This week for the year 8’s we have been working on a math topic called , ‘Exponents & Square roots’. We are learning to convert numbers between index and expanded form and learn how to evaluate the square root of a number.
An exponent number is a way to say how many times you will multiply your number based on the power ( aka the tiny number on the side). For example, 5⁴ means 5 x 5 x 5 x 5, and therefore the answer is 625.
A square root is a number which 2 of the same numbers can be multiplied together to create that number. For example, the square root of 16 is 4, because 4 x 4 equals 16.
Guided practice page:
After a short lesson from my teacher Zoe, we went off to work in our books, starting with guided practice. We were tasked to write the multiplication as a base number and exponent. If it was 3 x 3 x 3, the answer would be 3³, then we had to do it the other way around.
Shortly after, we had to find the square root of a number (eg. √25 = 5) and we had to find which 2 square numbers a number was between. For example, 10 is in between the 2 square numbers 9 & 16, since 3 x 3 = 9, and 4 x 4 = 16.
Independant practice page:
Moving on to independent practice, where we had to answer questions like what was 5⁵ and so on. Secondly, we had to answer which exponent number had the greater value by expanding it into multiplication form. Thirdly, we had to find the value of the exponent (Eg. 5 to the power of (blank) = 15 625). To do this, I divided 15625 by 5, again and again till it reached 1. Then I counted how many times we needed to do this step, therefore the answer was 6; 5 to the power of 6 = 15 625
Overall, my friends and I have found this challenging because solving exponent numbers like 8⁵ took a lot of patience and perseverance.
Extended practice page:
Lastly, on extended practice it allowed us to use calculators. We worked on questions like 8−1 = 1 ÷ 8 = 0.125 and 8−2 = (1 ÷ 8) ÷ 8 = 0.015625.
I think that because it has a negative sign it made us divide, since it is the opposite of multiplying. Using these examples, it helped us to understand the other questions, because now I know that 4-1 = 4 ÷ 1 = 0.25, and 4-2 equals (4 ÷ 1) ÷ 4 = 0.0625.
After all this work, me and my group were finally relieved. In my opinion, I think that this topic was absolutely fun and interesting to work on, considering that it is amazing to see how math can involve lots of topics. I am looking forward to using this skill later on in life.
What are you learning for math?