Researched and summarized by West De Pere High School Pre-Calculus students.
www.math.com Math.com has easy-to-use links to help guide you to your desired math field. Whether it is Algebra or Calculus, this website has information on all math problems. This website also has fun games to keep you interested and practice problems to strengthen your math skills. Math.com also has links to help you find local tutors if you are unable to grasp the math concepts. A site has a store for your convenience where you can purchase high-quality calculators, math books, and games. That’s not all! Math.com has inspirational quotes from famous thinkers such as Albert Einstein who said, “Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I assure you that mine are greater.” The only weakness of math.com is that they provide too many links to other math websites in their pages. They should be confident that they are providing all the necessary information on their website.
www.purplemath.com Purplemath.com is a user-friendly website that offers many services. One service is free, online tutoring for those who need help. You can also take practice quizzes and worksheets to learn and improve your math knowledge. Purplemath.com offers advice from first grade math all the way to calculus. They even offer a self-survey to help you evaluate which math classes you should take based on your interests and strengths. You can find all of the important math laws and rules on purplemath.com. This website also includes articles like, “how to suck up to your teacher,” a guide to get good grades in math. The only weakness of Purplemath.com is that all the links it has to offer are not conveniently placed on the front page but must be searched for a little bit more than what it should be.
www.mathworld.com Mathworld.com is an advanced math website with extensive forums on all aspects of math and the laws and rules involved. You will have no trouble finding the topics you desire to research. Every link contains advanced drawings and explanations to help you grasp the ideas you are learning. Mathworld.com is probably a website that would be better appreciated by students in eighth grade and higher due to its advanced graphs and word choice. Mathworld.com also has links about new news in the “math world.” Mathworld.com’s weakness is its lack of interactive games to attract and appeal to younger students of math.
www.sosmath.com is an awesome website that has loads of cool math stuff. This site has stuff for all types of people. From very stupid people that don’t know how to reduce simple fractions to those math geeks that solve matrixes for fun, this site explains math on many levels. The best thing: It’s free! The only problem lies in its hands-on stuff—there really isn’t much. It has some practice problems, but they are few and far between. So, if you’re looking for a help site, you’ve got one. But if you’re looking for a learning site—look some more.
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ is put on by some guy sitting in his home helping students cheat on their homework. This cheater’s, Dr. Math, is a pretty smart guy. People send him e-mails that he willingly answers about any type of math. From elementary to college, people all around the country are assisted by this math freak. The site is only a collection of letters received by and sent from Dr. Math. One could do these problems at home and see his answers below. The best thing is that the site will continue to grow until the death of Dr. Math—unless he has an apprentice that he is training. Then that person will train someone else. And so on, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on, and so on FOREVER!
www.thatquiz.com/ Flashcards R Us. This is THE site for math practice. If you know everything already, this site will sharpen your skills and quicken your mind. Sure there are flashcards for addition and subtraction, but this site also holds surprises of reducing fractions while finding probability and surface area. Some people may call it a problem that the site doesn’t teach—I call it fun. Without a doubt, the highlight is the calculus flashcards. Someday, those flashcards will be within my grasp.
www.aaamath.com/ AAA Math is a website that reiterates how to figure things out such as fractions, equations, measurements, geometry, statistics, ratios, properties, and many more. Once you click on a topic, the website brings you to a new page. There, how to do something is explained and shown, and then there are problems to try. To make it more interesting and fun, there are then different games that can be played that are using a specific type of math. This website is colorful and full of activities that are just solving problems. To make it easier for people from other languages, they have the whole website in Spanish if someone would like. A weakness of this website it that there are different advertisements in the middle of a lesson so that could be kind of distracting for people who are trying to learn something new or reiterate how to do something. This website is valuable to me and other students because it is going over some of the things that we should know and that we may have forgotten.
www.webmath.com/index.html Webmath.com is a good site for people who need practice with a certain topic. This site starts you on a home page and there is a drop down box with all the different topics in it. After you pick one, it brings you to a page that gives you a problem to solve. On that page there is also a button that you can click on so that you can figure out how to do a certain problem. After you have either solved a problem or gotten help, you can chose to do the similar problems to gain practice. At any point if you get confused, you can click on the button and it will give you tips on how to do the problem. A weakness to this website is that if you were looking to learn something new, you would have to start with the problem and then get tips for that problem and that problem only. So, if you don’t know how to do something, this website would really help, but if you know how to do something but you need practice, this website would be a good website to practice on. There are sometime when myself and other students my know how to do something but we would like more practice to make sure we are doing it right. So, this website would be a good way to get more practice and if we get confused there is always the button to explain what we are supposed to do.
www.coolmath.com/ Cool math is a color full website full of activities and direction. There are many different topics and they explain how to do different problems. There are many different ways to do things and they show a variety of ways to do it. A weakness to this website is that there isn’t really a way to practice what you have just learned. There give examples in the direction but not after that. So, there aren’t any examples. This is a good website for refreshing someone’s memory if they have forgotten how to do something. This website also has different games and activities that aren’t solely based on math but they have something to do with math. This is a good website for reviewing things and refreshing.
www.calculus.org/ It helps students solve Calculus problems by taking them step by step through the problem. One weakness is that this site lacks pictures and games at first glance. If you click one of the links for a subject, such as functions, you will get all the information you need to know about functions, but at the bottom of the page, there is a link to see the different graphs and other odd functions. Also this site contains tips to studying, managing time, kissing up to the professor, and practice exams. Another feature of the site is it has a list of other sites that could be helpful if this site does not fit the guidelines they are looking for. It is a very useful site, if you are having difficulties understanding the basic concepts of calculus.
www.ies.co.jp/math/java/calc/index.html This site focuses on the major subjects of Calculus. It looks like it was created for high school students taking a Calculus course, who need some more practice. The site contains many different subject links. If you click on one, you are given the information about that subject, and for most links there is an interactive activity or game. The games help the student learn and comprehend the material they are having difficulty with in the classroom. In my opinion, the highlights and strengths of this site are the ways it puts difficult math into easier problems, and everyday situations. Plus, the game is a good way to see if you retain the information given to you. One weakness with this program is that the student needs somewhat of an idea about the topic. It is not a site where you can just click and expect to understand right away. However, this is a fun site to see the changes in formulas and concepts given to you in class.
library.thinkquest.org/20991/calc/reference.html On this site you can learn anything from basic algebra to difficult Calculus II. When I was looking at the Pre-Calc section, I found it useful because they give you a reference sheet with all the formulas that are commonly used in everyday problems. I also looked at the Adv. Algebra/ Trig link, and I thought it was cool because it gave you step by step problem solving methods. This site also has a chat room for students to talk to one another and discuss their problems. This allows students to try and help others before going to the last resort. I also liked how this website has practice exams and test questions. One disadvantage to this site is that there are no games and activities to help teach the information except for reading and doing practice problems. The site fortunately supplies answers for all practice exams and tells you how you did the problem incorrectly.
www.Aplusmath.com is one of the most interactive math websites I have found. Topics range from basic arithmetic to algebra. This site offers many things that can help aid a struggling student that needs extra practice, or help a math geek show off to his or her friends on the weekends, the possibilities are endless. The site is broken down into the categories: flash cards, game room, homework helper, and work sheets. The best thing about this site is the high amount of interactivity on it. Although there is no rocket science involved, basic problems are easily shown how to do. The simplicity of this site will keep math geeks coming back.
www.explorelearning.com offers math as well as science help. They use a program called Gizmos to simulate problems. For math, they offer help from Grade 6 to College Pre-calculus. You can pick what level you need, and they give you a list of subjects to pick from and from there they give you scenarios with problems. The problems are multiple choices, and once you have finished you submit your answers. Regardless of whether you got the answer right or wrong, they tell you why the answer is what it is. The only downfall of the website is that Gizmo does not work on every computer unless you have the correct software.
www.mathgoodies.com This site is beneficial if you’d like to review math topics. Some of the topics covered include: percent, perimeter and area, statistics, and probability. It has lessons and worksheets that you can use to review. However, only some of these materials are available online. For the others you have to purchase CD to access.
www.allmath.com This websites contains many useful tools that you can use. You can use the glossary to look up unknown terms, or convert units with the metric converter. If you want to know about famous mathematicians, click on the math biography link. The only drawback to this site is that it doesn’t have pages that explain certain concepts; it’s more a website to use if you need information and definitions. This website also has links to other helpful math websites.
http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/0/index.html This website is an excellent resource for looking up functions. It has almost every type of function available and explained with pictures and animations of how they work. The good thing about this website is that all the information is put into either slide shows, diagrams, or as flash animations. The website has explicit instructions especially for graphing calculators. One of the weaknesses of this website is the fact that it only gives calculator instructions for the TI-85 and TI-86 models. Also, there is only one color of a background, so it gets boring to look at after a while.
www.mathematicshelpcentral.com/index.html This website has great information at many different math levels. There is tons of information on trigonometry, algebra, and calculus. The information is worded according to the difficulty of the math to make learning it easier. The information is accurate and well explained for the reader to learn the concepts. A few of the weaknesses of this website are that the site itself is under construction because this site is very new. The information can also be a little hard to understand when you are looking at the calculus portion of the website. Overall, this is a great source of information on all that we have covered (and more) in our class.
www.netrover.com/~kingskid/Math/math.htm This site is a good site for the math teacher. It is directed to making things like worksheets and has some good educational games. A lot of the worksheets may be directed at the younger students, but they are still fun and are great for refreshing the basics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math Good ole Wikipedia. Here you have unlimited links to any kind of information. You can find the history of Mathematics, equations, ext. There are basic overviews on certain things while you can take a link to in-depth discussion. You could spend hours reviewing all the formulas and how to use while taking a look at example problems. Everything there will have a link to some other part of the website or even to another website for specific example. It is a central hub for math geeks and teachers. Here your opportunities are like an asymptote not to the point unlimited but pretty darn close. By the way if you want to research pre-calculus just replace math with it in the address bar. Actually you can type almost anything math related their and you will get take to a site that describes it efficiently.
www.math.ucdavis.edu/~marx/precalculus.html This is a helpful math website because it explains many important topics related to Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus. There is a list of various topics and you can click each link to learn more about that topic. A strength of this website is its organization of each specific topic as well as the in-depth description of the chosen topic. There are many example problems along with step-by-step solutions. The site also has links to other sites that contain practice tests. A weakness is the lack of pictures to go along with the descriptions and equations. This is definitely a helpful website if you are having trouble with a topic that you learn about in class.
www.bmlc.ca/Pre-Calculus%20Math%2040s.html This site is extremely helpful when you need help with Pre-Calculus concepts. It thoroughly explains math concepts as each topic is broken down into its own specific lesson. Each of these lessons contains many example problems and step-by-step solutions. A strength of this site is that each lesson goes into great detail about each specific topic with corresponding graphs and images. The site is very organized which makes it easy to look up whatever topic you want to learn about. This site also contains a formula sheet with Pre-Calculus concepts as well as practice exams and solutions. A weakness of this site is that you need to have Adobe Reader 7 to download each lesson. However, downloading takes a matter of seconds if you have Adobe Reader 7. This site’s in-depth look at various topics is very helpful if you need another look at or extra practice with Pre-Calculus concepts.
http://library.thinkquest.org/C005245/This is a fun website to visit to learn more about Pre-Calculus concepts. It contains many different examples and formulas of Pre-Calculus topics. A strength is that it is organized which makes it easy for you to find the topic you want to learn about. After looking at the problem, you can click a link to see the problem fully explained with a solution. It also contains a formula page with many of the most important formulas of Pre-Calculus. The site has many different calculators to use depending on what type of calculator would be most helpful to you. Important math terms are defined in this site as well. There is also a “funnies” section which contains math comics and jokes if you are ever in the need of some more math enjoyment. A weakness of this site is that it requires a Shockwave Flash Plug-in to run most effectively. Despite this, this math website is full of well-organized and valuable information.
http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/web/2000/heal/mathsites.htm This is a cool math website that reviews many math concepts from basic algebra to calculus. It includes fun games that can help review the concepts even more. The website includes cool pictures and interesting facts about math concepts. It is colorful and has a lot of puzzles. The thing I didn’t like about the website is the amount of links you had to click on just to get to the actual teaching of the concept. It takes you to new websites that contain the information you are looking for. It’s not very organized.
/www.langara.bc.ca/mathstats/resource/onWeb/precalculus/ Langara College’s website helps describe and explain many topics in pre-calculus that we may find handy. Such topics include quadratic functions, inequalities, exponentials and logarithms, and systems of equations. You can choose which topic you need help with and the website will describe what the topic is as well as how to use it in math problems. Also, the website provides links that one can follow up on if there are any other questions that may not have been answered here. You can also test your knowledge through the website and can take the “Are You Ready for Calculus?” test. All the previous information can be found as Langara College’s strengths. However, there are some weaknesses as well. For best learning, in my opinion, is to have a picture drawn. This website is strictly words, just describing the math. With no use of pictures, I know that I have a hard time learning. Also, the website did a great job of explaining how to do problems, but they do not have any examples. The website derives equations, but does not show where you may use them. A neat thing that I found within the site is that you can take on-line courses and tutorials which will improve your math skills, and these tutorials range from kindergarten to past-calculus.
www.cafegenius.com/library/pre-calculus.htm CafeGenius allows students to learn pre-calculus in a fun manner with its Formula Solvers and other study tools. While you may have to sign up for this website, it would be worth your while! Your studies can range from angle functions to polynomials, and everything in between. There are several factors within each topic such as polynomials (factoring trinomials, FOIL, multiplying polynomials, etc.) You can also search for fun quizzes within the site and by doing so; you can test your knowledge. I believe that the strengths of this website are how they teach you to learn. You can click on a topic and it will show you step by step (you can click Previous and Next on your own!) how to come to a solution. I didn’t really find any weaknesses, but maybe one could be that it doesn’t seem to go past pre-calculus. If anyone wanted to move further in the math area, they would not be able to use this website. The way they teach you was something that I found extremely neat. It is like a PowerPoint presentation on a small screen, where you can click Next when you are ready. You can also put in your own numbers and it will show you how to use them. CafeGenius, I believe, is a great website for learning. It is colorful and intriguing.
www.themathpage.com TheMathPage shows tons of topics in pre-calculus that we may find helpful. These topics extend from the formal rules of algebra all the way to mathematical induction. The first page shows the main topics and then a way or definition to describe them so you know for sure what you are looking for. When you choose a topic, TheMathPage will define the topic as well as giving examples towards using it. I believe this is helpful because it will plug in reliable numbers and will describe the steps used. TheMathPage is a great help for not only pre-calculus students like me, but also for students who have a feel for furthering their math education. The strengths of this website are that it is clear in the topics, as well as their explanations. It shows real examples of problems and real numbers that could be used, which I find helpful in truly knowing the concept. Another great thing about this website is that these pages are updated regularly, meaning that if something changes in the math-world, then you do not need to worry! I did not really find any weaknesses in this website, as it seems extremely helpful. Something I found neat within the site was that it was colorful and if you decided that you wanted to dig deeper in math, you could look at the evolution of the real numbers.
www.bymath.com/studyguide/ari/ari4.html This site features comprehensive lessons to aid students in learning or reviewing an entire subject. The breakdown of subjects into lessons makes it easy to search out an individual concept that you may need work on rather than having to read an entire concept to know what you’re doing. One of the problems with the site is that it only goes up to trigonometry. Up to trigonometry, it covers a wide variety of subjects, topics, and lessons, but past it, the website fails to help. On the bright side, the site has interactive tests to evaluate your learning, and forums and links to receive aid from other sites and people. A search function is near the top of the page, and multiple laws and equations are kept close at hand. Functions, graphs, probability, and sets are covered in addition to the regular subjects up to trigonometry. Problems under each of the subjects are given to help learn, combining with the tests to make the site an excellent place for hands-on learning. Finally, the site features an extremely useful page for all kinds of math signs. Variables, equal signs, and geometric symbols are all covered on the page.
Others:
http://regentsprep.org/Regents/math/math-a.cfm
http://regentsprep.org/Regents/mathb/mathb.cfm
http://www.padowan.dk/graph/
http://www.homeschoolmath.net/math_resources_4.php
http://www.mathsnet.net/transformations/index.html
http://www.wtamu.edu/academic/anns/mps/math/mathlab/col_algebra/index.htm
http://cpm.org/students/resources.htm
http://www.k111.k12.il.us/king/math.htm#PreAlgebra
http://hotmath.com/
http://classzone.com/disc_math.cfm
http://illuminations.nctm.org/
