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The New Jersey HSPA (High School Proficiency Assessment) Test is one which all juniors in New Jersey high schools must take and pass in order to receive their diplomas. For many, this test presents a challenge as it consists of two sections, one in English, and one in math. The English section requires that students demonstrate competency in English, both from a written and comprehension perspective; and the math section requires students to demonstrate competency in four areas in high school mathematics: number sense, concepts, and applications; spatial sense and geometry; data analysis, probability, statistics, and discrete mathematics; and patterns, functions, and algebra.

Students who are above average to strong in math have really nothing to fear as the HSPA Math test should be little more than a review for them. Most students in this category find the HSPA little more than a petty annoyance. Since passing both sections of the HSPA is required to graduate, students who are weak in math view this test as a potential diploma robber. Given this fear, a parent should realize that insuring their child is properly prepared is essential. There is no greater humiliation for a high school student than to fail one or both parts of the HSPA and have to be put into a remedial course for its retaking. Such a failure not only plays with these students’ confidence levels but also robs them of time in their curriculum schedule that could be used for more enjoyable courses.

Before this untoward event happens to your child, be sure that you have a good feel for where your child is on the mathematics front. Speak with their guidance counselors and math teachers to get an idea of whether your son or daughter is in danger of failing the mathematics part of the HSPA. If you get a sense from school personnel that this is the case, remediate this situation immediately. Don’t wait even a minute. Get your child some practice exams and have them work with a competent tutor to remedy this situation. The HSPA math problems are not nearly as challenging as those of the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), and therefore, by getting some extra help from a competent instructor, you can have your child on the road to a passing HSPA grade. Remember, don’t wait and start late. Get your kid the help and look forward to graduation day with a big smile.

See more at HSPA and SAT Test Preparation

Most of the mathematical concepts we encounter every day - numbers, addition, subtraction - seem so basic, so hard to avoid in discussing reality on even the most basic level, that it’s hard to imagine someone having to sit down and invent them. Who was the first person to look at two rocks and think, “Two more and I’ve got four?” The very idea almost seems absurd.

But mathematics is, in part, a language - not just a set of logical relationships and entailments that seems deeper than words, but a set of notations that allow us to discover those relationships. You can’t see that twice two makes four, until you have a symbol for “two” that your brain can operate with. And those symbols - that language - did have to develop, strange as it may seem. (Prehistoric artifacts seem to indicate that the earliest humans had only four “numbers” at their disposal “none,” “one,” “two,” and “many” - showing just how much our ability to talk about numbers depends on having the right words for them.)

We don’t know which culture was the first to develop a number system more elaborate than “one, two, lots!” A 20,000-year-old bone found near the Nile River seems to show a sequence of prime numbers - which would indicate fairly sophisticated mathematical knowledge from fairly early on. Then there was the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley in present-day North India and Pakistan. As far as we know, these folks were the first to use decimals, among many other important concepts.

Archaeology also seems to find evidence of a sophisticated number system during the Shang Dynasty in China, 1600 years before Christ. Archaeologists often turn up new discoveries bearing on the history of human consciousness - so it’s hard to say who was the first to develop this or that idea with any certainty.

But many mathematical ideas - like many other things - begin with the Sumerians. This culture - considered by some historians the cradle of civilization - flourished near present-day southern Iraq between three and five thousand years ago, and besides contributing the world’s first known work of literature (the still-impressive tale of Gilgamesh), they developed a numerical system based on sixes. If you’ve ever wondered why an hour has sixty minutes, or a minute sixty seconds - after all, it’d be much simpler if everything went by 100 (so that our basic unit of time was made of 100 smaller units, rather than sixty seconds, sixty minutes)- it’s in part because of lingering Sumerian influence. As Sumer’s culture declined, it was absorbed into the Babylonian Empire, which also seems to have produced mathematical thought, if the handful of Babylonian mathematical writings still remaining to us provides any indication.

Babylonians, Egyptians and ancient Indians all seem to have shared at least one important discovery - the so-called Pythagorean theorem, a rule having to do with how to figure the length of the sides of certain kinds of triangles. (Clearly, this discovery was of use to the culture that built the Pyramids.) The fact that this theorem was common to all three major ancient cultures suggests the degree of traffic they may have had with each other, despite some historians’ suggestion that each culture was mainly closed-off to other places. And the fact that we know the theorem as the Pythagorean theorem - after the much-later Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras - illustrates the well-known, and often-criticized, tendency of some historians to want to give the ancient Greeks credit for everything.

Not that the Greeks don’t deserve plenty. Greek mathematics grew up alongside Greek philosophy and Greek science - indeed, the three disciplines weren’t really separated; for the ancient Greeks, all the disciplines of knowledge were one thing. Thales, for example - whom you’ll often find cited as the first Western philosopher - used geometry to calculate the height of the pyramids, among other things. In any case, Greek thinkers took the young art of math to a new level of sophistication. Euclid wrote a geometry textbook so percipient as to remain useful today, Aristotle defined laws of logic, and Archimedes remains near the top of some math historians - all-time greats list. The tight relationship between math and philosophy in ancient Greek is well-expressed by the inscription found on the door of Plato’s Academy: “Let nobody ignorant of geometry enter here.”

A new school semester is quickly approaching and one thing is for certain. College students continue to struggle with their math courses. They find math a difficult subject often times having trouble with problems ranging from statistics to the metric conversion table. One way to resolve this issue is to ask for the assistance of a math tutor.

Math tutors provide a great solution to many of the troubles college students find in their courses. Difficulty with math is a major issue, especially when there is such a strong emphasis getting good grades for job placement. Math tests on metric measurements, for example, create terrible anxiety, and many students have no choice but to ask for outside help in order to gain confidence in absorbing material such as weight conversion and length conversion. Tutors develop learning problems and put together personalized instructional programs.

A tutor offers students the chance to sit and receive individualized instruction on work they may be having trouble with such as the metric conversion calculator. No student’s learning curve is the same and each has different needs. Often large classrooms can’t accommodate an individual student’s type of learning. I know many strong students who have received help from a tutor in order to pass a difficult test on length conversion and weight conversion.

Most tutors can be found simply by asking for recommendations from friends and family who may know someone who tutors. Your school most likely also can recommend a tutor as well based on the type of subject matter you need help with such as metric measurements. Most colleges actually post available tutors on their job boards. I have even seen retired or part time teachers offering tutoring as a way to make some extra money.

It is important that your tutor has professional training or enough experience in the subject matter at the level of difficulty you need to learn. If your tutor doesn’t understand some of the metric conversion table concepts, how can they properly teach it? The tutor’s job is to teach the major concepts and problem solving strategies of the specific subject matter. For younger students, helping with homework may be enough, but in most cases, a tutor that can help change the way a student approaches problems is preferable. You would like for the student to understand the concepts of a metric conversion calculator instead of just doing homework from it.

Ultimately, your tutor must refine all of your skills from test taking, studying and self-confidence. They provide a strong structure so you get the proper practice that excelling at math requires through a productive work routine. Tutoring time should be viewed as positive and supportive.

What is it about math that causes such pain and anxiety, turmoil and fighting, tears and anger? Is it math or is it the method that we employ to teach math to our children? Personally, I don’t think it is math. People have been learning math for hundreds of year. Math anxiety is a recent phenomenon, like in the last 50 years. We’re into the second generation of math anxiety. So let’s look at the method we use to teach math. I have found that the standard approach to teaching math today is equivalent to teaching reading by first studying grammar, spelling and phonetic before you ever read a story. If we did this to teach reading, no one would ever want to learn how to read. So why do we teach math this way? Why is our approach to math rigid and artificial? I don’t know! Our schools preach that there is only one way to learn math. That is their way, which also happens to be the latest and greatest New Math. New math, of course, is just the latest approach to teaching math. Math is as old as the hills and is the same as it was in the beginning. They say “This is the best way for all students to learn math.” That’s not true. In real life, children learn in a variety of ways. In real life, children learn at different rates. Solving problems using numbers can be and should be approached from the individual child’s learning preference. If they can be flexible in teaching reading, why can’t they be flexible in teaching math?

Is being flexible in how we teach math practical? Most teachers, especially in the elementary grades, don’t have the time for multiple approaches and multiple skill levels. Many teachers don’t have the expertise in math for multiple approaches because it is not required in order to teach elementary school. Some even have anxiety about teaching math. They’re given an instruction manual and an answer sheet and are told to teach. Many teachers don’t even have the insight to see the value in wrong answers. Instead the answers are marked wrong with no investigation as to why. This is a lost opportunity! Wrong answers can lead to a deeper understanding of the material. Wrong answers are an opportunity to analyze the child’s thinking processes. Instead, the teachers give lots and lots of worksheets, thinking the more the students do, the more they’ll learn. It’s no wonder our children are either bored or confused. Is this our teachers’ fault? No! I blame our school system.

I’m not saying all elementary school teachers are bad at math. Some are proficient in math, but not all. I have a great respect for teachers. None the less, how many teachers does it take over eight years to give a child the impression that he’s no good in math? How many encounters does it take over eight years, 180 days per year? I can tell you from personal experience; it only takes one teacher in one instant to set this notion in a child’s head. In this instant, the teacher was not even aware of the damage he did. Belief is a powerful thing. Negative belief is more powerful than positive belief. For my child, it was a fourth grade fractions test where she got most of the answers wrong. Except that they were not really wrong. She did the fraction calculations correctly. She just forgot to simplify the fraction. No one told her that. She thought she had done the fraction calculating wrong. In an instant, her confidence in math was shaken.

On the extremes, I have seen children bored to death in math while others struggle to understand. Why are the schools making everyone repeat the same lesson when only a few don’t get it yet? You can be sure that those who still are not grasping the concept are feeling pressured to learn it. They are beginning to believe that they will never get it. Doing worksheet after worksheet is not helping them. And the other children are tired of doing worksheet after worksheet. Give everyone a break. Let the children who understand the concept move on to the next concept. Once I asked my child’s teacher to challenge her in math. This was a big mistake. All my child got was a larger stack of worksheets. It’s no wonder that our children **** math on both extremes.

Math is a process of discovery. I see learning math as a series of “Aha” moments. You struggle, struggle, struggle, then all of a sudden you get it and you wonder why you did not see it before. Then you practice the new skill, just long enough to know you’ve got it. Then you move on. You work at your own pace with an approach to math that works best for you. That’s the ideal way to learn math. That’s how math should be taught. In addition, children should be given something real to practice their math skills on, a real life situation that involves using math. This should not be that hard to do. After all math is practical. It is all around us. Play a game of Scrabble? and discover the math involved to win. Don’t let math work or tests be put aside without analyzing those wrong answers. Approach the wrong answers from a view of discovery, not ‘we are going to straighten out your wrong thinking.’ You’ll be amazed at what you will discover about your child if you let your child show you how he got those wrong answers. Have fun with math. Math is basic. Everyone can do Math!

Working with numbers improves concentration, problem solving skills, memory, focus and general clarity of thought. And there is great news for gamers young and old! Video and computer games are rich with numbers! I have done some research to hone in on the games that utilize math skills to a greater extent.

Computer Games are generally less expensive and a bit more versatile. They are usual sought after by a slightly younger audience. By younger I am referring to school age children. being that a very large portion of video game users are adult males! So I will start with a review of a couple of math focused computer games that I feel are of good quality. Math Munchers Deluxe by The Learning Company reinforces math skills by encouraging problem solving through gaming in areas of whole numbers, decimals, factors and simple geometry. Mighty Math by Edmark teaches geometry concepts using math and and problem solving-solving skills. Students explore attributes of shapes and solids, constructions and transformations, 2D and 3D coordinates, and the relationships between length, perimeter, area, and volume. Teaching Pro: Middle and Highschool Math by Mathsoft has comprehensive coverage to insure students learn math concepts and understand how math is utilized in the real world. The program includes focus in Basic Math, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Algebra II, Geometry, and Trigonometry. It meets mandated curriculum standards in all states!

There are many math focused games readily available online. Suduko revolves around attempting to fill in a grid so that each line contains the numbers one through nine only once. This games is a widely known addictive brain teaser. It is a great game for sharpening math skills and is available for free on numerous websites and downloadable for your cell phone! Timez Attack is real video game created by the same engineers who have worked on Play Station games. The object of the game is to your way through the dungeon maze and foil those who would get in your way. You will develop your math skills while defeating a host of challenging obstacles and characters. The base version of this game is free at big online. The full length version is also available.

Nintendo offers a game called Math Play for the DS. This game encourages the player to create equations in four different game modules by arranging numbered cards. There are a variety of difficulty levels. There is also competitive multiplayer action and addictive puzzle play.

Donkey Kong Jr. Math has received mixed reviews. By mixed I mean not so great. It is one of the only math specific games however, that my search turned up for GameCube or Wii. When dealing with the game consoles, such as PS2, Gamecube or Wii I would choose puzzle games which are more abundant and tend to require math skill.

Working with numbers keeps many of our skills sharp including problem solving and improves general clarity of thought. Video and computer games [http://www.thesoftwarespot.com/default.asp?S=500&A=F&SearchText=&CategoryID=1695863&NID=6372614] are rich with numbers whether they are geared to be a math games or not. Research has brought a few games that focus on math to the surface so they might catch your eye more easily in the future!

I remember the days when I had math subjects. Let us just say that it is a vast understatement for me to say that I was not looking forward to joining math classes. Math has never been one of my favorite subjects, and that is that. I never could understand why I had one or two classmates who seemed to know how to work given numbers to result to the supposed answer. It is a reality that many students dislike having to learn math, especially when the subject gets more advanced and more complicated. There are many that can not easily grasp the concept of number put into equation to yield more numbers.

Sometimes, as a result of not being able to understand mathematical concepts, students just veer away from listening to math lessons. This often happens when the topics turn more advanced when the student has not been quite able to grasp past topics yet. Technology, however, has offered a new concept to learning math, through math games.

What are some things that can always perk you out of boredom or disinterest? One of the first things that you probably think of is game. Games can always bring about fun and a sense of interaction and camaraderie from all those who participate in it. In the case of math, math games have been found to be an effective solution towards stimulating interest in mathematics and willingness to learn about it from the students.

Math games explored

Think about the games you usually play on your computer, particularly the ones that are question and answer in nature. Now think of these games in terms of math. Yes, math games can be that, a software program that you can play with on your computer. Math games as a software program, just like with any computer games, have levels that you need to do along the way. Software programs for math games also offer teaching of math lessons or tutorials as you go along the levels of the games. This is incorporated with visuals and graphics and voice-over fit for teaching of the subject. Many schools use math games to enhance the students learning of the subject and many parents also cater purchase math games software to help their sons or daughters to understand the subject more.

The Advantages of math games

What do you feel while playing games? You feel enjoyment. The concept of math games may be for an academic purpose, but it is designed to make students feel that they are merely playing any other game. The purpose that math games were created is to let students have fun while learning a subject that a lot consider to be difficult. Math games propagate learning by helping the students understand it more. This is because students can learn math in their own pace, and if they are still confused with some past lessons in math, math games software allow them to browse back on those lessons and learn them again. It also propagates fun by the series of games that students have to play in relation to the subject. Students can also measure their progress by checking the level that they have attained and by considering the questions they have correctly answered.

In choosing what math games software to buy for your students or for your child, consider their learning paces and their visual interests. There is a number of math games software available today that can cater to wide variety of expectations.

A tutor who tutors the flute, tried to tutor two tutees the flute. Said the two to the tutor, “It is harder to toot or to tutor two tutees the flute?

-Tongue twister

Math tutors toot no flutes but they do have to know how to tutor tutees in a variety of areas. The work involves diagnosing and understanding the nature of a student’s strengths and weaknesses as well as explication of sometimes complex concepts and procedures in mathematics.

Math homework made easy? There is no better way to demystify math homework than to use Math Made Easy’s tutoring services. Expert tutors work with you or your child to make short work of math homework. With the personal and private assistance of professional tutors, students have all the math homework help they need to reinforce concepts learned earlier in class and to forge ahead for the next day’s work.

Math Made Easy tutors are selected for their ability to do both of these difficult tasks with ease and with understanding. They are trained to work with students in a compassionate and caring way in order to nurture both a love for math and self-confidence in the student. Many have backgrounds in formal education and all have substantial background in mathematics as a discipline.

Homework is no longer a chore when Math Made Easy homework help is available. These highly trained math tutors work with students to establish a personal relationship in the privacy of the student’s home using a sophisticated yet easy-to-use computer-based method designed to give the best instructional help with the personal touch.

Eliminating the fuss and the fear of math homework by getting appropriate help with tutors gives the student the necessary confidence to face the following day’s work without concern. Math homework help may be scheduled online or via telephone and hours of service accommodate even the most difficult of schedules.

Math Made Easy students have a choice of math tutor, assuring that the student will control his/her experience. While every effort is made to keep each student with one tutor, a wide variety of staff ensures that each student will find the right math tutor, one who makes the student feel comfortable and confident learning math.

Math Made Easy has a proven track record of providing a wide range of services to an even wider range of students. Math tutors are capable of working in areas ranging from arithmetic to multivariable calculus to probability and statistics to solving complex problems involving several areas of math.

So even if Math Made Easy toots no flutes, the can toot their our own horn about the quality of their dedicated math tutors.

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Why anybody would want to get a bachelor degree in math is a mystery. When you think about it, when you get out of college with a bachelor degree in math, what can you possibly do with it besides teach? You’re certainly not prepared for any practical applications. Sure, you could get a job as an actuary but is that REALLY why you majored in math in the first place? Well, for those of you who still want to get a bachelor degree in math, hang onto your hats because the ride you’re in for is far from easy. What follows is pretty much what you can expect to go through.

Math is probably one of the hardest disciplines anybody could possibly want to go through. The math courses alone are so hard that no other courses are needed to make your four years of college a living nightmare. Think we’re kidding? Take a look at just the math curriculum itself and then decide if this is something that you think you can tackle with no sweat.

Your first two semesters of college math throw you right into the fire. This is where you learn Calculus. The courses are usually Calculus I and II. Calculus is probably one of the most difficult courses ever devised by man. How anybody even thought of this stuff is a puzzle. Talk about math that you’re never going to use in your life unless you become a scientist or an engineer.

Your next two semesters, or year two, give you a break from calculus. This is where you take Advanced, or Abstract Algebra. This is where you learn about matrixes and things like that. This is more math that you’re never going to use as long as you live. Engineers don’t even use most of this stuff.

Now you’ve reached year three and you’re back to Calculus again. This is where you finish up your training in Calculus with Calculus III and IV. The concepts in these courses are so abstract and so far removed from any real world math, you’d have to be a near genius to understand this stuff.

By year four, if you’re still a math major, you’re down to what they call “Independent Research” where you basically are on your own, but under the guidance of your advisor. You’ll do some kind of major paper on math principals or maybe even Newton for all you know. The good thing is, what you write on is up to you. The bad thing is it has to be approved by your advisor.

And if all of this isn’t bad enough, you’ve only taken 8 of your 32 courses. You still have 24 more courses to fill in your time with. Because you’ve chosen one of the science majors, you’re also going to have to take at least two semesters of either chemistry, physics or some other related science. Yes, we are talking about some more ridiculously hard material.

So if you really want to be a math major, just remember one thing. You will most certainly earn your bachelor degree in math. If you survive it.