Radicals. Earlier, I posted pictures of the pages we made that dealt with prime factorization, parts of a radical, simplifying radicals, adding and subtracting radicals, and multiplying radicals. The latter half of our unit covered dividing radicals, rationalizing the denominator, and converting between radical form and rational exponent form.
I shared with my students the reason why standardized tests require them to rationalize the denominator. I gave them a long division problem to do by hand. It was not pretty. They cannot divide. At all. If I had more time, I would have had them write a persuasive paper over whether students should be required to rationalize the denominator in this day and age of technology. I hate the fact that I have so much to cover in Algebra 2. The majority of my students' Algebra 1 background is extremely lacking, however. So, I've had to do some necessary reteaching. Plus, I still have to make sure I teach all of the Algebra 2 standards. It's a lot to do, but I'm doing the best that I can.
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| Multiplying and Dividing Radicals |
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| Dividing Radicals Interactive Notebook Page |
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| Rationalizing the Denominator and Converting Between Radical Form and Rational Exponent Form |
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| Rationalizing the Denominator Interactive Notebook Page |
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| Converting Between Rational Exponent Form and Radical Form INB Page |
I gave this page to my students, and I instructed them to choose a variable of their choice for the index of their radical and for the exponent of their radicand. One of my students thought it would make sense to use the variable e for the exponent and the variable i for the index. When you convert to rational exponent form, the exponent goes over the index in the fraction that forms the exponent. Exponent Over Index. EOI. The standardized tests that Oklahoma high school students take at the end of the year are known as End-Of-Instruction (EOI) tests. So, this mnemonic device really only has special meaning to Oklahoma high school students. But, I was so proud of my student for creating something to help her remember something she deemed important and sharing it with the class. I was so impressed, I shared the idea with my other Algebra 2 period. They didn't seem too thrilled or impressed, but I saw some students writing "EOI" on their quizzes. So, I think it helped.
I'm thinking that you could maybe find a way to relate it to Old MacDonald??? "Old MacDonald Had a Farm. E I E I O." Okay, maybe that's stretching it.
PDF templates have been uploaded below. You will need Flash/Shockwave to view. If you cannot view these files, send me an e-mail, and I will be happy to send them to you in an attachment.
Dividing Radicals (PDF)
Rationalizing The Denominator (PDF)
Converting Between Rational Exponent Form and Radical Form (PDF)