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Linear, Quadratic, and Exponential Models* slope

Slope Stuff

andy2

What’s up? How do you help kids avoid this mistake?

Thanks again to Andy Zsiga for the submission.

3 replies on “Slope Stuff”

You mean the mistake of inverting the slopes? Visualize! Draw a little graph! Then you’ll remember that the change in the Y-coordinate is the “rise”!

For the mistakes in combining positive and negative numbers, relate it to money. -3 means your checking account is overdrawn 3 dollars. Minus 18 means you just did a debit card swipe for another 18 dollars. What’s your balance now? The analogy doesn’t work as well for subtracting a negative number, but it’s a start.

On the subtracting a negative number, you could relate it to forgiving a debt. If you overdrew by 21 dollars and then the banker had compassion and decided to forgive $10 of the debt, how much would you owe?

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