Background Tutorials

• Understand signs of numbers in ordered pairs as indicating locations in quadrants of the coordinate plane; recognize that when two ordered pairs differ only by signs, the locations of the points are related by reflections across one or both axes.

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    What is an Ordered Pair?

    Ordered pairs are a fundamental part of graphing. Ordered pairs make up functions on a graph, and very often, you need to plot ordered pairs in order to see what the graph of a function looks like. This tutorial will introduce you to ordered pairs!

• Use square root and cube root symbols to represent solutions to equations of the form x^2 = p and x^3 = p, where p is a positive rational number. Evaluate square roots of small perfect squares and cube roots of small perfect cubes. Know that √2 is irrational.

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    What's a Perfect Square?

    Anytime you square an integer, the result is a perfect square! The numbers 4, 9, 16, and 25 are just a few perfect squares, but there are infinitely more! Check out this tutorial, and then see if you can find some more perfect squares!

• Derive the equations of ellipses and hyperbolas given the foci, using the fact that the sum or difference of distances from the foci is constant.

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    What is an Ellipse?

    An ellipse is a specific shape with some very neat pieces! In this tutorial, you'll learn multiple definitions of an ellipse and see all its different parts.