This Algebra II is killing me (1 Viewer)

[Darren Davis]

my answer is right except it's exact and left in terms of pi, which is how we have to do it in math competitions. Rounding isn't accepted.
[edit]
Explanation:
It turns out the triangle is equilateral so that means each side is 20, so the area is (1/4)(rt.3)(20^2). Then, to calculate the area of the circle sections do this. You know it's an equilateral triangle so each angle is 60 degrees. So, to find the area of the circle section (or sector as it's sometimes called I believe) just take (60/360)(pi)(10^2) and then multiply that by 3 and you get 50pi as the exact area of the three circle sections. So, the answer turns out to be (100)(sqrt.3) - (50)(pi). Now give us a hard one muaa haaa haaa!

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Darren,

When I was in HS (back in the dark ages) the emphasis was on keeping the students of the streets for 6 hours, it did not matter if we learned anything or not. I was always told by my parents that I had "potential." It would have been nice to have a teacher that recognized it and pushed me to use it, but thats the past. I later figured out that if you want to get anywhere in life you've got to use your own brain and push yourself, even if it envolves something as terrible as MATH.

 

[Darren Davis]

Sadly, it's the same way now, just now there are some programs for kids that want to be in school. It is quite sad and many of the teachers have given up because of the futile attempt to try and get students interested. My mom's a teacher and she has some of the worst students I've seen but she still pushes them like other schools. At least there are a few out there.

 

[Michael R Price]

I'm in 10th grade and I'm not too interested in math. However, I am interested in physics and computers. I think of math this way: I want to learn all this boring stuff so I can do the things I want to do. Whether you like it or not, you will need to know trigonometry, algebra, calculus, etc. to solve real world problems in other, much more interesting (IMO) fields. Now that I think of it that way, I do much better in math class. It's in the motivation.
So what's the surface area of the solid formed by revolving y=e^x sin x from x=0 to pi around the x-axis? You may never need to know the answer to such a problem, but knowing how to solve that problem will help you do better at something much more interesting than 'raw' math.
OK that was too philosophical... but you get the idea. BTW, does anyone know the answer to the above problem?

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; education is wasted on the young.