Math 115: College Algebra, Fall 2009

Reading and Homework Assignments

Week 3


HOMEWORK #5: Due Tuesday, September 22nd:

Homework is due on my desk before class begins.

Reading Assignment:

Read:          * Re-read Chapter 2, lessons 1, 2 and 3 in the book to remind yourself of some of the basic ideas.

Homework Assignment:

·     Please write on the top right-hand of your homework how long you spent on this homework—writing your pen-pal letter, reading and solving problems.

·     I received an email from a mother of a 10-year old girl.  The email said:  “My daughter’s teacher assigned her a problem.  There must be an easier solution than the approach I used.  Here’s the problem:  In a store, pencils have one price and pens have another price.  Two pencils and three pens cost 78 cents.  But three pencils and two pens cost 72 cents.  How much does one pencil cost?  My daughter received a hint “how much will 5 pens and 5 pencils cost?” I solved it algebraically.  Here’s my problem (and question for you):  I can’t believe that this is the easiest solution.  This seems way too algebraic for 10 year olds.  What am I missing?”

Your task: Figure out a solution that the 10-year old girl would understand.

·     Solve each of the following problems:       (a) using bar diagrams as we did in class       (b) using algebra.

1.     A total of 900 people visited the zoo on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  On Friday, there were 480 visitors.  The number of visitors on Saturday was 180 less than the number of visitors on Sunday.  How many visitors were there on Sunday?

2.     Karen had $47. After paying for 3 dolls, she had $20 left.  Find the cost of each doll.

3.     Caitlyn and Kristin collected a total of 160 acorns.  Kristin collected 3 times as many acorns as Caitlyn.  How many acorns did Caitlyn collect?

4.     Emma used 880g of a packet of sugar to bake a cake and 1/10 of the remaining sugar to make jelly.  She then had 3/7 of the packet of sugar left.  How much sugar was in the packet at first?

5.     Four toy cars cost as much as 3 dolls. Five toy cars cost $3.50 more than 2 dolls. Diana spent $14 on equal number of toy cars and dolls. How many toy cars did she buy?

·     Please attend the Fresh San Diego sessions you agreed to attend and be ready to tell us about them.  The ones coming up:

1.     Monday, September 21st, 7pm in UC 103AB: How to Study Smarter, Not Harder!

2.     Tuesday, September 22nd, 1pm in Maher 224: Budgeting Money.

3.     Tuesday, September 29th, 7pm in San Buenaventura: Didn’t Mean it That Way!

4.     Wednesday, September 30th, 7pm in San Buenaventura: Need Some Space!

5.     Thursday, October 1st, 1pm in Maher 224: Slowing Down When Life Speeds Up.

 


HOMEWORK #6: Due Thursday, September 24th:

Homework is due on my desk before class begins.

Reading Assignment:

No reading assignment

Homework Assignment:

·     Turn in your assignment #5 now that you have had the opportunity to rework the problems.

·     Please write on the top right-hand of your homework how long you spent on this homework—writing your pen-pal letter, reading and solving problems.

·     Try to work out the problem using bar diagrams now that we have had more practice doing it: I received an email from a mother of a 10-year old girl.  The email said:  “My daughter’s teacher assigned her a problem.  There must be an easier solution than the approach I used.  Here’s the problem:  In a store, pencils have one price and pens have another price.  Two pencils and three pens cost 78 cents.  But three pencils and two pens cost 72 cents.  How much does one pencil cost?  My daughter received a hint “how much will 5 pens and 5 pencils cost?” I solved it algebraically.  Here’s my problem (and question for you):  I can’t believe that this is the easiest solution.  This seems way too algebraic for 10 year olds.  What am I missing?”

·     Solve each of the following problems:       (a) using bar diagrams as we did in class       (b) using algebra.

1.     Kristin and Chloe spent $30 at the mall. When they came back home, Kristin had no money left while Chloe still had $3. If Kristin spent twice as much as Chloe, how much money did Kristin spend?

2.     Alex had 480 more oranges than pears. After selling half of his oranges and half of his pears, he had four times as many oranges as pears left. Find the number of pears he had at first.

3.     Nico has twice as many cards as Sam. Sam has 20 more cards than Emma. They have 200 cards altogether. How many cards does Nico have?

·     Please attend the Fresh San Diego sessions you agreed to attend and be ready to tell us about them.  Please remind me in class!  The ones coming up:

1.     Tuesday, September 29th, 7pm in San Buenaventura: Didn’t Mean it That Way!

2.     Wednesday, September 30th, 7pm in San Buenaventura: Need Some Space!

3.     Thursday, October 1st, 1pm in Maher 224: Slowing Down When Life Speeds Up.


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