Triangulating Pythagorus

Hey guys, another week has come and gone! Doesn't it seem like the year is just flying by?

This past week, we moved from working exclusively on radicals to the Pythagorean Theorem, where we will be for the next few days. This theorem was named after the mathematician who first formulated it, Pythagorus. He correctly surmised that the sum of the squares of the legs of a right triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. In other words, as we say the formula in class, "a squared plus b squared equals c squared". You can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the missing length of any side of a right triangle. I want to reiterate that the Pythagorean Theorem only applies to right triangles. It doesn't work with the other kinds of triangles.

While we were working on the Pythagorean Theorem, we did take a day to review the other types of triangles (obtuse, acute and equilateral) in teaching the fact that the sum of the interior angles in any triangle is 180 degrees. This is useful information because if you don't know the measure of one of the angles, you can easily find it by adding up the measures of the other two angles and subtracting from 180. In the case of a right triangle, you have to remember that the other two angles add up to 90 degrees, since a right triangle already has one 90-degree angle. So if it's a right triangle, all you have to do is subtact the missing angle from 90.

Besides this new information, we continue to review all that we have learned about probability, outcomes, exponents, and radicals. I'm repeating again, for the benefit of you who read this blog regularly, that there WILL be a test coming up this week (Friday the 13th!) on everything that we have covered up to this point, so start studying now so you will be ready for it. This coming week, in fact, will be about reviewing for this test. Remember that tests count for 40% of the overall grade, and the better you do on your homework, classwork, and quizzes, the better you will do on the tests!

As a final note, this Wednesday is Veteran's Day, and there will be no school on that day. While I know you are glad about that, you should know that this holiday holds a particularly special meaning for most of your teachers on Team 801. Mr. Shelton and I are veterans of the US Army. Mrs. Jones, your reading teacher, served in the US Navy, along with her husband, who teaches Naval JROTC for Central High School in Phenix City. Mrs. Tolbert is a veteran of the US Air Force. Mrs. Myers' husband is currently serving in the US Army as a Lieutenant Colonel (he's a high-ranking officer). Since I went to West Point, ALL of the young men and women with whom I went to school have served in the Army, and several hundred of them are still in uniform. The men and women who wear the uniform have given up a lot so that you and I can live in the freedom and comfort that we do. While you are enjoying your day off on Wednesday, be sure to think about them, and if you get the chance, thank one of them for what they do for us. I know that a lot of you have parents who are serving in the Army, so when you get a chance to see them, Wednesday is an opportunity for them to get an extra-big hug from you. Believe me, they will appreciate it.

Well, that's all I have for now. As always, I'll see you in the Red Hallway, Knights! 801, SECOND TO NONE!!!

By the way, Congratulations to Mrs. Myers for being named Teacher of the Year for East Columbus for the 2009-2010 School Year!!!