Pressing onwards

Activity 15

  1. Work through Sections 1.6 and 1.7 of the Calculator Book, using the method suggested above of glancing ahead-pressing on-glancing back, if you find it useful.

  2. A number of important mathematical terms were introduced in Chapter 1 of the Calculator Book; for example, square, square root, reciprocal, and so on. Make notes on each new term mentioned (check back in the Calculator Book if you need to).

Answer

  1. There are many answers and comments relating to the exercises at the back of the Calculator Book.

Outcomes

Now that you have completed your work on this section, you should be able to:

  • use the calculator for everyday calculations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and percentages (Calculator-Book, 1.2 and 1.5);

  • express numbers in scientific notation and understand how this notation is displayed by the calculator (Calculator Book, 1.6);

  • understand the effect on a number entered on the calculator of the x-squared, square root, reciprocal and power keys (Calculator-Book, 1.4 and 1.7);

  • read simple mathematical expressions containing symbols such as +, −, ×, ÷, √ and positive and negative powers (Calculator-Book, 1.2 and 1.6);

  • appreciate the idea of ‘doing’ and ‘undoing’ associated with pairs of specific keys on the calculator, and give some examples of common mathematical ‘doing–undoing’ pairs of operations (Calculator Book, 1.7).