CAROL'S BLOGBlog is short for weblog (weBLOG).Check here to see the latest information about my site (and, occasionally, about my life in general). Monday, May 20, 2013 I've finished the exercises for the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. Thursday, May 16, 2013 I've uploaded the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. I still need to write the exercises for both the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra and Solving Equations? Finding Zeros? Your Choice!. Wednesday, May 15, 2013 Sienna Ridge is nice, BUT get everything in writingI have an unfortunate experience that I feel obligated to share, to warn potential renters to be sure and get everything in writing if you decide to lease from Sienna Ridge in Tucson, AZ. I had a good 8 months there—it has nicely-kept grounds, the price was right, and it was quiet. Unfortunately, however, the incident described below has left a ‘bad taste in my mouth’ upon my departure.We rented this apartment as an office, paying the various startup fees plus a $100 security deposit. We asked if we could have a discount for paying the entire 8 months rent in full. The manager said she would check with someone. When she got back to us she told us we could have 1/4 month off if we paid in full. Therefore, we paid for exactly 8 months rent minus 1/4 month rent using a single check. We didn't get this 1/4 month deduction for paying in full in writing. As my lease drew to a close, I received notice that I owed them money. The prior manager was gone, but we explained about the 1/4 month deduction, fully expecting that they would honor the verbal agreement, particularly since we had that cashier's check as evidence. Unfortunately, the new manager was not willing to honor this verbal agreement, explaining that it had to be in writing. She said that she would get in trouble if she collected less than the full rent without any written justification. So, we then went to her manager—again, fully expecting this situation to be quickly resolved. Yet again, the higher manager would not honor the verbal agreement. Sienna Ridge is legally bound to honor a verbal contract made by one of its employees. In Arizona, verbal contracts made by employees are binding (see Kain v. Arizona Copper Co., 14 Ariz. 566, 133 P. 412 and many others). The former manager verbally contracted a 1/4 month discount in exchange for early payment and as an inducement to proceed with the lease. Refusing to honor that contract is a violation of ARS 44-1522 and several other statutes. We are currently waiting for Sienna Ridge to do the right thing and return our $100 security deposit. By the way, we were present when they checked the apartment, and we got in writing that the apartment was fine, except that we needed to hire a professional carpet steam cleaner (which we did immediately, even though the carpet was clean, vacuumed, and in precisely the same condition as when we began the rental). I will post the outcome when this is resolved. Until then, just be careful and—if you decide to rent from Sienna Ridge—get everything in writing! Thursday, May 9, 2013 I've deleted my sitemap.xml from my server, because it's so old. In particular, it doesn't include any of my Precalculus stuff. I also added in an extra section, Solving Equations? Finding Zeros? Same Thing! to ease into the traditional statement of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. Tuesday, May 7, 2013 I've got a sample re-design page uploaded: Calculating Percent Increase and Decrease I'd very much appreciate any comments, either likes or dislikes. I think it needs to be a bit lighter and a bit more mathy, and it needs a professional logo. Otherwise, I like it. I think it looks a lot more professional—a lot less ‘home-spun’. Friday, May 3, 2013 I updated my monthly stats and website income for April. My hits are down for a fourth month in a row. I'll be posting a sample re-design page soon. Wednesday, May 1, 2013 ‘Life stuff’ has taken an enormous amount of time in these last few weeks. I'm glad to finally have finished discussion: graphing polynomials with technology. This is an optional section. There are no exercises. It can be skipped without any loss of continuity. Monday, April 8, 2013 I've finished multiplicity of zeros and graphical consequences. Not a lot of exercises, but I'm spending time thinking about a re-design of my web site. Friday, April 5, 2013 I've been working on multiplicity of zeros: graphical consequences all week, and have finally finished the concept discussion. I've decided to add a section on ‘graphing polynomials using technology’ to talk about how difficult it is to see the interesting behavior at all the zeroes of a polynomial in a single to-scale graph. Monday, April 1, 2013 I updated my monthly stats and website income for March. My hits are way down for a third month in a row, which is concerning to me. I've finished the quadratic formula revisited; the discriminant. Friday, March 29, 2013 I've finished the concept discussion for the quadratic formula revisited; the discriminant. Thursday, March 28, 2013 I've finished the complex conjugate. For completeness, I put a little bit about the modulus of the complex numbers in this exercise. Wednesday, March 27, 2013 We did well in the dance competition—we won several second and third place ribbons, and even some money! I've almost finished the complex conjugate. Just a few more exercises to finish. Friday, March 22, 2013 I've finished the square root of a negative number. Tomorrow, Ray and I participate in our first dance competition: cha-cha, rumba, East coast swing, bolero, waltz, foxtrot, tango, and viennese waltz. We're excited! Wednesday, March 20, 2013 I've finished arithmetic with complex numbers. This one also went pretty fast, since most of what I need to say is already covered in the Algebra II curriculum. Monday, March 18, 2013 I've just about finished introduction to complex numbers. This one went really fast, since most of what I need to say is already covered in the Algebra II curriculum. Saturday, March 16, 2013 I've finished the exercises for trapping the roots of a polynomial; an interval guaranteed to contain all real roots. Thursday, March 14, 2013 I've finished the concept discussion for trapping the roots of a polynomial; an interval guaranteed to contain all real roots. Haven't yet written the exercises. Monday, March 11, 2013 I finished the exercises for the Remainder Theorem. Saturday, March 9, 2013 I decided to add a section on the Remainder Theorem, since it's a nice application of synthetic division and the division algorithm. The concept section is done, but I haven't yet coded the exercises. Thursday, March 7, 2013 I finally finished synthetic division. It has been an extremely busy week. I'm anxious to get back to more regular work hours! Friday, March 1, 2013 I updated my monthly stats and website income for February. I'm just about finished the concept discussion for synthetic division. Saturday, February 23, 2013 I finished the exercises for the Division Algorithm. In this web exercise, I load a javascript file containing lots of Ray's polynomial code. Wednesday, February 20, 2013 I finished the concept discussion for the Division Algorithm. Exercises soon! Friday, February 15, 2013 I've finished the web exercises for Long Division of Polynomials. Wednesday, February 13, 2013 I've taken an entire week creating a guided practice for long division of polynomials. Check it out! The coding was a nightmare, and I may still have some bugs in the code. But, there isn't much on long division of polynomials on the web, so I hope this will be helpful to people. Wednesday, February 6, 2013 I've finished the concept discussion on Long Division of Polynomials. The formatting took a very, very long time; but I like the ‘hovering’ feature so people can read what's happening, and follow along in the division problem. Saturday, February 2, 2013 I updated my monthly stats and website income for January. I'm currently working on long division of polynomials—the formatting is difficult, and it's taking a long time just to get the concept discussion finished. I've also put up an introduction to ballet, and will keep improving it as I go through the class. Monday, January 28, 2013 I've finished the exercises for Turning Points of Polynomials. Saturday, January 26, 2013 I've finished the concept discussion for Turning Points of Polynomials. Now, I have to write the exercises. Friday, January 25, 2013 I've finished the exercises in End Behavior of Polynomials. Friday, January 18, 2013 I'm continuing with End Behavior of Polynomials. The graphics are slow and tedious. Thursday, January 17, 2013 Oh, where has the week gone? Car woes, dance lessons, ballet class beginning—and not too much web work done. Sigh. I've started End Behavior of Polynomials, but need to create many more graphics to finish the concept discussion, and then write the exercises. Wednesday, January 9, 2013 I've finished the exercises for Relationship Between the Zeros (Roots) and Factors of Polynomials. I really really like some of my problems! Tuesday, January 8, 2013 I've finished the concept discussion for Relationship Between the Zeros (Roots) and Factors of Polynomials. My hits are finally beginning to pick up again, following the slump for Christmas and New Years. People don't seem to do much math over the holidays! Also, I archived my blog for 2012. Monday, January 7, 2013 I've finished the exercises for Introduction to Polynomials. I'm beginning to learn C# and Visual Studio, so I can do some programming with my husband! Tuesday, January 1, 2013 Happy New Year, everyone! I updated my monthly stats and website income for December, and for the year 2012. Again, my visitors have just about doubled from 2011. If I can keep this up for a few more years, then I'll start to make some real income from this site. Blog Archive, 2012 Blog Archive, 2011 Blog Archive, 2010 Blog Archive, 2009 Blog Archive, 2008 Blog Archive, 2007 Blog Archive, 2006 Blog Archive, 2005 |