Section 2: The Rest of the Numbers. Reflect and Connect. by

LearningUofA — 2024-03-11 07:30:16 UTC

Reflect on how fractions and decimals are related concepts.

Can you think of examples where converting between fractions and decimals was useful for you? I am sure you have used fractions without even thinking about it like how many slices of pizza are enough to feed your guests at a birthday party? Or, how many bottles of soft drinks do you need to buy to quench their thirst?

I'm curious to learn about your experiences and any specific areas where you'd like to delve deeper.

LearningUofA — 2024-03-11 07:30:18 UTC

What specific difficulties did you encounter while learning about decimals, fractions, negative numbers, and roots?

Were there particular concepts or operations that proved challenging?

How did you approach overcoming these challenges? Did you seek support from peers, instructors, or additional resources?

Share with your peers your strategies and approaches that helped you through your learning experience!

LearningUofA — 2024-03-11 07:30:18 UTC

You are building up quite a lot of knowledge, from Section 1: Addition, multiplication, subtraction, division, powers, and roots, and now fractions, decimals and even more powers and roots!.

Can you tell us, so far, which areas of these topics you would like to explore more?

Remember: Curiosity and discovery are essential in Maths, share your thoughts and tell us what you would like to know more about!

LearningUofA — 2024-03-11 07:30:19 UTC

Can you also think of a cool application of negative numbers? Have you been in a lift or elevator that shows the ground floor as zero, but the basements are marked as negative numbers?

And how about roots and powers? Can you share an interesting experience when you applied your knowledge of powers and roots? Maybe a time when you had to measure a room before moving in and calculate the space you have for your furniture?

Share your story here and let's discuss how maths applies to your experiences.

Click the 'plus' button under each heading to add your reflections.

LearningUofA — 2024-03-11 23:05:11 UTC

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Please adhere to the values of Integrity, Respect, Collegiality, Excellence and Discovery.

Happy sharing!!!

Division

2024-04-14 04:07:17 UTC

I'd like to learn more about division, and how it interacts with the other components. It's the element that I struggle the most with.

It got hard

2024-04-14 04:10:01 UTC

The equation 2 + 9/x + (7x/2x+10) had me hit a wall. I was close, but I couldn't quite get across the line.

I ended up using the attached to show me how to get the solution, reverse engineering that, and then found where I'd tripped up.

Felt silly afterwards, but it's a good tool if you're stuck. Recommend (not for solutions, but workings).

Powers and roots

2024-06-16 10:22:42 UTC

I sometimes struggle with solving operations involving roots, powers, fractions, and division, but I’m getting better at it, and I'm happy with my progress. I want to explore more about powers, roots, and fractions.

Negative numbers

2024-08-01 04:12:44 UTC

For me, the negative numbers bit tripped me up a little. especially as it progressed into powers and roots.

I just kept accidentally changing or missing the negatives and positives. I got the hang of it though after a LONG while ;)

Stress

2024-08-28 05:56:40 UTC

the algerbra for power and roots was difficult. again it comes down to the videos lacking with the number of examples and the complexity of the examples

2024-11-23 16:27:29 UTC

Roots

brendonwade — 2024-12-22 06:10:51 UTC

Roots in algebra are still getting me stuck sometimes.

Also, the errors I made in the practice questions highlight to me as a teacher the importance of showing your working out as it's usually small errors along the way that get a wrong answer rather than a misunderstanding of the concept.

Roots in algebra

brendonwade — 2024-12-22 06:11:44 UTC

Definitely roots in algebra, particularly in simplifying equations using these.

Some reflections

2025-04-05 07:03:48 UTC

The calculation of fractions is quite useful in daily life. For example when we divide a birthday cake in a party and we try to be fair, even though we cannot cut as accurate but at least we know the brief idea.

Some challenges

2025-04-05 07:04:49 UTC

I think the mistakes in streak test made me reflect that I should double check with the signs and powers calculations

Great

2025-04-15 15:52:38 UTC

Very challenging. I enjoyed learning this part of the course.

Negative exponents

2025-04-18 10:29:58 UTC

negative exponents tripped me up a few times and I wish that the streak tests included the options of hints or an explanation of the correct working of the problem once we got it wrong so we can learn.

Fractions

2025-09-12 09:29:40 UTC

I definitely used fractions in daily life.

I often use it to find out the price of a single product when they're sold in packs.

Signs

2025-09-12 09:36:10 UTC

Getting the sign (positive or negative) right was a challenge.

Especially, when switching from a fraction to a multiplication.

Roots and fractions

2025-09-12 09:38:40 UTC

I would like to explore more about roots, especially ones higher than square roots (cube and higher).

I would like to explore fractions/divisions as well and simplifying them.

you've missed many important steps with adding fractions - you went from really simple to crazy difficult in one step - like how are we meant to know how to add "6 + 6/ q + 2q/8q +2?"

2026-01-12 12:19:35 UTC

You went straight from 1/2 + 2/5 =? to really difficult sums that are not at all foundation maths. It´s so dismaying. How do you think we are meant to understand concepts if we don't learn them?

Reflect:

2026-03-12 23:21:03 UTC

Learning about fractions and decimals, along with powers and roots gave me a bigger understanding about maths. I know that fractions and decimals will be used in the future, like dividing things into equal pieces, so that it is fair. Powers and roots will be useful for me in the future, as I plan to become a civil engineer.

Challenges:

2026-03-12 23:22:09 UTC

This section of the course, really challenged my maths skills. The amount of steps to solve and simplify the questions took so much energy out of me, but it was good for me to understand how to solve them in the future.

Explore:

2026-03-12 23:23:44 UTC

To be honest, exploring more about algebra for powers and roots, would make it beneficial for me to understand how to complete those equations and simplify them, as I currently struggle a tiny bit. Even though it is challenging and tough, they slowly build my understanding, and with some practice, I will understand it more efficiently.

Connect:

2026-03-12 23:25:39 UTC

I haven't seen much of negative numbers other than positive ones, but I believe that in some cases in the future, I will see them more often, but I believe that the only time that I did see anything about negative numbers, was on an elevator. Decimals and roots and powers are not something that I see often in my daily life, but I believe that sometime in the future, I will see them around the world.