Section 6.3

In section 6.3 we talked about percentages. I think this concept is naturally difficult for many people but, is an important part of everyday life. I know how to calculate percentages but in class I realized I need more practice. If I have more practice I will be better at recognizing percentages and in everyday situations better understand how percentages are beneficial. For example, if I am shopping I can recognize if something is a good deal or a bad deal that I should just ignore.

The worksheet that we did in class with percent was helpful. One thing I learned was to find the "easy 10%" of the total amount first. Then it is easier to find the total amount. This is a good concept for figuring percents in a lot of situations. I will be using this method in the future.

This website is good for recognizing percent, it's fraction and an example of what it visually represents. I thought it was a little more difficult so it would probably be more appropriate for older ages.

In section 6.3 we also talked about scientific notation. We learned scientific notation is based on using powers of ten. We learned that positive powers of 10 are really big and negative powers of 10 are really small. This was a good reminder of the things I have already learned in my algebra classes, a new way of understanding scientific notation, how powers work and reinforcement of place value.