotationkeyboard.Clickonthekeyboardiconinthelowerleftanditwilldisplaythemathnotationkeyboard.Noexcusesforsquareroots,exponents,etc.

So,youcanputtogethersomecrazyfunfunctions.Youcanentermorethanonefunction(asmanyasyouwant,actually),onasinglegraph.Assoonasyouhaveenteredonefunction,clickenter,andDesmoswillallowyoutoenteranotherone.Acoupleofthingstonote:tographasinglepoint,enter(x,y),where‘x’and‘y’areyourcoordinates.Apointwillappear.RememberDesmosisforteachingandlearningfromgradeschoolthroughcollegeandbeyond,sotherearealotofexamplestoexplore.Toviewanumberofgreatexamplesclickonthethreebarstotheleftof“UntitledGraph”ontheupper

lefthandsideofthescreen.Awindowwillopen,thenscrolldownuntilyoufindsomethingyou’dliketolearnabout.

So,tryafewthings.Gobacktothelasttestandpickoutsomefunctionsandseeifyoucangraphthem.Thegoodnewsistherearenotablesoforderedpairs,nomind-bendingarithmetic,andeverythingisscaledtoperfection.Forthislesson,IhaveincludedtheDesmosUserGuide.Thereisalottothissoftware.Itishighlyprobableyouwillfinditextremelyusefulinhighschool.Iuseditextensivelyingraduateschool,graphingallkindsofstuff.Afterpracticing,investigating,anddiscoveringIwouldlikeyoutographthefollowingitems.Youcandownloadyourgraphs(Iwilldemonstrateinthevideolesson)andsendthemtome.Graphtenlinearfunctions(think:y=mx+b).Thesetenshouldinclude:2parallellines(onthesamepage,ofcourse);2perpendicularlines(again,onthesamepage);andatleasttwo

whereboth‘m’and‘b’valuesarefractionswithuncommondenominators.(y=2/3x–3/5,somethinglikethat)