Looking Back

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(C)Copyright 2022, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

I've had a lot of students over the years. In the comic, I mean.

The Island Boys were a couple of foils for Mike Keegan during the time that he was away from his old school. Mike's placement "in excess" mirrored my own. And like Mike, I, too, returned to my former school. Unlike Mike, I was placed in excess a second time, and only returned to substitute during a colleague's maternity leave. But I brought Mike home where he belonged.

The funny thing about my stay on "the Island" was that I taught Algebra, Financial Algebra, and Geometry. The latter of those seemed to spark a bunch of ideas that were logic-based. This could be because I taught some much Algebra in the past, that this was a new lode to mine. Whatever the reason, I was contacted about the use of some of my comics for a Logic textbook in the University of Stockholm. I gave permission immediately. Ironically, for all the comics I'd done with other students, these two popped in several of the nine comics selected for the text.

The inspiration for this look was that there were several young men in my classes that had that haircut. In particular, there were two who weren't quite Patti Duke identical cousins, but they were close enough alike that if only one was present, I wasn't also sure which one he was. (When both were there, I could tell from their complexion.)

Oddly enough, I keep in contact with a few students I taught there through social media. (Not any with that haircut.) Two became teachers, and one of those is also a nightclub singer and a member of the Friar's Club. (I kid you not.)

As for Ms. Moira (last name pending, I think), five years ago she was introduced as one of the original batch of students grown up and working as a student teacher. Now, she's part of the staff after covering Michele's maternity leave.

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

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Happy 15 Years!

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(C)Copyright 2022, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Still Crazy after 15 years!

No, the original classroom didn't have a door. In fact, the back wall was white for a while as well. I think the first classroom with detail was for the Eggoids. (I don't use those much any more.)

Of the students appearing here, Hal appeared first, but in a comic with Mike as a student. An identical character appeared again with Shawn, who quickly became the de facto leader of the students, for no reason in particular. Sven came next, and Daisy was the last one (of these four) added. And, yes, they all came from the same model for a student, unlike Missy or Vanessa, or Bibi, Freedom and Serenity.

So another year come and gone. And I'm still doing it, even if the updates aren't as often. (I really wanted to have some Halloween movies this year, as I always do.) But as time permits, I'll be here.

Edit: and you'd think after 15 years, I'd get the timers correct! sigh...

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Equilateral

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(C)Copyright 2022, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Oval One wouldn't lie to Stoptroopers, would he?

And since they're "Stop" troopers, I had to make one red. White features didn't look right so I left them black.

Obligatory Math: Equilateral triangles are also equiangular, and vice versa.

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Serial Killers

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(C)Copyright 2022, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

It's a whale of a tale.

Thank you. I'll be here all month.

Halloween is coming, but this isn't quite a Halloween comic even if it invokes a horror movie theme.

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

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August 2022 Algebra 2 Regents Part IV

This exam was adminstered in August 2022. These answers were not posted until they were unlocked on the NY Regents website or were posted elsewhere on the web.

More Regents problems.

Algebra 2 August 2022

Part IV: A correct answer will receive 6 credits. Partial credit can be earned. One computational mistake will lose 1 point. A conceptual error will generally lose 2 points (unless the rubric states otherwise). It is sometimes possible to get 1 point for a correct answer with no correct work shown.


37. A technology company is comparing two plans for speeding up its technical support time. Plan A can be modeled by the function A(x) = 15.7(0.98)^x and plan B can be modeled by the function B(x) = 11(0.99)^x, where x is the number of customer service representatives employed by the company and A(x) and B(x) represent the average wait time, in minutes, of each customer.

Graph A(x) and B(x) in the interval 0 < x < 100 on the set of axes below.

To the nearest integer, solve the equation A(x) = B(x).

Determine, to the nearest minute, B(100) - A(100). Explain what this value represents in the given context.

Answer:

Start by putting the equations into your graphing calculators and copying down the points using the Table of Values. You were given a specific range, so DO NOT GRAPH PAST THAT RANGE. (You may notice the erasures on my graph below.)

Looking at the graph, to the nearest whole integer, A(x) = B(x) when x = 35, where the lines cross over. If your lines intersect at a different number, write that number down. You don't have to solve anything algebriacally.

B(100) - A(100) = 4.0 - 2.1 = 1.9 = 2 minutes. For 100 Customer service representatives, the average wait time is 2 minutes longer with plan B.

End of Exam

How did you do?

More to come. Comments and questions welcome.

More Regents problems.

I also write Fiction! You can now preorder Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Preorder the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Perpendicular

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(C)Copyright 2022, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Actually, it's one of mine. I only gave it to the student as a line.

Shaun made the comment back in this comic. And he got a positive response, not a HA HA HA response, which would have been ridiculous, and for the birds.

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Happy Columbus Day 2022!

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(C)Copyright 2022, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue ... there was probably more to that rhyme that I was supposed to remember.

Some might add that this has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. None of my Italian friends would be among that lot. However, many of them would get the reference.

As for the rest of the comic, I just wondered how long voyages would've gone if they brought along the kids...

If these ships look familiar, they might've have sailed against pirates ... or by pirates.

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Ken-Do #16: Geometry

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(C)Copyright 2022, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

If I went to a subscription model, aint nobody gonna see it!

I haven't done Ken-Do in a while, and with good reason. I still have to go back and re-do the first dozen or so comics in this theme. I started making my own characters to look like figures from some cable cartoon or other, but in the past I used an online generator, which is only good for personal use. So if I ever wanted to make, say, postcards, or even a book, I can't use these comics until they're re-done. The problem is that they aren't really a high priority when I'm trying to turn out new content, answer Regents questions, and get some new writing accomplished. (I have a bunch of stories in circulation... but many of them are a couple years old.)

Anyway, this is a fun format that I'd like to return to, if only because it's an extra step removed. This allows Mike to be a voice of reason if Ken goes a little over the line. (Some people have wondered if Ken is who I'd be if I didn't let my inner-Mike shut him down a bit. Those people are generally close friends and family, naturally.)

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

(x, why?) Mini: Reuleaux

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(C)Copyright 2022, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Well-rounded and totally width it.

Obligatory Math (ObMath): Like a circle, a Reuleaux triangle has a constant width. I drew this by starting with an equilateral triangle (or what passes for one in MS Paint) and then adding 3 congruent circles such that each circle intercepted two of the vertices of the triangle. Then I deleted the rest of the circles. So, it's a little rough at the "corners" when I erased.

I could give some credit to the Math-a-Day calendar, which recently had a probably involving Reuleaux triangles. I thought I could add one to the "Shapes" theme. Sometime in the next week, I'll think of a joke I could've used instead of just "exchange" student, but nothing humorous came to me.

I also write Fiction! You can now order Devilish And Divine, edited by John L. French and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, which contains (among many, many others) three stories by me, Christopher J. Burke about those above us and from down below. Order the softcover or ebook at Amazon. Also, check out In A Flash 2020, by Christopher J. Burke for 20 great flash fiction stories, perfectly sized for your train rides. Available in softcover or ebook at Amazon. If you enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon or on Good Reads.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.