Course Description
What are algebraic expressions? How are they structured, and how can they be combined to create equations and inequalities? How do you know that the solutions you find are correct? In Algebra 1, students create expressions from verbal descriptions, manipulate and transform them, and create visual models. Requiring students to explain each step helps them understand mathematical processes. Exploring functions, sequences, and their corresponding graphs helps students determine the best ways to represent each. Students examine functions graphically, numerically, symbolically, and verbally, and learn how to translate between these different forms. Students’ depth of understanding increases as they complete proofs and describe data, fitting functions to their data. Students then extend their knowledge of linear and exponential relationships and apply their new understanding to create quadratic and exponential expressions as models of real-life phenomena.

Course Breakdown

Slope and intercepts of linear equations
Scatter plots
Systems of equations
Exponential expressions
Operations with polynomials
Introduction to factoring Quadratic functions
Linear-quadratic systems
Data displays
Probability concepts
Geometric sequences
Exponential functions
Radical and rational equations
Simple inverse functions

Course Goals
Interpret the different parts of slope-intercept and point-slope forms of equations.
Demonstrate the ability to solve systems using different methods.
Simplify polynomials using multiple operations.
Apply the different methods of factoring polynomials. Apply different methods of solving quadratic equations based on a given context.
Define and use each of the measures of central tendency.
Compute various types of probabilities.
Solve problems involving radicals using multiple operations.