The School and Uni Vent and Discussion Thread.

[Big Mac]

Alright guys, i've spent about 40 minutes trying to explain this to my sister, but she still doesn't get it.

To find the y-intercept of a graph, why do you let x=0?

I've drawn a cartestian plane, got her to point out to me which is the x-axis, and which is the y-axis. Then I pick a bunch of points along the y-axis, and ask for the co-ordinates of each of them. I ask what all these points have in common, which she responds with "x is zero for all of them and all points intercept/touch the y-axis". Logical conclusion surely is that to find the y-intercept, you let x=0. But she still doesn't get it. Anyone got a different way of explaining it?

[GoLions]

Alright guys, i've spent about 40 minutes trying to explain this to my sister, but she still doesn't get it.

To find the y-intercept of a graph, why do you let x=0?

I've drawn a cartestian plane, got her to point out to me which is the x-axis, and which is the y-axis. Then I pick a bunch of points along the y-axis, and ask for the co-ordinates of each of them. I ask what all these points have in common, which she responds with "x is zero for all of them and all points intercept/touch the y-axis". Logical conclusion surely is that to find the y-intercept, you let x=0. But she still doesn't get it. Anyone got a different way of explaining it?

Haha not sure if there's any better way to explain it :P
Maybe like, the y-int is when a point on the line is touching the y-axis. So can you find any point where x isn't zero that touches the y-axis? If no, then x must be zero to find the y-int.
All effectively the same thing though.

[PowerBug]

y-intercept is the point at which the graph cuts the y-axis. The graph will cut the y-axis when x = 0.

[Big Mac]

y-intercept is the point at which the graph cuts the y-axis. The graph will cut the y-axis when x = 0.

(in a high pitch girl voice) But whyyyyy?

Alright guys, i've spent about 40 minutes trying to explain this to my sister, but she still doesn't get it.

To find the y-intercept of a graph, why do you let x=0?

I've drawn a cartestian plane, got her to point out to me which is the x-axis, and which is the y-axis. Then I pick a bunch of points along the y-axis, and ask for the co-ordinates of each of them. I ask what all these points have in common, which she responds with "x is zero for all of them and all points intercept/touch the y-axis". Logical conclusion surely is that to find the y-intercept, you let x=0. But she still doesn't get it. Anyone got a different way of explaining it?

Haha not sure if there's any better way to explain it :P
Maybe like, the y-int is when a point on the line is touching the y-axis. So can you find any point where x isn't zero that touches the y-axis? If no, then x must be zero to find the y-int.
All effectively the same thing though.

I'll try anything at this point cheers GL, hopefully going backwards might work

I'll try again tomorrow night I guess - Scary thing is, she's in the advanced maths class. She still can't understand it though (year 9)

[Spite]

Alright guys, i've spent about 40 minutes trying to explain this to my sister, but she still doesn't get it.

To find the y-intercept of a graph, why do you let x=0?

I've drawn a cartestian plane, got her to point out to me which is the x-axis, and which is the y-axis. Then I pick a bunch of points along the y-axis, and ask for the co-ordinates of each of them. I ask what all these points have in common, which she responds with "x is zero for all of them and all points intercept/touch the y-axis". Logical conclusion surely is that to find the y-intercept, you let x=0. But she still doesn't get it. Anyone got a different way of explaining it?

Try show x=1, x=-1, x=2, x=-2 lines on a graph so that she can see that x=0 at that particular point?

[roo boys!]

Does she know that the vertical line is x=0 all along it? I used to think that x was only equal to zero at the origin so that might help, then again I think she'd have me pretty comfortably covered in the maths department  :-[

[Big Mac]

Alright guys, i've spent about 40 minutes trying to explain this to my sister, but she still doesn't get it.

To find the y-intercept of a graph, why do you let x=0?

I've drawn a cartestian plane, got her to point out to me which is the x-axis, and which is the y-axis. Then I pick a bunch of points along the y-axis, and ask for the co-ordinates of each of them. I ask what all these points have in common, which she responds with "x is zero for all of them and all points intercept/touch the y-axis". Logical conclusion surely is that to find the y-intercept, you let x=0. But she still doesn't get it. Anyone got a different way of explaining it?

Try show x=1, x=-1, x=2, x=-2 lines on a graph so that she can see that x=0 at that particular point?

Does she know that the vertical line is x=0 all along it? I used to think that x was only equal to zero at the origin so that might help, then again I think she'd have me pretty comfortably covered in the maths department  :-[

Didn't think of this

cheers guys  :)

[nrich102]

Big Mac, Year 9 maths is the worst, or it was for me a least. Got A's all through year 8 the. They put me in the top maths class and I almost failed semester 1 maths  :-\ The Y intercept thing is about the only thing I understood that year  :-X. Managed to get a B by the end of the year though.

Managing a bit better this year though  :)

[GoLions]

We played UNO and Blackjack in Year 9 Maths.

I liked Year 9 Maths.

[Hellopplz]

I remember year 9 maths. That year we had one teacher who didn't like me, she left then we got a new teacher who liked me but he didn't like most of the class. I ended up having to teach like half the class concepts cause they couldn't understand him (and his style of teacher, which was basically a Uni lecturer, but one who doesn't answer questions or help you). Fair to say, we didn't even cover the Trigonometry chapters properly (1 week for like 3 chapters, which was alot back then) and that was 1/3 of the final exam, which I was the only one in our class to pass...

Great year of maths that one :P.

[Big Mac]

Alright - I think she understands how to draw graphs now haha. Just spent another hour trying to explain fractions and surds though...

[Big Mac]

On another note, my English teacher is a complete spud. Beyond retarded. I wish I could point out everything he does wrong, but I just know he would hate me for it and I don't exactly want someone that hates me marking my SAC's.

I think he's been incredibly biased when marking our oral presentations though. Really tempted to have a chat to him about it, although not sure it would be the best idea....

[nrich102]

On another note, my English teacher is a complete spud. Beyond retarded. I wish I could point out everything he does wrong, but I just know he would hate me for it and I don't exactly want someone that hates me marking my SAC's.

I think he's been incredibly biased when marking our oral presentations though. Really tempted to have a chat to him about it, although not sure it would be the best idea....

Could you ask to get them moderated? Might be hard cause they're orals, but could be worth a try.

[roo boys!]

Alright - I think she understands how to draw graphs now haha. Just spent another hour trying to explain fractions and surds though...

Fractions and surds...yuk

[Ziplock]

I was really good at maths (and relatively speaking, still am)... I remember when we got taught surds though- we were just taught so showerhouse, took me forever to learn them, and when I got them I was so pissed off because they were so easy.