Math Is Fun Forum

ok thanks bobbym

http://1drv.ms/1IRK0b9

Try to copy and paste this into your browser thanks...........

I'll try again at the link  http://1drv.ms/1IRK0b9

aaaahh so thats part of my problem in both questions, thanks for that, but I'm a bit stuck how to work with the negative power.

I get it now and your prompting made the difference....yipppeeeee   Something for me to be very careful with moving forward

Sorry for the delay.....it is a 5......thanks

These are the textbook answers....

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4mbvmuy64j1ym … 408_01.jpg

Great bobbym all makes sense now. I could kick myself not getting this right but the learning goes on. Irrational and rational numbers next with surds after that yum yum.  Thanks for the help....

Thanks bobbym I'll have a good think about this.  I confess it's still not overly clear in my mind.

Thanks bobbym.  So from what you said, I'm assuming that the textbook authors probably added this question to get the reader (me) to do what I did, and just figure it out with a few trys.  I enjoyed this as it made me stop and try different things albeit to no avail in the end but the ponder was good.  Though on the other hand it did leave me a bit perturbed as it looked to begin with a fairly straight forward question that after a bit of thinking through I thought I will be able to come up with a formula or number of steps to answer this question and others like it without the tests I had to do.  More of a definitive method.

I had thought I must be missing something easy since I expected the summary questions at the end of the chapter (where this question was) would have been of the type covered and explained with solutions in the pages I had finished studying.  So I quickly scanned the previous dozen pages but I still couldn't find any clarity.  It makes me aware that these type of questions might be lurking for me as I progress further....yum yum:)

Thanks guys for the help and after my MIF reading last night and a period of head scratching my maths question became crystal clear and I'm happy to move on to the next page on my text book.  I really enjoy this when something is fuzzy and then all of a sudden it begins to make sense.

@bob bundy   The way my son's school works is that the students study Key stage 3 over yr 8-10.  Then the majority of the year will do their maths higher GCSE over 2 years (y11 - y12).  But some who show the ability and interest (so far my son is in this group) do this GCSE higher maths in 1 year instead of 2 , at the end of y11.  Then they do this additional/further maths exam at the end of y12 so they have 2 maths qualifications during this 2 year period,  where most have the normal 1 GCSE maths qualification over 2 years.  Then they begin the normal A-Level course over 2 years. For this the school uses the edexcel A-Level course C1 C2, C2, C4 M1 and S1.

Bob you said above...

"Did you mean GCSE then 1 year extra GCSE then 2 more years A level ?  What's to stop doing the extra concurrently with year 1 A level to short cut the process?"

I think the main thing is that since this additional/further 1 year maths qualification over 1 year is a bridge to A-Levels and include subjects that are in the first year A-Level so there would be too much overlap and double learning at the same time.  But that's just me thinking out loud.

Another question just popped into my mind:-)  When finding the prime factors of large number without a calculator I noticed that sometimes I would be unsure if a 3 or a 7 or a 11 for example would divide equally.  I know a even number will divide by 2 and 5 divide into numbers ending with 0 and 5 but is their shortcut ways to find if a 3,7,11,13 etc will divide other than doing the full division?  ....I appreciate all the help