standard_description: Multiply a vector by a scalar.
problem_activity: Warm-up
The purpose of this warm-up is for students to reason about numeric expressions using what they know about operations with negative and positive numbers without actually computing anything.
Launch
Explain to students that we sometimes leave out the small dot that tells us that two numbers are being multiplied. So when a number, or a number and a variable, are next to each other without a symbol between them, that means we are finding their product. For example,
\((\text-5)\boldcdot (\text-10)\)
can be written
\((\text-5) (\text-10)\)
and
\(\text-5 \boldcdot x\)
can be written
\(\text-5x\)
.
Display one problem at a time. Give students 1 minute of quiet think time per problem and ask them to give a signal when they have an answer. Follow with a whole-class discussion.
Student Facing
Decide if each statement is true or false. Be prepared to explain your reasoning.
\((\text-38.76)(\text-15.6)\)
is negative
\(10,000 - 99,999 < 0\)
\(\left( \frac34 \right)\left( \text- \frac43 \right) = 0\)
\((30)(\text- 80) - 50 = 50 - (30)(\text- 80)\)
Student Response
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Activity Synthesis
Ask students to share their reasoning.


aligns: no