Articles
4 0 8 Optimization of Cubic Polynomial Functions without Calculus
Ronald D. Taylor Jr. and Ryan Hansen
412 Are You Connected? Fostering Exploration with Unexpected Graphs
Michael Todd Edwards and Jeffrey A. Reinhardt 418 Explorations with 142857: Connecting the
Elementary with the Advanced Alfinio Flores
4 2 2 Analyzing Online Discourse to Assess Students' Thinking
Randall E. Groth
4 4 6 Connecting Students' Informal Language to More Formal Definitions
Jon D. Davis
451 Reading Texts and Writing Problems to Improve Problem Solving
Ariana Stanca P. Vacaretu
4 5 6 Poverty: Teaching Mathematics and Social Justice
Leah P. McCoy
4 6 3 Building Intuitive Arguments for the Triangle Congruence Conditions
Katrina Piatek-Jimenez
4 6 8 Beyond Teachers' Sight Lines: Using Video Modeling to Examine Peer Discourse Donna Kotsopoulos
Departments
4 0 4 Reader Reflections
407 Call for Manuscripts: Contemporary Issues in Mathematics Curriculum
4 2 8 Media Clips
Pascal's Triangle in Chinese, by Roger W. Turton Effects of Grade Deflation
Edited by Margaret Cibes and James Greenwood 432 Mathematical Lens
Star Polygons Gunhan Caglayan
Edited by Ron Lancaster and Brigitte Bentele
440 442
444 445
467 472 473
479
February Calendar Solutions to Calendar
Edited by Jean McGivney-Burelle and Paul Vicinus
Guide to Advertisers
Call for Manuscripts: 2 0 0 9 Focus Issue Proof: Laying the Foundation
Call for Manuscripts: Teacher Education Save Time! Submit Your Manuscripts Online Delving Deeper
A New Path to the Quadratic Formula Henri Picciotto
Edited by Al Cuoco and E. Paul Goldenberg For Your Information
Publications
Vol. 101, No. 6 • February 2008 | MATHEMATICS TEACHER 4 0 3
Graphing technology has made well-known problems like maximizing the volume of a box made from a rect- angular sheet of cardboard by cutting squares from its corners accessible to precalculus students. In "Optimi- zation of Cubic Polynomial Functions without Calcu- lus" (page 408), Ronald Taylor and Ryan Hansen choose an approach to this type of problem that de- pends on the symmetry of the cubic polynomial and makes use of transformations to produce a solution that does not require calculators or calculus.
