This week we went from optimization to related rates, and in the introduction to it Mr. Cresswell said usually students understand one more than the other. In my personal case I found this to not really be true, there were parts that I could do right like getting the picture drawn, but then figuring out what needed to be used as the mathematical model stumped me. Out of the six steps I can do 4 consistently, I can create a diagram, and label the known variables, I can plug in the variables, and I can solve for the last known variable. The last three parts are fine and dandy if I can use the right formula for the mathematical model. After writing the mathematical model finding the derivative is the next hardest part because I may or may not have blocked out how to do implicit differentiation. After looking back at my notes and practice with it through out this week I have gotten better at using implicit differentiation to take the derivative. After doing a lot of different problems I do feel that I have got a better handle on related rates problems. There may be a few conceptual gray areas with a couple of problems, but I do feel that I have a better grasp of things than I did last week, so maybe it does ring true that students are usually better at either optimization or related rates.
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This week was very interesting. I was really starting to feel a little overwhelmed with school and really wishing that thanksgiving break was longer or that winter break was sooner. I also noticed that missing the Friday before exams didn't really help for the start of this chapter. I was a little flustered when we got back to school just because I really didn't grasp the topic before break, so jumping right back into it and not understanding things made it a little difficult. However once we got to 4.3 I was able to grasp things a lot easier.
4.1 and 4.2 was just getting introduced to everything and then 4.3 brought everything together. It was also very helpful to do the curve analysis gallery walk, while doing it I found it a little difficult to visualize something in my mind without seeing it actually on paper/in picture. After doing the gallery walk the curve sketching activity was a breeze because I found it easier to visualize the first and second derivatives without actually drawing them out on paper. |
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March 2017
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