Math Tutor Software and - darn it, you missed again.

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You may have stumbled in on some great Math Tutor Software that happens to be free. It's called the aMAZEing Math Maze and this page is where you would end up if you missed one of the questions. More about tutoring at the end of the page.

Question 3 of the aMAZEing Math Maze

This is another dead end. But lets talk about it a bit. You seem to be having trouble with squares. Remember that when you square something, you are multiplying it by itself. So, in the problem we are squaring (4x + 2). Meaning that we are multiplying (4x + 2) times itself. So, we get (4x + 2)(4x + 2).

Let's say I have the expression (a + b)(c + d). The rule is that I would take the first element of the first parenthesis times each element in the second parenthesis. The first element in the first parenthesis is a. So I take a times c and get ac, and then a times d and get ad. I am done with the a. Now I take the second element of the first parenthesis, the b and multiply it times c and then times d. So, the whole thing turns out to be ac + ad + bc + bd.

Whew!

Let's go back to (4x + 2)(4x + 2). In this case a is 4x, b is 2, c is 4x and d is 2 - so, 4x(4x) + 4x(2) done with the a, and 2(4x) + 2(2), done with the b. This turns out to be -

c) 16x² + 16x + 4

I diagram for the distributive property with Pries, PStone, and Spec being distributed

Math Tutor Software

Let me start with one more plug - If you are learning Algebra 1, you may not be able to do better than the aMAZEing Maze.. The price is right and it consists primarily of retired questions from standardized tests.

O'k, there's a lot more math than Algebra 1. Most of the math tutor software I located started out free, and then ended up costing a lot. In addition, most of it isn't written all that well. My Maze is not the end all and be all, but it's free. Some of the software cost between $500 and $600 and all it does is administer a test. Some of the software was written for the tutor and not for the student, so be careful to read the fine print. Some of the packages were designed to be sold to schools and not individuals.

CBS News had an article on September 4, 2014 entitled "What online tutoring programs can do for kids." Rather than have me go on and on about it - why not read the article?

1. Absolute Value Functions

II. Addition and Subtraction

III. Algebra

.IV Cube Root Function

V, Distributive

VI Equations

VII. Exponents

VIII Expressions

IX Fractions

X Factoring

XI. Factoring Polynomials

XII. Inequality