Yeah, I hate my Algebra class. It's my worse class by far, and I didn't do so well on the exam, mainly because I ran out of time. It was 22 questions, I only managed to answer 14. And the thing that stings is that of those 14 answered questions, I only missed 6 pts. But because of the unanswered questions, I lost an additional 32 points. Even after the curve I still got a 77. I just wonder what my results would have been like if I'd actually had the chance to answer them all.

My biggest weakness is word problems (I have a disorder which affects my ability to comprehend and extract data from word problems like that, and then put it into an equation - no allowances have been made for this). I really don't like my teacher, and he's not that wonderful at teaching math. It also doesn't help that the textbook we're using has the most recent copyright date of 1986. They're practically falling apart, and the examples in them are horrible. It's as if the authors took great and malevolent joy in taking the absolute easiest problems in the book for the examples, and then bombarding you with 30 + questions in the practice exercises that bear no semblance whatsoever to the examples and are about 2x as hard.

I was wondering if someone would kindly walk me through a few Algebra problems involving exponents. This is from Merrill Algebra II if anyone else happens to be cursed with the same textbook. The following are from pages 152-153 "Written Exercises":



If anyone could walk me through them, I'd really appreciate that. Thanks!

P.S. It is also interesting that in 8th grade I finished Algebra I with a 95 end of year average, 9th grade geometry with a 99, and Algebra II this year is in the low-mid eighties. And I'm also in the National Mu Alpha Theta Math Society - what a laugh! My suspicions are this teacher doesn't know what he's doing, especially since many other people in the class are doing horribly . . .

I just did these in my Algebra 2 class like 2 months ago, but Im sorry I dont rememer how to do them.

I would try to help but I just took geometry last term. I don't have algrebra 2 until next year. I'm very good at math, but I still hate it. I think it's because I will never use most (or any of it anymore) of it, and doing tons of problems that are the same with different numbers doesn't seem to have a point.

So...what exactly are you supposed to do with these equations?

Same here.

I'd help if I understood any of it. I barely passed algebra II last year.

Sorry, meant to include that.

The book wants you to SIMPLIFY the problems above.

[Edit: nm]

These problems appear to be testing your knowledge of the following property of exponents:

Remember that when you have a negative exponent, you can flip the numerator and demoninator inside the exponent and multiply the exponent by -1.

So for the first problem you'd remove the ^-1 and flip the fraction over. Then you'd take x^-2, change it to x^2, and move it back into the denominator.

The second problem looks like you'll have to use FOIL as well.

Don't you need an equals sign in there somewhere?

No, because it's simplifying, not solving.

Ahh, right. I didn't read.:o

So that would leave me with (3/2x^2)? Then what?

In my college, students with disabilities are allowed extra time for tests - do you have a disability office you can get info from?

I've done the first one.

I can't stand writing equations in text editors, it looks awful.



I hope that makes sense. I'll do the others later.

Not being able to figure out word problems is not a disorder. If someone tells you that it is, they're lying to you to make you feel better. You don't deserve extra time for tests because of it, you need to learn how to get past it. That's what learning is.

Alright then, if you want me to be specific, I have Aperger Syndrome. I described in a very simplistic way which was very easy for people to understand. If you want the whole 9 yards, go here for a small snippet of info concerning the disorder.

Wish I could be 100% sure I got all of these right, but I'm not. So I would definitely recommend you check the final answers with the correct answers, and if you tell me I got it wrong, given the right answer, I'll gladly correct my work and show you. #6 I'm fairly confident in, but #12 and #15 are a bit shady.



Inside the parenthesis, the x is raised to the negative second power. Because it is negative, you move the X to the top of the fraction to get:

(3x^2/2)^-1

Since the negative exponent is outside the parenthesis, it is applied to both top and bottom of the fraction. This will simply flip the fraction to get the final answer:

Final Answer: 2/3x^2




First, I'd find the common denominator of the fraction inside. So, to begin, I'd put t over 1:

(2/2s + t/1)^-2

The product of the denominators (2s and 1) is the common denominator (in this case 2s because 2s * 1 = 2s) Remember that, whatever you do to the denominator, you have do to the numerator. So, when you multiply t/1 by 2s/2s giving you:

(2/2s + 2st/2s)^-2

This now fall under a common denominator, so you can combine the fraction:

( (2+2st)/2s )^-2

Finally, you apply the negative 2 exponent. You do this by flipping the fraction, and squaring the found numerator and denominator:

Final Answer: (4s^2)/(2+2st)^2



I'm not completely sure what this problem is, but I'll assume you meant:



In which case, I would start on the left parenthesis, moving the y to the top of the fraction because of the -1 exponent:

(xy)(z^-2)^-1

I would then move on to the right parenthesis, and deal with the negative exponents. Because there is a negative exponent applied to a negative exponent, you need to not move the z to the bottom of the fraction; it would just flip back anyways. You need only square it, which brings you to:

(xy)(z^2)

Multiply, and you get:

Final Answer: xyz^2

Hope I helped.

Like Mega said, you need to review the properites of exponents. It seems you don't know what they are, and because you don't, you can't really do the simplifications.

Look up those properties and it should really smotth things over for you.

Either I've forgotten, or just don't know, or can't tell from the text conversion, but what does the "^" stand for?

I have nothing useful to add to this thread.

The best thing to do is to skip Algebra 2 and say you want Consumer Math instead. <_< >_>

Wow.
I feel either special, or stupid.

I just took calculus last semester, and I had to think to remember how to do that basica algebra.

anything to a negative power...
X/Y^-1 = X x Y^1 ?
I seriously need to consult my math books sometime soon.

It indicates an exponent. The number would be superscripted if you wrote it out. Look at Mort's pic for reference.

Thankyou everyone, especially Mega, Mort, SG1_129, and Avenger! I'll try and take what you've said into account, hopefully Algebra will become a little easier as a result, although I still feel lost in many places. But my Dad's a chemical engineer, so I'm sure he can help me when he gets back home fom offshore!

I understand what you are going through, I too have Asperger's Syndorme. But since everyone else figured it out, I guess I can't help you any further.



Shhh, don't give it away!