Math 3 Unit 3

Part I

The most important thing I believe I learned this unit is how to really use logarithmic functions. This will allow me to expand my knowledge on many other topics, such as the ones we also did this unit. We learned how to calculate interest as well as the real world applications of money and banking. That will be a great life skill to have. We learned what e is, what it does, and how to use it.

Task 2.6: Compounding the Problem was a great transition from the compound interest we had just learned into continuous compound interest. As we learned how to compound interest multiple times a year, we found that as we compounded it more and more, from quarterly to monthly to daily, we got closer and closer to the irrational number called e. That explained to concept to me perfectly, and I now fully understand it.

Part II

College Tuition Project

In this project, we learned about the process of college tuition: how much it was going to cost, what the costs include, what loans there are to pay them off, how loans work, and of course, how to calculate the loans. The procedure for this experiment was to research the tuition of a college of your interest and choice, find scholarships and loan programs to pay it off, then evaluate an equation to calculate monthly payments.

The hardest part of this project was figuring out how to convert the equation. I used a monthly payment formula I found and it worked; I had an exponential equation. The harder step was to find the inverse of that, or the logarithmic form. Using some self-defined variables, I was able to simplify the equation into a clean, easier-to-manage set of numbers and then solve.

That also turned out to be a success of my project; after this simplification the numbers were incredibly easy to deal with. I was also able to show a few of my classmates how to do the same thing for their equations.

The design of my project was also a success and pain in the back. The website I used to create the infographic was too unstable and buggy, and my technology-design oriented mind really hated using it. That was a lot of stress that could have been avoided if I had used a better option. I will definitely use something else next time. But nonetheless, I think my final product does look good.

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