video math tutor: getting started with my math videos

8/14/2019 Video Math Tutor: Getting Started With My Math Videos

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G E T T I N G

S T A R T E D

W ith T he S elf-T utorial M ath N otes

by

L uis A nthony A st P rofessional M athematicsT utor

Copyright 2005All right s reserved. No par t of th is publication ma y be reproduced or tr an smitt ed in any formor by an y mea ns, electronic or mechan ical, including ph otocopy, recordin g, or an y inform at ionstorage or retrieval system, without permission in writing of the author.


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B T HE L EGAL S TUFFMost of th e ad vice given t o st ud ent s is th e opinion/pr oper ty of th e Aut horan d in NO WAY repr esent s t he views nor opinions of any edu cat iona linstit ut ion. Tips from oth er sources are clearly indicat ed an d rem ain t heproperty of th eir r espective au th ors. All graph ics/icons used ar e eith er inth e public doma in or were pu rchas ed for u se by th e au th or (art ists st illret ain owner sh ip). TI-84+ Special Ed ition calculat or im ages, screenimages, an d ima ges of keystr okes a re copyright ed ma ter ial from TexasInst ru men ts In corporat ed and a re repr oduced with perm ission from TexasInst ru men ts. All oth er tr ade na mes ar e the property of th eir respectiveowners a nd I in n o way wish t o infringe on t heir r ight s an d use t hem onlyfor illust ra tion/ident ificat ion pu rp oses only. An y busines s or in dividu allisted in th e Tut oria ls or Videos is by choice of th e Aut hor a nd does NOTrepr esent n or imply endorsement by an y educat iona l inst itut ion. Neith erMat h-Tut ors .com, VideoMat hTu tor.com, nor Luis Ant hony Ast s ha ll beliable for a ny err ors or for in cident a l or cons equen tia l dam a ges inconn ect ion wit h t he fur nish ing, perform a nce, or u se of th e Notes or Videosor t he pr ocedur es cont ained h erein.

Users need to be aware t ha t t here ar e instr uctors out th ere tha t forcestu dent s to do ma th "th eir way" an d will pena lize studen ts for u singmet hods/tips/tricks t ha t a re presen ted within t he Notes/Videos an dstudent s assu me all risk in u sing them. The Math Notes an d Videos ar esu bject t o cha nge with out notice.

A BOUT T HE A UTHORMy nam e is Luis Ant hony Ast. I a tt ended t he U niversity of Arizona inTucson, Arizona an d pur sued a B.S. in Ma th ema tics with a minor inCompu ter Science. I am a pr ofessiona l mat hem at ics t ut or with over 22

years experience tu toring junior high t hr ough college level ma th ema tics. Iha ve work ed as a t ut or for t he Un iversity of Arizona , Pima Commu nityCollege, th e Tucson U nified School Dist rict, an d Arizona St at e Un ivers ity.I a lso ra n my own Lea rn ing Center with over 30 t ut ors (7 of which wer eoth er ma th tu tors), and h ave tra ined oth er in th e fine art of tu toring. Itu tor m at h in E nglish or in Span ish. I am able to help students in J un iorHigh School, High School, Technical Training School, Community College,


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or Un iversity. I am also able to help st uden ts score h igher for m ostSt an da rd ized Test s (AIMS, ACT, SAT, GMAT, GED, GRE , etc.)

The su bjects I t ut or a re: arith met ic, algebra , geomet ry, tr igonometr y,calculus, finite m at hem at ics (mat rices, linear progra mm ing [simplexmet hod], fina nce, set t heory, combin at orics, an d probability), and bu sines s

ma th ema tics. I DO NOT form ally tut or St at istics (but I kn ow th e basics).

I pr ide myself in being t he B E S T ma th tu tor in Arizona , an d am confidentI am one of th e top mat h t ut ors in th e USA and h ope to prove this t o youvia th e Notes an d m y Videos. I am very patient , have a n easy-going styleof tu toring, and h ave a n am ple supply of "lame m at h jokes" to keep th esessions from gett ing borin g. I am a lso pr oficient in u sing most m ajorbra nds of calculat ors (TI, Sha rp, Cas io an d H P).

I tu tor stu dent s individually. My ra tes var y depending on t he nu mber of hours stu dent s decide t o hire me for. I n ow live in Tempe, Arizona an donly tu tor in t he P hoenix Metro Area . If you ar e in t his a rea , you can orderprivate tu toring hours online by going to my web site. With adva ncedwarn ing, I can prepare Sa mple Tests a nd some Notes for stu dents t obetter prepa re th em for t heir up coming exam s. For t hose not in th ePh oenix ar ea, you can still get qu ality tu toring by using t he Self-Tut orialsan d order ing my Ma th Videos CDs. Visit m y web site

for d eta ils.

I t a ke m y Apple PowerBook 3400c lap top with me t o tu torin g (OK, it's old,but gets t he job done!). I ha ve it set up for Wireless In ter net ser viceth rough cafe.com. Now, I ca n h elp stu den ts comp lete online Webassignm ent s fast er a nd with less cha nce of err or. The laptop is also used tohelp st ud ent s solve more difficult pr oblems (u sing Map le softwa re) an d Iha ve special advan ce ma th graph ing capa bilities t oo (usin g severa ldifferent compu ter applicat ions). I somet imes t ak e my porta ble pr interwith me (HP DeskJ et 340), but not always. I also use a large nu mber of "ma th toys"/visua l aides to help stu dents bett er un dersta nd t he ma thconcepts. I car ry extr a pens, pencils, paper (ru led an d gra phing),calculat ors a nd oth er school supplies with m e, in case st uden ts n eedan ything. I am pr obably th e most pr epar ed tu tor you will ever m eet.

Readers are invited to send me e-mail feedback and to report anyerr ors in t he N otes or Videos to:

L u i s - A s t @ Vi d e o M a t h Tu t o r. c o m


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G ETTING S TARTEDThe Self-Tut orial Ma th Notes an d Videos a re pr edomina nt ly int ended for:

Y J un ior High an d H igh School student s.Y Pa ren ts wh o home school the a bove studen ts.Y Lower division (Fr eshm en/ Sophomore) college stu dent s t ak ing a ma th

course.Y Stu dent s plann ing to take a St an dar dized Test like th e AIMS, ACT,

SAT, GED, GRE, GMAT, etc., or J ob Placement exams th at requirekn owledge of ma th ema tics.

Y Tut ors a nd privat e inst ru ctors of th e above stu dent s.

=The Self-Tut oria ls an d Videos a re N O T mean t for stu dents un der

the 7 th Grade.

I ha ve writt en th ese Lessons a s if I were actua lly tu toring you. I tr y tokeep things informa l, but a t t he sa me time, mainta in th e quality of ma thinstr uction a s high a s possible.

Some t hings you m ay notice right a way ar e th e use of c o lo r and manydifferent font s an d images. I feel all this will enh an ce your un derst an ding.Also, I us e 14-point size font s r at her th an 12-point size. As you can see, THIS issmaller and har der to read. This is especially noticeable when typing mathematical

expressions: verses .

To get sta rt ed, print a ha rd copy of each Lesson u sing a c o lo r printer.When pr inting with Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, ma ke sure the Pa geSca ling is set t o None, oth erwise t he notes sh rin k a little.

Select a stu dy area where n either oth er people, th e TV, nor t herefrigera tor will dist ra ct you. Be sur e you h ave a wr iting ut ens il (pencil orpen) an d per ha ps a lso a fluorescent colored highlighter .

( You will need a calculat or, un less you a re in a class wher e th e ma thinst ru ctor does not a llow th e use of calculat ors . I recomm end u sing a TI -30X II S if you need a good, inexpensive scientific (non-graphing)ca lcula tor. If you m a y use a gra ph ing calculat or, I highly recomm end youget th e TI-84+ S i lve r Ed i t ion model. This is the model I use in th e Notes


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an d in m y Math Videos. It is fast, h as tons of mem ory, an d is very user-friendly. It will last for years an d h as a high r e-sell value, sh ould you needto sell it after finishin g all your ma th classes.

N o t e : If you a lrea dy own a TI-83, TI-83+, TI-83+ Silver E dition or a TI-84+ (non-Silver E dit ion), you do n ot need to get a new calculat or. You will

be able to follow almost a ll th e keyst roke sequen ces an d screen sh otimages presen ted. You can pur cha se a gra phing calculat or a t your localOffice Su pply st ore or on eBa y.

Texas Inst ru men ts also provides incredible cust omer support for t hesemodels. Visit e d u c a t i o n . t i . c o m for d eta ils.

If you n eed m ajor help u sing you r TI -84 ca lcula tor, I h ave a Video CD-ROM called How to REALLY Use You r TI-84 Gr ap hin g Calculat or. Visit

my web site for det ails.

Spea kin g of Video

If you pr int ed t he Notes off th e CD-ROM, pleas eta ke th e time to read t hem BEFORE a ctu ally watching th e videos. Thenlau nch your web browser a nd open th e STARTME.H TM file. Why? Thisway you a re a lrea dy exposed to th e ma ter ial before seein g it on t he CD.

F ar e extr a comm ents or are u sed toclarify a st at ement . Answers to quiz quest ions ar e usu ally also inred.

Icons a re u sed th roughout th e Lessons. Her e ar e some you will encoun ter :

( This is used wh en I wa nt to show you h ow to dosomet hing u sing your graph ing calculat or. Again, I use th e TI-84+ Silve rE d i t i o n model exclusively in t he Self-Tut orials a nd in m y Mat h Videos. If you own a TI-83, TI-83+ TI-83+ Silver E dit ion , or a TI-84+ (non-SilverEd ition) th en t he keyst roke sequen ces will be ident ical for a lmosteverything presented.

This pencil is used a t th e beginning of an example/problem t ha t iswork ed out i n d e t a i l . All steps a re s hown. Most of these sa me exam plesar e also done in th e Videos. Minor exa mp les dont u se t his Icon.


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ORHOT Tip!

I use these when I have a great idea or ahot ma th tip to sha re with you.

L I will point out somet hing extra or special a bout an itempresen ted in t he Notes. I will use N o t e : for minorobservations.

Take t he t ime to memorize the item(s)presented.

Yes, I ask you t o mem orize a grea t dea l of items. Un fort un at ely, man yeducat ors dont like to us e t he word : mem orize. It s a lmost a dirt y wordwith th em. They say you n eed to un derst an d or learn th e ma ter ial.Yes, you need t o do this, but th ere a re t imes you just need t o just bite th ebullet a nd ME MORIZE form ula s, definitions a nd oth er concepts .Mat hem at ics is a lan guage all its own, and t he only way to lear n it is tomem orize stu ff. Plain a nd simple.

B asicS trategy:

I use t his when discussin g techn iques for t acklingcert ain problems or procedur es.

=or These a re t o war n or a lert you of somet hing.

This is t o war n you th at a pr oblem/exa mple is a t ypica l sn eak y ortr ick quest ion posed by some ma th inst ru ctors.

@ . You will need special mathtools to do th e problem (gra ph ing pa per , comp a ss, ru ler, etc.)

Step - By - Step Used wh en explain ing cert a in concepts t ha t in volve a ver y specific st ep-by-st ep procedu re.

< Some pr oblems r equir e you t o check th e

work done, since somet imes a n a ns wer you get isn t really t hea ns wer. Also us ed to remin d you t o check work for oth er sit ua tions.

Key Concept or Key t o success fully doing a pr oblem.


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...I us e th is icon if a concept is covered in m ore det ail in a noth erLesson.

A reminder t o not to forget to do somet hin g.

Used t o review concepts covered in Lesson a ndSpecial Form ula Sh eets.

An d FinallyLike it sa ys on t he cover of th e Hit chh ikers Guide t o th e Gala xy *, inbright, friendly letter s:

DDD OOO NNN T T T PPP AAA NNN IIICCC !!! I will do my best t o get you t hr ough your ma th classes. Trus t m e, andt rus t y o u r abilities. You ca n do th is.

OK , L ET S D O S OME M ATH !

*By Douglas Ada ms . A grea t book. Read it some tim e.

video math tutor: getting started with my math videos

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