Articles written by Martin Bell

Finding the sum of a trigonometric series uses De Moivre's Theorem, geometric progression, trigonometric identities, and complex numbers.

Sep 7, 2011 - Martin Bell

A math major is the best degree to access five of the top ten careers in 2011 according to careercast. In fact all five of the top five jobs are math-based.

Feb 14, 2011 - Martin Bell

Online Master of Science degrees are available from Illinois University. Available degrees include math, actuarial science, or math with education.

Feb 11, 2011 - Martin Bell

Teachers may gain an online M. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction in Mathematics (K-8) at Concordia University, based in Portland, Oregon.

Feb 9, 2011 - Martin Bell

Online education degrees are available at the Open University. The degree may be taken with a Mathematics with Education option.

Feb 8, 2011 - Martin Bell

The Open University offers fully accredited distance / online learning degrees in mathematics, including several options that combine with other subjects.

Feb 5, 2011 - Martin Bell

The Open University offers a Master of Math distance learning degree. Since the Open University is fully accredited, this degree is highly sought after.

Jan 19, 2011 - Martin Bell

Factorizing quadratic equations is fairly tricky, and needs practice, but there are some easy-to-remember guidelines that can help.

Jan 11, 2011 - Martin Bell

The SQL command "REPLACE" may be used to determine how many times a character or string occurs in a larger text string.

Jan 4, 2011 - Martin Bell

MSA - measurement systems analysis - is used to find out how much of the variation found in a process measurement is due to the actual measurement system.

Jan 4, 2011 - Martin Bell

"Completing the square" is a well-known method to drive the formula that solves all quadratic equations. The derivation from first principles is shown here.

Dec 15, 2010 - Martin Bell

Geometric progressions are a series of numbers, where each term is a fixed number times the previous term. This article discusses the formulas and their use

Nov 29, 2010 - Martin Bell

Arithmetic progressions are a series of numbers, where each term is a fixed number plus the previous term. This article discusses formulas and their uses.

Nov 25, 2010 - Martin Bell

This article uses De Moivres Theorem to prove the formula for sin(a+b) and cos(a+b). There are trigonometric proofs for sin(a+b) but this method is shorter.

Oct 27, 2010 - Martin Bell

There is an easy method used to simplify fractions when the denominator is a complex number. The process uses the "difference of two squares".

Oct 6, 2010 - Martin Bell

The trigonometric functions sin(x+y), cos(x+y) are described, and the sum of sines and cosines - sin(x)+sin(y) and cos(x)+cos(y) are described and derived.

Sep 2, 2010 - Martin Bell

Having chosen to do a mathematics degree, the next step is to choose an attended college degree or an online / distance learning college course.

Sep 1, 2010 - Martin Bell

Equations for straight lines fall into two simple groups. This article describes both, and how to determine the slope and intercept of any straight line.

Aug 19, 2010 - Martin Bell

This article shows how to prove a trigonometric identity that has caused problems for all of the posters at one particular on-line math / physics forum.

Aug 16, 2010 - Martin Bell

Formulas for cos3x, sin3x, cos4x and sin4x are derived from De Moivres Theorem. This is a detailed step by step guide with examples of cos and sin 3x and 4x

Aug 9, 2010 - Martin Bell

De Moivres Theorem is an important result in the field of complex numbers, and has practical applications. It is derived from Euler's formula.

Aug 6, 2010 - Martin Bell

Mathematics courses often require the student to prove that certain functions are equivalent, or manipulate trig functions into other forms for ease of use.

Aug 4, 2010 - Martin Bell

The Newton-Raphson method is one of the best known iterative methods used to solve equations numerically. The derivation of it, and examples, are shown.

Jul 28, 2010 - Martin Bell

An undergraduate mathematics degree can be studied as a math-only option or combined with other subjects. This article explains some of the popular options.

Jul 8, 2010 - Martin Bell

Logarithms are often considered to be a difficult subject, but by bearing a few simple ideas in mind, they can be thought of as the Shorthand of Mathematics

Jul 2, 2010 - Martin Bell

Finding the greatest common multiple of two numbers is useful, especially when dealing with fractions. This simple method describes how to find the GCD.

Jun 25, 2010 - Martin Bell

Finding the prime factors of two or more numbers is useful, especially when trying to find the least common multiple (LCM) or greatest common divisor (GCD).

Jun 18, 2010 - Martin Bell

Checking any integer (whole number) for divisibility by the numbers from two to eleven, apart from seven, can be made very easy by using a few simple rules

Jun 9, 2010 - Martin Bell

Rounding numbers and significant figures is an essential part of mathematics. It is not difficult to understand, when a few basic concepts are explained.

May 28, 2010 - Martin Bell

Calculating the least common multiple is useful, especially when adding or subtracting fractions. This lesson plan shows the calculation method visually.

May 20, 2010 - Martin Bell

Kurtosis is a measure of flatness of a distribution, compared to a normalized Gaussian distribution. The formula and significance of kurtosis are described.

May 14, 2010 - Martin Bell

The factorial of a number is the product of the integers from the number down to one. Factorials are used in probability, combinations, and permutations.

Apr 29, 2010 - Martin Bell

The skew of distributions is often calculated in statistics software like JMP or Excel. This article shows how skew is calculated and when it is significant

Apr 28, 2010 - Martin Bell

Six of the top ten best jobs are based on mathematics, according to Careercast.com, in their 2010 jobs survey. Details on the math jobs are listed.

Apr 23, 2010 - Martin Bell

Formulas are described to calculate sample size for 1-sample and 2-sample proportions, for one- and two-tailed comparisons. The Excel formula is also shown.

Apr 21, 2010 - Martin Bell

Teaching subtraction can be made easier by using a number line, objects, and showing how subtraction is the opposite to addition.

Apr 19, 2010 - Martin Bell

All flights to and from the UK and parts of Europe were cancelled on 15th April, 2010 for several days. The reason was a volcano eruption over 1,000 km away

Apr 15, 2010 - Martin Bell

JMP is a commonly used software package that is used in statistical data analysis. It supports many statistical methods, and has a scripting language (JSL).

Apr 15, 2010 - Martin Bell

Every estimate has a margin of error and confidence interval. This article shows what they are and how to calculate them using Excel, using real examples.

Apr 9, 2010 - Martin Bell

Maths graduates are often recruited as actuaries to calculate risks associated with pensions, insurance and investments. Actuaries have similar salaries to lawyers.

Apr 2, 2010 - Martin Bell

The Poisson distribution, named after Siméon Denis Poisson, is one of the most useful discrete probability distributions. It has many uses in modelling and simulation.

Mar 30, 2010 - Martin Bell

To teach fractions easily, here are a few tips to remember. From using images, to making fractions fun, these hints are key to removing fear and building math confidence.

Mar 24, 2010 - Martin Bell

Formulas are described to calculate sample sizes for one-sample situations, and one-tailed and two-tailed comparisons. Each formula is listed as an Excel function

Mar 16, 2010 - Martin Bell

The Church of the Gesu is the mother church of the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus. The church building and frescoes compare favorably to those at the Vatican.

Mar 9, 2010 - Martin Bell

Z-score and p-value are needed to calculate statistical sample sizes. This article describes what these values are, and how to calculate them for a Gaussian distribution.

Mar 8, 2010 - Martin Bell

It is critical to estimate the number of trials needed before conducting an experiment - too many trials waste resources, and too few may give a "false negative" result.

Mar 7, 2010 - Martin Bell

Sample size calculations are not just a matter of putting numbers into an equation. Confidence, power, and difference all affect the final result, and are described here.

Mar 7, 2010 - Martin Bell

SQL provides a series of functions to get information about strings or text. The most useful of these, LEFT, RIGHT, SUBSTR, LENGTH and CHARINDEX are described here.

Mar 4, 2010 - Martin Bell

SQL commands are available to concatenate whole tables, to and join them together even when one of the tables has no equivalent entry to the other. This has many uses.

Mar 3, 2010 - Martin Bell

SQL or Structured Query language is widely used to get information from many types of database. It is often used to pull data that is used to produce reports and graphs.

Mar 3, 2010 - Martin Bell