Friday, September 30, 2022

Charge!

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

If only there had been an obvious solution...

I'm working with a computer class (which I was quite reluctant to take) and we finally obtained a laptop cart for the classroom. The students love the idea of laptops but not so much the idea of taking care of them. I even found one tucked away in the bookcase by a young man who didn't want to walk to the other side of the room (by the window) when he was already sitting two steps from the back door.

Such is life. I give extra warnings on Fridays (and we had a four-day weekend this past week) and there's usually, at least, a 10% failure rate.

There used to be a novelty song that said "Dead Puppies Are No Fun". Ditto for dead laptops.

This comic was originally going to have Ms. Barbara Graham as the math teacher, but I don't get to use the History teacher Mr. Ibsen all that often, and I've used him with Anthony and Hank before.



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.



Friday, September 23, 2022

(x, why?) Mini: Right Angles

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

Saying the answer is one thing. When they show their work, it's just divine.

I've used Angels before with Angles jokes, but I'm covering angles in Geometry class right now, so they are on my mind. Likewise, I'm seeing a lot of reposting of a Hell's Angles comic on social media. I can laugh and say that I used Hell's Angles in a Super-Stick-Man comic back in the 1980s, which was reprinted on the Comic Genesis site about a decade ago.

I'm hoping for more updates soon. Barring that, I need to write things down as they occur to me. I say things in class and a joke will occur to me. Or I'll searching something and the suggestion for what I'm typing gives me an idea ... but then they're gone and forgotten. So when I do find time to create, I'm starting from zero. Still, I don't want to be a once per week comic, so it'll get better.



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.



Monday, September 19, 2022

Yarr! Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It be Talk Like a Pirate Day, and I forgot all about it.

With everything going on, I hadn't even noticed anyone mentioning it coming up. So no "pi-rate" comic today, sadly.

Next year. Yarr!

Friday, September 16, 2022

Freshman Orc

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

I guess he's French from the name. He's definitely *fresh*.

I wish I had more time to work on this one. I wanted a comic before the week was out and I didn't have the correct files with me to work on it. I may update it later.



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.



Friday, September 09, 2022

School Started, and It's Been Exhausting

I've had thoughts for the blog all week, both for a comic and for continuing Regents responses, but life gets in the way

Home life hasn't been rough, just a little tiring, but the new school year brought new challenges, and I don't think I'll have idle time in the evening any time soon. This is definitely a change from the past few years when I could (mostly) leave work at work. Except for when work was actually at home, but I was able to get things done during what would be my commute time.

Maybe there will be something here today. I hope there will be something here tomorrow. And then again, maybe not.

I haven't given up. Not yet. But I need to get back into the swing of things while learning new things on the fly.

Monday, September 05, 2022

August 2022 Algebra 2 Regents, Part III



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 III: Each correct answer will receive 4 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.


33. When observed by researchers under a microscope, a smartphone screen contained approximately 11,000 bacteria per square inch. Bacteria, under normal conditions, double in population every 20 minutes.

a) Assuming an initial value of 11,000 bacteria, write a function, p(t), that can be used to model the population of bacteria, p, on a smartphone screen, where t represents the time in minutes after it is first observed under a microscope.

b) Using p(t) from part a, determine algebraically, to the nearest hundredth of a minute, the arr;iount of time it would take for a smartphone screen that was not touched or cleaned to have a population of 1,000,000 bacteria per square inch.

Answer:


The starting values is 11,000. The base is 2 because it's doubling. The exponent is t/20 because t is measured in minutes but it's doubling every 20 minutes.

So the function would be:

p(t) = 11,000(2)(t/20)

The "p(t) = " is mandatory. If you only write the expression, you will not receive credit.

In the part b, replace p(t) with 1,000,000 and solve for t using logs.

p(t) = 11,000(2)(t/20)
1,000,000 = 11,000(2)(t/20)
1,000,000/11,000 = (2)(t/20)
log 90.90909 = log (2)(t/20)
log 90.90909 = t/20 log 2
t = 20 log 90.90909 / log 2 = 130.1275...

t = 130.13 minutes





34. The function v(x) = x(3 - x)(x + 4) models the volume, in cubic inches, of a rectangular solid for 0 ≤ x ≤ 3.

Graph y = v(x) over the domain 0 ≤ x ≤ 3.

To the nearest tenth of a cubic inch, what is the maximum volume of the rectangular solid?

Answer:


Use your calculator, but plot every 0.2. If you only plot (0,0), (1,10), (2,12) and (3,0), you won't have the actual maximum. Also, this is part of a cubic function. It will not be a parabola even though you might think from the interval selected that it should look like one.

When you have plotted the points, you'll get a graph that looks something like:

To the nearest tenth, the maximum is about 12.6.





35. Given f(x) = 3x3 - 4x2 + 2x - 1 and g(x) = x - 4, state the quotient and remainder of f(x)/g(x) in the form q(x) + r(x)/g(x).

Is x = 4 a root of f(x)? Explain your answer.

Answer:


The form means that they want it as a polynomial plus a remainder divided by (x - 4). For the second part, x = 4 won't be a root of f(x) unless there is no remainder when dividing by (x - 4). From the wording of the question, it's fairly certain that there will be a remainder and that x = 4 is not a root.

Look at the image below that shows polynomial long division:

The quotient is 3x2 + 8x + 34 + 135 / (x - 4).

Since (x - 4) is not a factor of the f(x) -- there is a remainder -- then x = 4 cannot be a root to f(x).

You can also calculate f(4). It doesn't equal 0, so it isn't a root.

Alternatively, you could have shown the division as follows:

Just remember to use 4 and not -4, and write the resulting polynomial.



36. State officials claim 82% of a community want to repeal the 30 mph speed limit on an expressway.
A community organization devises a simulation based on the claim that 82% of the community supports the repeal. Each dot on the graph below represents the proportion of community members who support the repeal. The graph shows 200 simulated surveys, each of sample size 60.

Based on the simulation, determine an interval containing the middle 95% of plausible proportions. Round your answer to the nearest thousandth.

The community organization conducted its own sample survey of 60 people and found 70% supported the repeal. Based on the results of the simulation, explain why the organization should question the State officials’ claim.

Answer:


The interval containing the middle 95% of the data would be within 2 standard deviations above and below the mean.

0.819 - 2(.053) = 0.713 and 0.819 + 2(.053) = 0.925, so the interval is 0.713 - 0.925.

They should question the claim because 70% is outside the 71.3% - 92.5% range, which is the 95% interval.




End of Part III

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.



Saturday, September 03, 2022

School Life #33: Beach Days

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

Everyone wants that last beach day, but you don't always want to run into everyone else.

I thought it would be funny to have her popping up in Mike's pool, being Michele's substitute and all, but other than making it a dream sequence, I couldn't see a reason to get her there with her bathing suit. So I went with a beach day where the students hung out.

This was suppose to post yesterday. Oops. Somewhere along the way the formatting got away from me, and by the time I realized it was too narrow -- after creatively squeezing things in -- I wasn't going to backtrack or start over.

This was one of those times where the dialogue wasn't fully formed in my head before I started it. Partly because you can only squeeze in so many words, and partly because I was still debating the last lines. Missy has been the nosy one and will ask questions. This can be rude sometimes in certain situations, particularly with adults. I also debated if Vanessa would have a comeback along the lines of "but you didn't know that" or "maybe she has a girlfriend" or similar. Everything that occured to me sounded better if it were in fan fiction or an after panel. And an after panel was almost a possibility when I realized the space I had remaining. It would've looked terrible.

For anyone knew here: my comics vary in size from day to day, but I try to keep the mini-features like School Life, minis and even Ken-Do to one defining format. Sometimes, like with Math Horror Movies I change the size, but a lot goes into that decision, because then I'll still with it moving forward.



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.



Friday, September 02, 2022

August 2022 Algebra 2, Part II



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 II: Each correct answer will receive 2 credits. Partial credit can be earned. One mistake (computational or conceptual) will lose 1 point. A second mistake will lose the other point. It is sometimes possible to get 1 point for a correct answer with no correct work shown.


25. Determine the average rate of change, in mph, from 2 to 4 hours on the graph shown below.


Answer:


The average rate of change is the change is distance divided by the change in time. If you drew a line from (2,20) to (4,60), it would be the slope of that line. This is basically an Algebra 1 question. There isn't any twist to it.

(60 - 20) / (4 - 2) = 40/2 = 20 miles per hour.





26. Factor the expression x3 - 2x2 - 9x + 18 completely.

Answer:


The word "completely" usually means that there will be more than one step.

Start by factoring by grouping:

x3 - 2x2 - 9x + 18
x2(x - 2) - 9(x - 2)
(x2 - 9)(x - 2)

Note that you have a Difference of Squares which can be factored

(x - 3)(x + 3)(x - 2)




27. Solve algebraically for all values of x:
√(4x + 1) = 11 - x


Answer:


Square both sides to eliminate the radical, and then solve the quadratic equation.

√(4x + 1) = 11 - x

4x + 1 = (11 - x)2

4x + 1 = 121 - 22x + x2

0 = 120 - 26x + x2

x2 - 26x + 120 = 0

(x - 20)(x - 6) = 0

x - 20 = 0 or x - 6 = 0

x = 20 or x = 6

Discard x = 20 because 11 - 20 = -9 and a square root cannot be negative.

x = 6 is the only solution.





28. Given that (y(17/8) / y(5/4))-4 = yn, where y > 0, determine the value of n.

Answer:


Basically, you need to simplify the expression on the left side. What will the exponent be?

Use the Laws of Exponents to simplify them.

(y(17/8) / y(5/4))-4
= (y(17/8 - 5/4))-4
= (y(17/8 - 10/8))-4
= (y(7/8))-4
= y(-7/2)

n = -7/2





29. Given cos A = 3/√(10) and cot A = -3, determine the value of sin A in radical form.

Answer:


Cotangent is cosine / sine. Substitute and solve for sine.

cot A = cos A / sin A

-3 = (3/√(10)) / sin A

sin A = (3/√(10)) / -3

sin A = -1/√(10)

sin A = -√(10) / 10

Either of the last two lines would be acceptable because the question didn't state "simplest radical form" or "rationalize the denominator" or anything to state that a radical in the denominator would not be acceptable.





30. According to a study done at a hospital, the average weight of a newborn baby is 3.39 kg, with a standard deviation of 0.55 kg. The weights of all the newborns in this hospital closely follow a normal distribution. Last year, 9256 babies were born at this hospital. Determine, to the nearest integer, approximately how many babies weighed more than 4 kg.

Answer:


Use the normalcdf function on your calculator.

Enter the following command:

normalcdf(4,1000,3.39,.55)

The 1000 is because you need a high number. You could've used 1,000,000 if you wanted.

You will get the result 0.13369....

Multiply 9256 * 0.13369 = 1237.43.. = 1237 babies weighing more than 4 pounds.

You must round because you can't have partial babies.





31. The table below shows the results of gender and music preference. Based on these data, determine if the events “the person is female” and “the person prefers classic rock” are independent of each other. Justify your answer.


Answer:


Compare the probability that the respondent is female with the probability that a respondent who liked classic rock was female. If they are the same, they the are independent.

The total number of females in the survey is 165, and the total of male and female is 215. 165/215 = .488...

The likelihood that someone who liked Classic Rock was female is 36/(36+42) = 0.4615...

They are not independent.





32. Algebraically determine the solution set for the system of equations below.

y = 2x2 - 7x + 4
y = 11 - 2x

Answer:


Solve using substitution.

y = 2x2 - 7x + 4
y = 11 - 2x

2x2 - 7x + 4 = 11 - 2x

2x2 - 5x - 7 = 0

(2x - 7)(x + 1) = 0

2x - 7 = 0 or x + 1 = 0

2x = 7 or x = -1

x = 7/2 or x = -1

Find y for each x:

y = 11 - 2(7/2) = 4, (7/2, 4)

y = 11 - 2(-1) = 13, (-1, 13)




End of Part II

How did you do?








More to come. Comments and questions welcome.

More Regents problems.

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.



August 2022 Geometry Regents, Part IV

The following are questions from the recent August 2020 New York State Common Core Geometry Regents exam.

August 2022 Geometry, Part IV

A correct answer is worth up to 6 credits. Partial credit can be earned. Work must be shown or explained.


35. Given: Quadrilateral ABCD, AC and EF intersect at H, EF || AD, EF || BC, and AD ≅ BC.

Prove: (EH)(CH) = (FH)(AH)

Answer:
This is an unusual proof, in my opinion. Usually, the final line is some theory of congruence, like SAS or CPCTC, etc. This one shows two products. However, it's really the cross-products of a proportion. Looking at the figure, the proportion seems to be created by the corresponding sides of similar triangles. Once you have that proportion, the final line comes from the product of the means and the extremes being equal.

Statement Reason
1. Quadrilateral ABCD, AC and EF intersect at H, EF || AD, EF || BC, and AD ≅ BC. Given
2. AD || BC If two lines are parallel to a given line then they are parallel to each other. (Transitive property)
3. ABCD is a parallelogram If the opposite sides of a quadrilateral are parallel then the quadrilateral is a parallelogram.
4. AB || CD Opposite sides of a parallelogram are parallel.
5. ∠BAC ≅ ∠DCA Alternate interior angles are congruent.
6. ∠AHE ≅ ∠CHF Vertical angles are congrunt
7. △AHE ~ △CHF AA Postulate
8. EH/FH = AH/CH If two triangles are similar, then their corresponding sides are proportional.
9. (EH)(CH) = (FH)(AH) The product of the means = the product of the extremes.

End of Part Exam

How did you do?

Questions, comments and corrections welcome.

I also write Fiction!


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.

Thank you.



Thursday, September 01, 2022

(x, why?) Mini: Prime Suspect

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

It looks like six is afraid of seven for some reason...

The problem I had with this joke was that "Prime Suspect" says "COPS" to me, but I don't have any ANTHRO-Numeric(tm) cops. My Cops are shapes (keystones, to be exact, and if you don't understand why, Google it) and shapes don't exactly have prime numbers, unless I explicitly add them. So I added them.



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.



August 2022 Geometry Regents, Part III

The following are questions from the recent August 2020 New York State Common Core Geometry Regents exam.

August 2022 Geometry, Part III

Each correct answer is worth up to 4 credits. Partial credit can be given. Work must be shown or explained.


32. As modeled in the diagram below, a building has a height of 50 meters. The angle of depression from the top of the building to the top of the tree, T, is 13.3°. The angle of depression from the top of the building to the bottom of the tree, B, is 22.2°.

Determine and state, to the nearest meter, the height of the tree.

Answer:
You can find the height of the tree if you can find the side opposite the 13.3 degree angle and then subtract that from 50 meters. However, we don't know any sides of that triangle.

On the other hand, we can use the 22.2 degree angle to find the distance from the building to the tree, and then use that to find the height of the tree.

tan 22.2 = 50 / x
x = 50 / tan 22.2 = 122. 5213...

Keep the extra decimals! DO NOT ROUND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SOLUTION!!

tan 13.3 = y / 122.5213
y = 122.5213 tan 13.3 = 28.9628...

Subtract 50 - 28.9628 = 21.0372 or approximately 21 meters tall.


33. The coordinates of the vertices of quadrilateral HYPE are H(-3,6), Y(2,9), P(8,-1), and E(3,-4).
Prove HYPE is a rectangle. [The use of the set of axes below is optional.]

Answer:

Answer:
To show that a quadrilateral is a rectangle, so that the opposite sides are parallel (ie, same slope) and that the consecutive sides are perpendicular (ie, inverse reciprocal slopes).

You don't have to show that the opposite sides are congruent in length.

Showing that the diagonals are congruent is not enough because it could be an isosceles trapezoid. You would still need to show parallel sides.

Slope of HY = ((9-6) / (2-(-3)) = 3/5

Slope of YP = ((-1-9) / (8-2)) = -10/6 = -5/3

Slope of PE = ((-4-(-1)) / (3-8)) = -3/-5 = 3/5

Slope of EH = ((6-(-4)) / (-3-3) = 10/-6 = -5/3

The opposite sides have the same slope so HY || PE and YP || HE.

HY is perpendicular to YP because (3/5)(-5/3) = -1. The slopes are inverse reciprocals.

Therefore, HYPE is a rectangle.

Note that drawing the figure doesn't do anything for you, except make it easier to find slope by counting the boxes instead of subtracting signed numbers. You still need to justify your statements.




34. A packing box for baseballs is the shape of a rectangular prism with dimensions of 2 ft X 1 ft X 18 in. Each baseball has a diameter of 2.94 inches.

Determine and state the maximum number of baseballs that can be packed in the box if they are stacked in layers and each layer contains an equal number of baseballs.

The weight of a baseball is approximately 0.025 pound per cubic inch. Determine and state, to the nearest pound, the total weight of all the baseballs in the fully packed box.

Answer:
Divide each dimension of the box by 2.94 to see how many whole number of baseballs fit each way. Multiply that number to get the maximum number of baseballs in the box. Then find the Weight of 1 baseball by multiplying the Volume by 0.025. Then multiply that by the number of baseballs you found in the first part.

24/2.94 = 8.2, or 8. 12/2.94 = 4.1 or 4. 18/2.94 = 6.1 or 6.

Since they are all multiples of 6, you could have figured out the 12 inches first and the used proportions for the other two, if you wanted.

# of baseballs = 8 * 4 * 6 = 192. You can have partial baseballs in the box.

r = 1/2 D = 1/2 (2.94) = 1.47

V = (4/3) π r3 = (4/3) π (1.47)3 = 13.3057...

13.3057 * 0.025 = 0.3326

0.3326 * 192 = 63.8592 or about 64 pounds.

Again, be careful about rounding and the number of decimals that you carry in each step of the problem. You could easily go astray with less precision and get 63 or 65 as an answer. You would lose a credit for that.

End of Part III

How did you do?

Questions, comments and corrections welcome.

I also write Fiction!


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.

Thank you.