Mathematic Ebooks

Difficult computations and fancy pictures are, of course, not ends in them-selves. We must understand the underlying mathematics if we are to know which
computations to do and which pictures to draw. Likewise we must develop our own intellectual tools sufficiently well in order to understand, interpret, and make use of the data and images that we compute.” Thus our focus will always be on the mathematical ideas and their applications. The role of Maple is to
more vividly illustrate them and to widen the range of problems that we can successfully solve.

These are typical textbook problems that middle school students should be able to solve with ease. However, many students, especially students with learning disabilities (LD), have difficulty solving even simple mathematical word problems like the ones above. These students most likely have not acquired the skills and strategies needed to “decide what to do” when they are confronted with problems in their math textbooks or cannot apply the skills and strategies they do have to solve math problems in school and in their daily lives. This brief focuses on teaching middle school students how to solve mathematical word problems. The following frequently asked questions provide the framework for the brief.