1 What three things did you learn this week 2 Why are they important to you 3 How do you plan to use them As a general statement although I previously studied and learned the objectives for week 1 mathematical expressions and equations applying the rules for order of operations and identifying dependent and independent variables it has been so long since these concepts were learned I consider everything covered this week as newly learned The first thing I learned this week is the importance of the order of operations when solving for an equation I must admit it took a bit of practice and back and forth for the order to sink in but I feel confident that I have learned the primary order of operation covered in week 1 Parenthesis Exponents Multiplication Division Addition Subtraction PEMDAS The reason why this is important to me is because it is clearly evident that PEMDAS is the foundation for solving equations as illustrated in the Math problems and quizzes Without a very good understanding of the correct order of operations I could struggle in subsequent course objectives I plan to recall and use PEMDAS whenever solving an equation The second thing I learned this week is how to correctly convert an application problem i e translating text to an equation and solving for it This was very important to me as it takes theory textbook algebraic equations which I seldom run across in everyday life and the workplace and applies it to real life situations In addition I learned that the order of the variables within the equation can be critical so careful and correct translation is a must The reading provided me with a good foundation for attacking this by reading the text a number of times and thinking through what the unknowns variables are which will help me in future problems in real world applications The third thing I learned this week is how helpful estimating answers to application problems can be Although I do this all the time in real life I never really took the time to analyze the fundamental mathematical theories involved in the process I learned how to accurately estimate through round up when the number to the right is 5 or higher or rounding down when the number is 4 or lower This is important to me as I do estimating all the time and will perhaps help me become even more accurate when estimating everything from gallons of product manufactured to number of prospects and even sales forecasts Overall I really enjoyed week 1 and looking forward to the new concepts and objectives in week 2