Certified Tutors From Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

The student worked to finish his algebra homework; he is making a lot of progress with factoring and algebraic equations. We reviewed his biology flashcards; this is still a struggle for him. He spent most of the time on his geography project. It was a big assignment but he managed to get it all done.

Today we covered the unit circle and writing introductory chemical equations. Regarding the unit circle, I explained the nature of the relationship between the radius and the radian, and how that generates 2pi in the unit circle. I also discussed how 2pi can be thought of as one turn, or tau, and how that makes more obvious the source of the ratio which precedes pi when moving around the unit circle in radians. We also discussed tricks to deriving the lengths of the x and y coordinates of points on the unit circle, and tricks for remembering those lengths. The student seemed to get the hang of it fairly quickly after some lengthy explanations on where all this stuff comes from. We then moved into her chemical equations, which were in part challenging her because she did not know the name of a charged particle, and thus did not know where to begin in identifying the charges on particles in her equations. I explained (very generally, of course) the nature of an ion, and the nature of covalent (primarily, gaseous) vs. ionic (primarily, metallic) bonding, as well as how she could use Google to find herself a list of common ions and an interactive periodic table of elements, as well as how to use other internet sources to determine the states of various chemicals in her equations. Once she understood the rules, she moved through her practice equations quite easily with only one small mistake in arithmetic. I also explained how some of the videos worked and how she could move through them in her free time. I taught her how to adjust the speed on videos to target her familiarity with the material.

Discussed geometry with he student today. We discussed and worked on questions regarding the formulas of circles. Also went through how mid points are found on a line using coordinates

The student and I are reviewing Precalculus content in preparation for her summer Calculus course. During this session, we reviewed functions and their graphs. I had her work on problems that dealt with graphing equations, analyzing graphs of functions and combinations of functions. She needed more review on analyzing graphs of functions, especially since this content is a large part of Calculus. I gave her more practice finding zeros, analyzing increasing and decreasing intervals, and how to graph piece-wise functions.

I assisted the student with his algebra review sheet. We went through problems pertaining to systems of equations. I meticulously explained all of the steps to him, guiding him every step of the way. In this fashion, he completed a total of ten questions. The student was able to follow all of the steps I was explaining and was able to come up with the solutions to most of the problems.

The student did a good job on his chapter test for series and sequences of numbers and summation, so we're back on track. Now he moves into probability concepts. Today we did a worksheet, which introduced probability as geometric space, and also had problems where he had to generate possible combinations in order to fill out the space of outcomes. He understood the problems, and so I moved on and showed him factorials and formulas for combinations, as well as uses of the binomial theorem and Pascal's triangle. It also gave us a chance to review synthetic division.