Goodie: “A technique/question that can be applied in many places and teaches thinking.”
Baddie: “A technique/question that is a waste of good teaching and learning-to-think-and-do-math time.”
I am going to try to blog a baddie and a goodie per month. We shall see and of course – this is my opinion.
January 2009 Baddie of the Month – Factoring a quadratic with a≠1 “by hand”.
Okay, I can mostly understand learning to factor “by-hand”: x²+3x+2 or x²+x-2.
Once you understand the principles and get the technique (my scheme), factoring a quadratic by hand with a=1 is faster than using the quadratic formula.
But, I absolutely and totally do not understand the reasoning behind other factoring-by-hand techniques!
Why not: Factoring techniques
- serve no useful purpose – once factored, with a≠1 you must still solve the individual factors.
- don’t always work – MOST quadratics even with a=1 and real roots CANNOT be factored by hand.
- are hard to learn, there are many “special cases”, they take alot of time to teach, …
What to do and why: Use the quadratic formula for all your factoring needs.
- We are going to teach them the quadratic formula anyway.
- It always works – either we get real roots and can factor or we get non-real roots and know we cannot factor.
- By using the quadratic formula all of the time, the connection between quadratics, roots, x-intercepts, graphs of quadratics becomes clear.
- Repetition of a single technique is much more likely to stay in their heads.
Conclusion: Don’t teach factoring by hand except when a=1. Use the quadratic formula.
Here’s how: ax²+bx+c=a(x-x1)(x-x2) where x1=(-b+D))/2a, x2=(-b-D))/2a, D=√(b²-4ac)
(Here “by hand” means looking for the factors without a formula like when you say “The factors of 2 are 1 and 2 and oh yes, they add to 3 (first expression) or the factors of 2 are 1 and 2 and oh yes, they subtract to 1 (second expression)”.)
Related topics to come in future blogs
Please, please don’t teach complex numbers in the same 2 month span as you teach graphing of quadratics.