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Monday, October 15, 2012

Math Homework Help



As many parents will know, math homework is something kids avoid like the plague. Math may not be everyone's favorite subject but there is no denying it's importance in day to day life. Math skills are necessary and students who take an interest in the subject early on, will have a much easier time studying it in high school.

Much of the lack of interest in math boils down to the way it is delivered in class. To ensure that every student understands what is being taught, teachers need to employ different techniques to explain the concepts. This does not happen very often and students vary between having a vague idea and being completely clueless. When they have to finish their homework, in most cases students simply don't know enough to do their work. Some parents help out but in many households parents are either too pressed for time or not well-versed enough in math themselves to help their kids.

Getting help with math is the best solutions for students and parents who find themselves in this situation. Math tutoring has become very popular over the past decade with several students signing up for them, starting as early as elementary school. Math tutors wok with students on an individual basis, giving them ample time to learn at their own pace and clear every single doubt. Hundreds of students in schools across the country use math tutoring and as a result, have aced their tests and exams, getting As and Bs where they were previously failing.

Many math helpers feature help with math homework as a regular part of their services that students can make use of everyday. Unlike online calculators and programs which calculate the answer for the questions students input, getting professional help ensures that students really learn the concept or theory and how to put it into practice. Students can also practice with math tutors which allows them to really explore the topic as there is someone who can correct them, if need be. Homework help has helped students keep up with their schedules and submit assignments on time, all the while learning more about the topic.

Friday, October 5, 2012

All about acute angles


A very common question for a 5th grader who has just started to learn geometry would be: what is an acute angle? Or What is a acute angle? (Considering that they are not really sure what article to use before the word ‘acute’). Let us now describe an acute angle in simple terms.

A acute angle:
Look at the hands of a clock on your bedroom wall when the time is say 2:00 pm. The hour and the minute hand of the clock make an angle with each other at the centre of the clock. That angle would be an acute angle. From 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm, the angles made by the hands of the clock are acute angles. At 3:00 pm the hands of the clock are at right angles to each other. After 3:00 pm the angle between the hands of the clock are obtuse angles.



If you have a pine tree around your home, look at the top of the tree. The angle made by the two lines in the form of an inverted V at the top is an acute angle.

Acute angle definition:
An angle whose measure is more than 0 degrees and less than 90 degrees is called an acute angle. If the angle measure is in radians, then the angle whose measure is more than 0 radians and less than pi/2 radians is called an acute angle.
Mathematically it is written like this:
If angle A is such that measure of angle A = m0 < = (mIn geometry an acute angle can be generally sketched as follows:




Acute angles in geometry:

An equilateral triangle has all three angles as acute angles. Each of the angles in an equilateral triangle is 60 degrees or pi/3 radians. See picture below:


In a right triangle, one of the angles is 90 degrees (or pi/2 radians), but the other two angles are acute angles. For example see the picture below:


The angle subtended by the chord of a circle at any point in the major segment of the circle would always be a right angle, except if the chord is a diameter of the circle. In such a case, the angle subtended would be a right angle. See the following figure to understand that better:


In the above figure, BC is the chord of a circle and the angle subtended by BC at A = α. Α would be an acute angle.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Basics about Circles



Definition: A circle is a collection of all points in a plane which are at a constant distance (radius) from a fixed point (centre). Properties of a circle encompass use of terms such as chord, segment, sector, diameter etc of a circle. Now let us try to understand some other terms related to properties of circles.

Properties of circle:
A straight line that intersects a circle in two distinct points is called a secant to that circle. In the picture below, we have a circle with centre at C. A line l intersects this circle in two points, A and B. This line is a secant to the circle.
A straight line that intersects (or touches) a circle in just one point is called a tangent to the circle at that point. For a circle at a given point, there can be only one tangent. The tangent to a circle is a special case of the secant, when the two end points of its corresponding chord coincide. See picture below.

Circle theorems:

1. The tangent at any point of a circle is perpendicular to the radius through the point of contact. This we can see in the above picture. The tangent is perpendicular to the radius that joins the point of contact with the centre of the circle.

2. The lengths of tangents drawn from an external point to a circle are equal.

Circle formulas geometry:

Area of a circle: Area of a circle is given by the formula:
A = pi r^2
Area of semi circle: Area of a semi circle of radius r is given by the formula:
A = (pi/2)r^2

Segment of a circle:


The portion (or part) of the circular region enclosed between a chord and the corresponding arc of the circle is called a segment of the circle.

In the picture above, the orange portion is called the minor segment of the circle and the yellow portion is the major segment of the circle. The minor segment corresponds to minor arc and the major segment corresponds to the major arc of a circle.

Area of a segment of a circle is found using the formula below:


Where, theta is the angle subtended by the chord at the centre of the circle and r is the radius of the circle.