Precalculus Websites

 

number gossip, everything you want to know about a particular number, great starter http://www.tanyakhovanova.com/Numbers/index.html

Prerequisites


Intro to Functions and Graphs

extension to the Dynagraph so that it includes more functions. includes the 16 functions on the Addison Wesley basic function list. The kids love trying to figure out the function.
http://teachers.dadeschools.net/akoski/sketches.htm

Advanced Functions and Graphs

Nice examples of transformations of functions, particularly composition of functions (not working in July)
http://cs.jsu.edu/mcis/faculty/leathrum/Mathlets/

Guessing Correlations - a neat "game" to show the relationship between correlations and scatterplots http://www.stat.uiuc.edu/courses/stat100/java/GCApplet/GCAppletFrame.html

Drawing a Regression Line by "Eye”
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Elane/stat_sim/reg_by_eye/index.html
Click the "Begin" box to bring up a scatterplot. Use your mouse to draw a line on the scatterplot. The MSE error is computed (i.e. "average" squared error). Check the minimum MSE and see how close you can get. Click the box to see the least squares line. You can also guess and check the correlation.

Unit Analysis, slow to load, but worth the wait
Virtual Manipulatives gr 6 – 8 Measurement, Converting Units
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_272_g_3_t_4.html?open=instructions

Cut out box problem
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/maxmin/buildamaxbox15.mov


Linear, Quadratic and Power Functions

Parabola w/ CBR, rolling ball up a ramp
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/parabolanew/parabola_main.html


Polynomial Functions

Polynomial and Rational Graphs families
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/family_of_functions/polyrat_gallery.html

Rational Functions

Optimization Fence Problem
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/maxmin/maxmin.html

Rational Graphs families
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/family_of_functions/polyrat_gallery.html

Exponential and Log Functions

Digits of e
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/e.2mil

Exponential and Log family of graphs
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/family_of_functions/explog_gallery.html
http://www.univie.ac.at/future.media/moe/galerie/fun2/fun2.html#graphenel

Logistics Spread of Disease Simulation
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/logistic/logistic.html

Trig Functions

Generation of sine/cosine curves, unit circle unwrapping
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/sincos-demo1/

Matching trig (sin and cos) graphs with equations
http://www.univie.ac.at/future.media/moe/galerie/fun2/fun2.html#grapherk3

Trig graph families/Inverse Trig graphs
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/family_of_functions/trig_gallery.html

Transformation of Trig Graphs, also plays sound of graph, changing pitch and amplitude!
http://cs.jsu.edu/mcis/faculty/leathrum/Mathlets/

Pitch, Tone, Frequency of sound
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=37

Sound waves
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/trigsounddemo/trigsounddemo.html

Modeling Daylight Hours
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/sinusoidapp/sinusoidapp.html

Simple Harmonic Motion – great visualization
http://www.equationplotter.com/shm/shm.htm

Trig Equations and Identities


3D Space

Graphs 3D functions of x and y
http://cs.jsu.edu/mcis/faculty/leathrum/Mathlets/

Conics

Completing the Square applet illustrates proof without words
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=122

Applet to complete the square (finds constant before perfect square), a not 1
http://www.ltcconline.net/greenl/java/BasicAlgebra/CompleteTheSquare/CompleteTheSquare.html

Bottomless worksheet for completing the square
http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool/15771/

Applets to generate conic sections
http://www.ies.co.jp/math/java/

Catenary
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/catenary/catenary.html

Conic family of graphs
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/family_of_functions/conic_gallery.html

Systems and Matrices


Polar and Parametric

Graphing polar coordinates in degrees or radians, very intuitive
http://www.univie.ac.at/future.media/moe/galerie/zeich/zeich.html#polar

Polar graphs
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/family_of_functions/polar_gallery.html

Cycloids
http://mathdemos.gcsu.edu/mathdemos/cycloid-demo/

John and Betty's Journey into Complex Numbers
A Children's Book for Senior School Mathematics Students
http://mathforum.org/johnandbetty/

Series and Sequences

Tortoise and the Hare Race (Zeno’s Paradox)
http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/tortoise/index.html

Tower of Hanoi
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=40

The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (look up a sequence)
http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/

Mathematical Induction, list of examples
http://www.cut-the-knot.org/induction.shtml

Review

PreCalculus study page on lots of topics
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/2426/

Further exploration

All the applets I’ve looked at are great, some are included under specific topics
http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~klbooksite/all_applets.htm

interactive resources for functions and their graphs, includes matching
activities and function plotter, some are included under specific topics
http://www.univie.ac.at/future.media/moe/galerie.html

Resources>select a topic Lots of great links, well organized, British
http://michaelshepperd.tripod.com/

"Polyhedra Pastimes," a page of annotated links to 30 activities on polyhedra chosen from a variety of Web sites:
http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/jbpolyhedra.htm

Applications of Math

One page mini-posters with applications of math (pdf format)
www.ams.org/mathmoments

Physics and Math in sports, ~15 min downloadable videos link sports with physics, lesson plans available
http://sportsfigures.espn.com/sportsfigures