Website review by Jeff Knutson, Common Sense Education | Updated October 2013

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Mathwords

Name: Mathwords
Item: Mathwords
Rating: 2
Author: Jeff Knutson

Overly formal math definitions difficult to comprehend for most kids

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Grades

7–12

Subjects & Skills

Math, Critical Thinking

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6 images

Definition for precision begins with an informal yet vague definition, follows with two references, a note, and a textual example.

Significant digits definition is overly vague.

Angle definition is formally accurate but lacks visual cues to identify the space physically.

Definition for inverse tangent is short and sweet but following textual explanation does not encourage comprehension.

JavaSketchPad dynamic diagram for angle bisector allows you to manipulate but does not define or explain.

Pros: Nearly 2000 terms well organized and easily searchable make for easy access.

Cons: Formal language and too many references convolute definitions for most kids.

Bottom Line: Useful for formal terminology study and advanced mathematicians only, this site complicates where it tries to simplify.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Considering that this resource is apparently not core-aligned and hard to understand for all but the most conversant mathematicians in the class, you should probably limit use to advanced individual reference or reserve it for AP classes focusing on advanced terminology.

What Is It?

Mathwords provides easily-to-locate, formal definitions for about 2000 mathematic terms including a few from physics, finance, and modeling. Most definitions contain multiple references to other terms plus either diagrams or examples, but fewer have textual explanations. About 20 terms are accompanied by a dynamic diagram from McGraw-Hill's Geometer's Sketchpad, and 36 terms populate the real-world application list. Terms can be accessed using four search methods: A to Z, full list, subject areas, or Google powered native-and-paid-web-sites search.

Is It Good for Learning?

If you just need a little nudge to remember a concept or term you already knew and understood, Mathwords will be a helpful reference. If you don't already have a really strong foundation, it could be quite frustrating. It seems like kids who can easily understand these definitions wouldn't need to look them up here in the first place. For example, multiple careful readings of the interrelated terms accuracy, precise, and significant digits built some understanding but raised unanswered questions as well. A comparison of two definitions of function, the first from the Common Core Standards, demonstrates the problems inherent in Mathwords's formal and reference-laden approach.

Common Core: "A function is a rule that assigns to each input exactly one output. The graph of a function is the set of ordered pairs consisting of an input and the corresponding output."

Mathwords: "function: A relation for which each element of the domain corresponds to exactly one element of the range."

You have to look up four other words to understand Mathwords' definition, which is a lot of work. Even with this formal approach intact, expanded definitions with better examples and diagrams would improve learning significantly.

Learning Rating

Overall Rating

Engagement

Plain, dated interface, sparse textual content, indiscernable diagrams and examples all combine for an uneventful experience.

Pedagogy

Despite depth and accuracy, inaccessible definitions discourage learning.

Support

Though it's well-organized and cross-referenced, kids will struggle with clarity of definitions and find themselves frustrated by the lack of help.

Common Sense reviewer

Jeff Knutson Common Sense

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Ratios And Proportional Relationships

6.RP.1
Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities. For example, “The ratio of wings to beaks in the bird house at the zoo was 2:1, because for every 2 wings there was 1 beak.” “For every vote candidate A received, candidate C received nearly three votes.”
6.RP.2
Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship. For example, “This recipe has a ratio of 3 cups of flour to 4 cups of sugar, so there is 3/4 cup of flour for each cup of sugar.” “We paid $75 for 15 hamburgers, which is a rate of $5 per hamburger.”1

The Number System

6.NS.5
Understand that positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values (e.g., temperature above/below zero, elevation above/below sea level, credits/debits, positive/negative electric charge); use positive and negative numbers to represent quantities in real-world contexts, explaining the meaning of 0 in each situation.
6.NS.6
Understand a rational number as a point on the number line. Extend number line diagrams and coordinate axes familiar from previous grades to represent points on the line and in the plane with negative number coordinates.
6.NS.6.b
Understand signs of numbers in ordered pairs as indicating locations in quadrants of the coordinate plane; recognize that when two ordered pairs differ only by signs, the locations of the points are related by reflections across one or both axes.
6.NS.7.c
Understand the absolute value of a rational number as its distance from 0 on the number line; interpret absolute value as magnitude for a positive or negative quantity in a real-world situation. For example, for an account balance of –30 dollars, write |–30| = 30 to describe the size of the debt in dollars.
7.NS.1.b
Understand p + q as the number located a distance |q| from p, in the positive or negative direction depending on whether q is positive or negative. Show that a number and its opposite have a sum of 0 (are additive inverses). Interpret sums of rational numbers by describing real-world contexts.
7.NS.1.c
Understand subtraction of rational numbers as adding the additive inverse, p – q = p + (–q). Show that the distance between two rational numbers on the number line is the absolute value of their difference, and apply this principle in real-world contexts.
7.NS.2.a
Understand that multiplication is extended from fractions to rational numbers by requiring that operations continue to satisfy the properties of operations, particularly the distributive property, leading to products such as (–1)(–1) = 1 and the rules for multiplying signed numbers. Interpret products of rational numbers by describing real-world contexts.
7.NS.2.b
Understand that integers can be divided, provided that the divisor is not zero, and every quotient of integers (with non-zero divisor) is a rational number. If p and q are integers, then –(p/q) = (–p)/q = p/(–q). Interpret quotients of rational numbers by describing real- world contexts.

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Featured review by
Jennifer H. , Other

Other

This is an easy-to-use math reference site that can be used by students, parents, and teachers to introduce or review math concepts.

Mathwords should not be utilized as a teaching tool, but can be used to reference a specific math word or concept. It wasn't designed to be an interactive site, but more of an informative site for reference and quick explanations. It will be necessary to use other resources in order to practice math skills and gain a better understanding of math concepts.

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