Mr. McKeague's Math TV

Charles P. "Pat" McKeague is owner of MathTV.com. He's a mathematician (with a B.A. and M.S. in the field), college instructor, published author of math textbooks (covering everything from basic mathematics to trigonometry) and a speaker at mathematics conferences in California and nationwide.

He's also an excellent teacher who provides clear instructions on how to solve math problems as well as bits of life philosophy, like: Do something for the person you will be 5 years from now.

His website, MathTV.com, doesn't even require you to register -- you can start viewing the instructional videos (given by Mr. McKeague and student instructors) right away, or print out textbooks and practice tests.

Take a moment to explore the site in order to reap full benefits. If you need help with long division, for example, you click on Basic Mathematics, then Whole Numbers, then Dividing. Once you get there, you can choose which long division problem you'd like to see solved: if you want to start with a one-digit divisor, try 595/7; for a two-digit divisor, there's 9,380/35. You may prefer one instructor's style to another: I found Katrina a much more thorough teacher than Aaron, although Aaron is fine for a quick review.

If you wish to factor rational expressions to their simplest forms, look under the Algebra topic heading. Radians and degrees are found under Trigonometry, with perimeters, parallelograms and congruent triangles all found under Geometry.

Tip: full screen view makes the videos easier to see and you just press your ESC key to return to Normal Screen.






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Math homework, anyone?

Oh, boy! Grade 5/6 math homework has reared its head, and I'm as baffled as my kids!

Some resources I've found, used and liked include:

• This interactive multiplication table. Once you enter the equation, you not only get the answer (yay!) but you also see both paths of numbers light up -- ie., 6 X 9 will also "remind" you that 9 X 6 gives you the same answer.

• A page of definitions all about fractions *shudder* Not only do you learn what the term means, you also find out how to get the answer. For instance, when you get to the bit about Converting and Reducing Fractions, the text reads:

For any fraction, multiplying the numerator and denominator by the same nonzero number gives an equivalent fraction. We can convert one fraction to an equivalent fraction by using this method.

and then gives numeric examples like this: 1/2 = (1 × 3)/(2 × 3) = 3/6

• At MathPlayground.com, there's a game where you convert mixed numbers to improper fractions (but it shows you how, first of course!).

• If you're trying to simplify fractions, there's a good page at a site called MathIsFun.com. First, simplifying is explained and a few methods on how to do it are shown. There's a tool you can use to quickly (and automatically) simplify fractions -- an explanation on how the answer is reached is offered with the answer.

More to come, I'm sure. And, please -- if you've found a helpful site, let us all know by leaving a comment.

Thanks!

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