helping granddaughter with math homework

[Lissa]

I remember my VWO-level high school biology exam. I forgot my calculator.:(

Then I had to calculate the chance in percentage a heritage question, with a non-diminant gene combined with a semi-dominant gene (only in the female line) affecting the same position of the RNA chain in a a line of 8 people (4 couples), whose children would then meet, followed by grand-children, or somethign close to that. It wasn't a pretty calculation. I had to use 1,5 A4 pages. On top I noted "forgot calculator, sorry". I had it right.:D

Oh, and the best way to learn math? Ditch the calculator. I had a hardliner math teacher in my first year at high school. Everything by head, no calculators. That served me well. I still can do some decent math when I close my eyes and start calculating, faster then my mates, when we play role playing games. Dividing, adding, multiplying, etc. I'm totally worthless at cos, sin, tan, root, etc stuff though. Start->run->calc ftw. But I never use those any more anyhow.

Best way I've ever seen a teacher teach math was that the homework and tests/quizes *never* included a final numerical answers, everything was always left as x, y, z so a quadratic was left something like x^2-5x+6 (for simplicity sake of example). Much better to understand the logic behind how you get to the final answer than how to just plug in numbers and come up with the final answer.