Guest vicizmax Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 When doing tests or extra credit exercises for my Math class, I often lose points, or end up losing a lot of time because I do not know when (or sometimes how) to use my calculator.The "how" I still have time to learn!The "when", however, is what gets me every time. Naturally, Paper 1 is with no calculator, so that is easy enough. In Paper 2, however, there are sometimes questions that I later find out I could have used my calculator to find the answer to.I have always been used to working out the answer, and using my calculator to a minimum. So it's a bit of a hit to have to look out for when to actually use it. Once, I wasted 5-7 minutes on a question because of it.So what key words do I look out for? Or how do I know that I can just answer the question via using graphical calculator, or when do I actually have to work it out despite also being able to use my calculator? :0 Any tips..? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flinquinnster Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 I have that problem too. I think that the biggest hint is that if something is algebraic, then don't go for the GDC. Like indefinite integrals, derivatives not at a point, that kind of thing. Especially if it says "show" something, substitution with your GDC to 10 decimal places does not cut it - for example, proving that the roots of one graph are the maximum points of some other graph or something (okay, bad example, but hopefully it makes sense). If there is a really complicated matrix, basic statistics or a weird-looking graph, go for the GDC. Also, do it for indefinite integrals and derivatives evaluated at a point - but write out the process you would go through, then just evaluate with the GDC. Then again, perhaps don't take my advice. On my last maths exam, I spent 10 minutes of my exam substituting numbers with over 10 decimal places into an equation in my desperation to prove that those numbers were roots of the given equation... But then again, I did learn that substitution ≠ showing, so that was useful in hindsight. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
merci beaucoup Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 non-ib people say that math with gdc is a walk in the park but its actually harder than paper 2.A few key terms to look out for are algebraic expressions for roots and other points on the graph. Statistics is completely done by the calculator.Integrals could also be done on the calc if they are asking you for the final answer in numerical terms.Calculator is also helpful in Matrix multiplication and inversesMost of the time, the questions are put in such a way that if you just graph them up (which won't waste much of your time either) you could come up with the solution really easily.I hope this helped 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vicizmax Posted November 8, 2012 Report Share Posted November 8, 2012 Thank you, I will try to look out for all those suggestions on my upcoming mock exams!I'm glad I'm not the only one finding it a bit of a pain in the buttocks I also noticed that sometimes the marks for the question determine it too.. Not always, but I once went off into a very long equation, and only after realized it was a 1 mark question Such silly mistakes, but it's a shame to lose points or time on them... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geldyn Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 (edited) Seems like you've largely worked this out, but I figured I'd add my two cents:another time that the calculator is useful is whenever an equation has to be solved that only has two unknowns (so anything that can be expressed as y=... with only x terms unknown)by plotting this function as y1 on your calculator, you can find any solutions, and immediately the y-value at any xalso if you want to find the x-value at any y, you can graph that as y2 (e.g. y2=5), and find the intersect. very useful for exponential modelling and trigonometric functions! saved me a lot of time once I started doing this----EDIT: forgot to say - using this method can lose you method marks if you simply write the answer. if you use it, and you think the question has more marks than you've earned, it can be useful to sketch a graph of what you did on the calculator, which usually (if not always) will give you the method marks----another useful... use... is the app plysmlt2 (I don't know if this comes with the calculators, or if our school gave it to us, but if you don't have it, it may be worth letting your teacher know about it) - it instantly finds the roots (real and complex) of any polynomial up to the power of 10, and can also solve simultaneous equations with up to 10 unknowns... again. very useful.hopefully this is useful... really helped me Edited November 20, 2012 by Geldyn Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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