Sunday, March 13, 2016

Division M2 session on March 13, 2016

Instructor:Mr. Ahmed Hefny
Attendance:Ayan, Adan, Areej, AbdulRafay, Bilal, Baseer, Omar
Handout:Pre-Algebra Chapter 1
Problems Solved in Class:* Probability problems: throwing a die and drawing from a deck of cards.
* Disproving false statements about properties of operators: commutative and associative properties of subtraction, addition distributes over multiplication.
Concepts:[Session 1] A brief introduction to probability:* Probability and statistics are two opposite inference paths; probability tells us, given knowledge about a random process, how to answer questions related to samples from that process. [Ex: what is the probability of getting 3 heads in a row if I throw a fair coin three times ?]. Statistics tells us, given a sample from the random process, how to gain knowledge about that process. [Ex: Given a sample of 10000 voters, how much is the American community biased towards Republicans ?]

* Basic probability laws and the conditions for their correctness: Let A and B be two conditions (usually called events)
- P(A) = # of outcomes that satisfy A / # of all possible outcomes      [Assuming all outcomes are equally likely]
- P(A and B) = P(A)P(B)              [iff A and B are independent]
- P(A and B) = P(A)P(B|A)          [P(B|A) is the probability of B happening given that A happened. P(B|A) = P(B) iff A and B are independent]- P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B)             [iff A and B are disjoint i.e. A and B cannot happen together]
- P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A and B)      [This is the same inclusion-exclusion principle for counting the union of two sets]    


[Session 2] Pre-algebra:
Commutative property- Associative property
- Distributive property
- Disproving a property by a counter-example
- Negation vs subtraction. Negation is a unary operator (takes one number) and gives its negative. Subtraction is a binary operator (takes two numbers) and returns the difference. They happen to use the same symbol '-' but they are different things.
Student Difficulties:
  • Thinking in terms of equations
  • Generalizing distributive property to arbitrary operators.
Homework:
  • Download PDF
  • Note: There are some hints in the end of the file. Try to solve first without looking at them.
Notes:You can access video resources at: https://www.artofproblemsolving.com/videos/prealgebra
Videos related to today's session are the first four videos of chapter 1.

Division M1 session on March 13, 2016

Instructor:Mr. Zia Hydari
Attendance:AbdulRafay, Sohaib, Abiha, Abdul Qadir
(not present: Adeel, Rami, Kamal) 
Handout:Pre-Algebra http://aops-cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/products/prealgebra/exc1.pdf
Problems Solved in Class:All exercises from section 1.2.
Concepts:Commutative, associative, and identity for addition operator
Student Difficulties:
  • Avoiding unnecessary computations. 
  • Working out the problems step-by-step.
  • Using mathematical vocabulary e.g. commutative property in explaining solution.
  • Identity for addition.
Homework:
Notes:You can download the handout for Section 1.1 and 1.2 from http://aops-cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/products/prealgebra/exc1.pdf

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Feb 28, 2016—Math Contest

No classes—students participated in Math Contest. The winners were announced on March 6th:

M2: Basir, Omar
M1: Bilal M, Abdur-Rafay
E:   Abiha

Division M1 session on March 6, 2016

Instructor:Mr. Isa Hafalir, Mr. Zia Hydari
Attendance:AbdulRafay, Adeel, Bilal, Remy, Sohaib, Areej
Handout:
Problems Solved in Class:MOEMS Volume 3 p. 73: 3C, 3D, and 3E
MOEMS Volume 3 p. 74: 4D, 4E
From the contest on Feb 28th:  1, 2, 4, 5, and 6.
Concepts:Mean, median, mode. Percent change. Area. Congruent shapes.
Student Difficulties:
Homework:MOEMS Volume 3 p. 75 (all problems from Set 10 Olympiad 5). Due date is March 20th.
Notes: