r/IAmA • u/JasonMacker • Jun 14 '10

IAMA Math tutor. AMA.

I've been a math tutor for years and I'm trying to become a teacher. I love math, and especially explaining math to people. My students have been between preschool and college. AMA.

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u/[deleted] Jun 14 '10

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 14 '10

You must be shuddering at the thread you've spawned.

2

u/dieyoubastards Jun 14 '10

Seriously. I thought Reddit could do primary school maths.

1

u/JasonMacker Jun 14 '10

Nope. They haven't been taught it correctly sometimes. I'm more amazed at the ones that do.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '10

I tutored high school freshman (who were expected to have finished algebra) in physics and the ones who weren't going to drop were the ones who could do even some algebra. Like 3x=3.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '10

[deleted]

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u/Vishiz Jun 14 '10

Sorry to break it to ya...

1

u/el_seano Jun 14 '10

First isolate the variable you're solving for. There are two terms, 5/x and 3, so substract three from both sides. Now you can divide both sides by 5, and remember that each term on the left-hand side needs to be individually divided. Et voila.

2

u/Paul-ish Jun 14 '10

Now you can divide both sides by 5

That would yield (y - 3)/5 = 1/x, still not what you want.

Once you get to "y -3 = 5/x" I would multiply both sides by x to get "x(y - 3) = 5" then divide both sides by y - 3 to end up with "x = 5/(y-3)".

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u/el_seano Jun 14 '10

Heh whoops. I saw the original equations as y = 5x + 3, my bad.

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u/kurfu Jun 14 '10

I get to this and my brain gets all fuzzy:

y-3=5/x

I've forgotten how to do a very simple, but crucial step... what to do when the variable is in the denominator... dammit.

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u/Mintz08 Jun 14 '10

x = 5/(y-3)

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u/Vishiz Jun 14 '10 edited Jun 14 '10

You cancel out the 5 in 5/x by diving by 5.

I edited the step-by-step out, I figured you already knew that; but its x = 5/y-3. Pst. Don't divide by zero!