Middle School Algebra (2nd semester)

Course Description\nHow do you write, simplify, and solve equations? How can you display data so it can be easily interpreted and understood? In Algebra, students learn how to translate phrases into expressions, and sentences into equations and inequalities, expressing them in their simplest forms. Students find solutions to equations by graphing them on number lines or on the coordinate plane. Students learn the value of finding the best tool for the job as they acquire different strategies to use in various situations, such as finding the slope of a line, solving a system of equations or inequalities, or factoring polynomials. Building on this knowledge, students apply transformations to polynomial functions, explore inverses and one-to-one functions, and examine exponential and logarithmic functions. Work in statistics includes organizing and analyzing data; making stem-and-leaf plots; finding mean, mode, and median; making box-and-whisker plots; and recognizing misleading graphs. At the completion of this course, students are prepared for additional math courses in middle and high school.\n\nCourse Breakdown\n\n Solving systems of equations and inequalities\n Applications of systems of equations and inequalities\n Properties of exponents\n Simplifying polynomials\n Factoring trinomials and binomials Identifying quadratic functions\n Graphing quadratic functions\n Solving quadratic equations\n Applications of quadratic functions\n Exponential and logarithmic functions\n Sequences\n Trigonometric functions\n Tables and graphs of central tendency\n\nCourse Goals\n Utilize systems of equations to solve application problems.\n Simplify polynomials using multiple operations.\n Apply the different methods of factoring polynomials. Apply different methods of solving quadratic equations based on a given context.\n Investigate different types of functions, such as exponential, sine, cosine, and tangent functions.\n Interpret and evaluate various displays of data.