Sara Allen

• Sine is the y value on the unit circle and cosine is the x value. Why is this true?
• Why is sine = opposite/hypotenuse, tan = opposite/hypotenuse, cosine = adjacent/hypotenuse?

Amanda Avery

• What makes a number irrational?  
• Why is a negative times a negative positive?  
• Inverse Functions... not really a question here, I just there might be a cool way to talk about this...  
• Continuity of the Composition of Function... again, not really a questions, but I'm sure there are great ways of thinking about this that I would like to discover...  

Whitney Burton

Both of my questions are concerning polar coordinates:

• I am still a little shaky on writing equations of ellipses (or of orbits of planets) using the different components of polar coordinates.
• Another question I have is about the graphs of functions in polar coordinates and how they relate to Cartesian coordinates.

Rodrigo Camacho

• I remember one class we had when we talked about functions and how all everybody agreed (except me) that a graph you showed on Cartesian coordinates was not a function since it did not pass the vertical line test. The graph axes were labeled X and Y. The function appeared to be a parabola opening to the left. I think that there is no reason to say that that graph is not the graph of a function since there is no reason to say that functions can only be functions of X and not functions of Y when graphed in the customary Cartesian coordinate axes. I think that only if it is specified that the X's were the input values then that graph could not be considered a function. Otherwise, the input values could have been the values of Y and the graph could have represented the input values on the vertical axis. Then would it not be a function?
• Is there an algebra textbook that explains well the concept of sign multiplication? I remember when I was in my early algebra years that I would think a lot about why the products of signs leaves to the results it does. I also remember asking my teachers and they never knew the answers so I had to do my own research since I was not going to be at ease until I understood. Of course I found it out but I wonder if any middle school book (or high school at the most) explains this well. thanks

Lisa Cooner

• Horizontal and Vertical asymptotes confused me when they talked about as x approaches infinity or negative infinity.
• I didn't have the opportunity to study ellipses that much. What is the basic equation and what kind of things do we do with ellipses? Broad question!!
• The same for hyperbolas. I don't remember doing anything with them in my algebra class. What are they and what are they used for?

Tracy Coons

• When you convert an equation into parametric form, what is actually happening? Where does the 't' come from? What does it mean?
• What exactly is the discriminant? I know that it is b^2-4ac, but what does it mean? Why is it called the discriminant?
• There are many things in algebra that have definite formulas and are logical and clean-cut. However, I have never figured out a logical way to factor polynomials. Is there a way to factor polynomials using some sort of logic?
• What exactly are complex numbers and imaginary numbers? How can a number not be 'real'? How can one make sense of all this?
• I'm not sure if this is a high school algebra topic or not, but I'd really like to understand partial fractions. Its seems like an oxymoron...a partial fraction. Isn't a fraction partial already in of itself?

Marissa Henderson

• How was the standard form for an ellipse constructed and what do all of the values represent?
• If we change the variables what will happen to the ellipse?
• I have taken stat2000 and 4070. At the end of both of the semesters in the past we have rushed through chi - squared and I never have really grasped the concept fully.... Also in statistics... I would like more advice on when you are given a word problem and you have to decide on the way to solve it using a certain method statistically for ex. binonial,etc.

Meredith Hogue

• The concept of Fibonacci numbers and sequences I am not really sure where they come from or why they are special.
• I am also very confused about conic sections. I really am not sure what they are and when I went to look through old calculus books then I really did not understand what they were or how they are used

Erick Hopkins

• All of the methods for solving multi-variable equations -- I sometimes find that I get them confused when asked for a specific method (substitution, matrices, etc.) Also, when / if there's a best time to use a particular method.
• I don't recall ever working with hyperbolic functions (sinh, cosh, tanh) in high school. Are these reserved for Calculus and college-level classes? To be honest, I'm not familar with how to use those functions / graphs to solve problems.
• Finally, I have to ask, when is the mode "Grad" ever used? Is it apart of the secondary curriculum? I only recall using radians and degrees, but never "Grad". I would be interested in learning its significance (and any advantages that it may bring).

Katie Knapp

• I'm not sure how to introduce the different aspects of functions ot my class can you give me some ideas of how to introduce them to my students?
• Where does f(x) come from? Who came up with it? I know my students will want to know where it came from.

Leigh Ann Landress

• factoring by grouping
• simplifying radical expressions

Maci Meadow

• I don't remember doing anything with combinatorics, what are they?Maybe I have and just don't remember the name. They sound rather intersecting! Who knows?
• Why does the mean value and average value theorem in calculus work?
• Why is velocity and acceleration the first and second derivates, respectively, in calculus?

Melissa Meadows

• What is log and ln? How is it used and why?
• What is the ' e ' value stand for? How is it used and why?

Jackie Mixon

• Why does the FOIL method work?
• Can we review properties of logarithmic functions?
• How do you identify asymptotes algebraically?

Jessica Nash

• The differences and relationships between log, natural log, and exponential.
• Conic sections
• Polar Coordinates

Margaret Norton

• Why do you add exponents when you multiply? Why do you multiply when an exponent is raised to a power?
• Where did logarithmic and exponential functions come from? Why do we need to learn these?
• Why are word problems so frustrating and unmotivating for students? How can we help?

Julie Rawlin

• Why does a horizontal/vertical line have no slope-if I look at the graph, I see a line and the values of the graph are changing, so shouldn't there be a slope-maybe not by using the formula since you can't divide by 0, but there should be a slope
• Why do we foil? How come (x+x)^2 = 4x^2, if you just add the terms then square it, is not the same as (x+x)^2, if you foil it you get 2x^2 + 2x.
• Why do we take the opposite reciprocal of the slope of a line to get the slope of the line perpendicular to it?
• How do you complete the square?
  

Mike Roca

• What recurring mistakes were there among the students you have taught. Which misconceptions such as 1/(a+b)=1/a+1/b did you see on a regular basis? What student mistakes should we look out for in our careers?
• What common constructions should we know that are the basis of many proofs/solutions?
• What are some of the applications of algebra that students can immediately see?
• Please explain partial fractions to us. I've seen it a dozen times, but I can never make sense of it.

Jim Taylor

• It's been so long since I was in high school that I don't recall what I had problems with. I do recall I never did like "mixture" problems (and still don't)
• nor did I care for memorizing trig formulae.

Kristen Wagner

• Polar coordinates. I don't really know what to ask about them. I have never really understood them and just reading it in the book isn't helping me out very much.
• Why is a negative times a negative positive? We learned about this in MATH 3100 but I don't remember what the reason was. I also remember this being one of those questions at the beginning of the semester.

Torian White

• working with other bases besides base 10 in order to do logarithms (although I think this is algebra 2--is it necessary for students to understand more than base 10 in that setting?)
• using the calculator with polar coordinates
• the WHY of FOIL...is it explained simply by Algebra properties? is it explained simply by multiplication? What?
  

Ashley Wilson