Quarter 4

During the year, I know that I have grown greatly as a mathematics student and as an Algebra student. In the first quarter of the year, I had known only the basics of Algebra and the small concepts that the foundries of Algebra mostly rely on. Even at the exam that we took to test our basic skills I had gotten a C. After that C however, I have begun to study much harder and practice much more to achieve my best. After that C I have only started to rise in my math grades until I, finally achieving my goal, had gotten a full score: 100%. This I am extremely proud of but I believe that my goal has not been fully achieved yet. To fully achieve my goal, I must stay where I am and refrain from lowering my grades back down once more so that I know that I fully comprehend everything that is taught to me and I fully understand every single aspect that I have learned.

At the beginning of my year in the Algebra course, we were just reviewing the basics concepts and ideas. In Chapter 3, we reviewed how to solve equations and how to isolate the variable to find the solution of the equation. In Chapter 4, I learned for the first time what linear equations are and how it works. I have never used linear equations or functions and I have never learned to graph linear equations using the slope-intercept form: y=mx+b. Even though I had not learned any of these strikingly new concepts before, I strove to do my best so that I will not have to relive my memory of the first grade that I got in this Algebra course. We learned how to graph these linear equations and the rules of classifying linear equations as what they are.

In Chapter 5, we learned how to create linear equations of our own and how to solve word problems using linear equations and only linear equations. Linear equations can be used for many things in different careers. As a business man, it would be extremely helpful, for the sake of his company, that he knew how to create linear equations out of the figures he has. This is because he is able to calculate his revenue and visually represent it using a graph and then he is also able to calculate his expenses and losses to visually represent it as a graph. It would be very helpful for calculating how much he would need to sell to cover his losses and make a profit out of his expenses. These are vital abilities and tools for the future and Chapter 5 has given us a very good head start on how to use these tools of utmost importance.

From there, we continued to learn more and more about Algebra and the different aspects of Algebra. We learned how to solve systems of linear equations which can be put to similar use to the things we learned in Chapter 5. We learned how to work with exponents and using scientific notation to depict very large numbers or very small numbers. We learned how to understand quadratic equations and how to graph them in the form of parabolas. These are very important abilities to have for later on as we move onto Geometry Honors, Algebra 2 and so on.