Monday, February 13, 2012

Two things about "Theorems about Zeros of Polynomial Functions"


Two Observations:

First, our text states the Rational Zero Theorem as follows:






  1. I was thinking the exact same thing today as I was talking about this to my classes, the day after conferences. I was tired and crabby, so I know that is part of it. A lot of this chapter is not too useful though. This is the one time where I talk about complex numbers, because really, they won't use them too much, unless they take complex analysis (unlikely). We graph in Calculus, but don't really refer back to this. We learn other important points on the graph. And when in life are they going to be asked to factor an x^5 polynomial with every term included? But I guess I'm still tired and crabby, and will enjoy teaching the nuances of graphing a polynomial while my students are distracted by taking state tests next week :)

    1. I know...super frustrating.

      I don't know what PreCalc text you use, but we use Larson. And this year, we decided to just scrap Ch. 2 (Polynomial and Rational Functions). I was so much happier with this arrangement! I didn't feel nearly as rushed. Our reasoning was that the Algebra II teachers hit these topics pretty hard, so we were just flying through this chapter anyway. We will probably revisit bits and pieces toward the end of the year, but it will be more through the lenses of calculus as opposed to algebra (studying asymptotes as limits, etc.).

  2. We use Coburn for honors Precalculus. We used to used Larson for precalc, just switched to Finney DeMana for regular precalc. I cruise through the Polynomials pretty quickly, but save all of the rational stuff for limits at the makes more sense to do with discontinuities, etc.


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