Skip to content Skip to navigation Skip to collection information

Connexions

You are here: Home » Content » Advanced Algebra II: Conceptual Explanations » Function Concepts

Navigation

Table of Contents

Lenses

What is a lens?

Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

This content is ...

Affiliated with (What does "Affiliated with" mean?)

This content is either by members of the organizations listed or about topics related to the organizations listed. Click each link to see a list of all content affiliated with the organization.
  • Bookshare

    This collection is included inLens: Bookshare's Lens
    By: Bookshare - A Benetech Initiative

    Comments:

    "DAISY and BRF versions of this collection are available."

    Click the "Bookshare" link to see all content affiliated with them.

  • Featured Content display tagshide tags

    This collection is included inLens: Connexions Featured Content
    By: Connexions

    Comments:

    "This is the "concepts" book in Kenny Felder's "Advanced Algebra II" series. This text was created with a focus on 'doing' and 'understanding' algebra concepts rather than simply hearing about […]"

    Click the "Featured Content" link to see all content affiliated with them.

    Click the tag icon tag icon to display tags associated with this content.

Also in these lenses

  • Busbee's Math Materials display tagshide tags

    This collection is included inLens: Busbee's Math Materials Lens
    By: Kenneth Leroy Busbee

    Click the "Busbee's Math Materials" link to see all content selected in this lens.

    Click the tag icon tag icon to display tags associated with this content.

Recently Viewed

This feature requires Javascript to be enabled.

Tags

(What is a tag?)

These tags come from the endorsement, affiliation, and other lenses that include this content.
 

Function Concepts

Module by: Kenny M. Felder. E-mail the author

Summary: This module provides an introduction to the concept of functions.

The unit on functions is the most important in the Algebra II course, because it provides a crucial transition point. Roughly speaking…

  • Before Algebra I, math is about numbers.
  • Starting in Algebra I, and continuing into Algebra II, math is about variables.
  • Beginning with Algebra II, and continuing into Calculus, math is about functions.

Each step builds on the previous step. Each step expands the ability of mathematics to model behavior and solve problems. And, perhaps most crucially, each step can be frightening to a student. It can be very intimidating for a beginning Algebra student to see an entire page of mathematics that is covered with letters, with almost no numbers to be found!

Unfortunately, many students end up with a very vague idea of what variables are (“That’s when you use letters in math”) and an even more vague understanding of functions (“Those things that look like f ( x ) f(x) or something”). If you leave yourself with this kind of vague understanding of the core concepts, the lessons will make less and less sense as you go on: you will be left with the feeling that “I just can’t do this stuff” without realizing that the problem was all the way back in the idea of a variable or function.

The good news is, variables and functions both have very specific meanings that are not difficult to understand.

Collection Navigation

Content actions

Download:

Collection as:

PDF | EPUB (?)

What is an EPUB file?

EPUB is an electronic book format that can be read on a variety of mobile devices.

Downloading to a reading device

For detailed instructions on how to download this content's EPUB to your specific device, click the "(?)" link.

| More downloads ...

Module as:

PDF | EPUB (?)

What is an EPUB file?

EPUB is an electronic book format that can be read on a variety of mobile devices.

Downloading to a reading device

For detailed instructions on how to download this content's EPUB to your specific device, click the "(?)" link.

| More downloads ...

Add:

Collection to:

My Favorites (?)

'My Favorites' is a special kind of lens which you can use to bookmark modules and collections. 'My Favorites' can only be seen by you, and collections saved in 'My Favorites' can remember the last module you were on. You need an account to use 'My Favorites'.

| A lens I own (?)

Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

| External bookmarks

Module to:

My Favorites (?)

'My Favorites' is a special kind of lens which you can use to bookmark modules and collections. 'My Favorites' can only be seen by you, and collections saved in 'My Favorites' can remember the last module you were on. You need an account to use 'My Favorites'.

| A lens I own (?)

Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

| External bookmarks