An Alternative Method to Gauss-Jordan Elimination: Minimizing Fraction Arithmetic

dc.creator	Luke Smith
dc.creator	Joan Powell
dc.date	2010-01-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T22:28:21Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T22:28:21Z
dc.identifier	1062-9017
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/affd8e0b0edb46d192e038354e5268a0
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/21954
dc.description	When solving systems of equations by using matrices, many teachers present a Gauss-Jordan elimination approach to row reducing matrices that can involve painfully tedious operations with fractions (which I will call the traditional method). In this essay, I present an alternative method to row reduce matrices that does not introduce additional fractions until the very last steps. The students in my classes seemed to appreciate the efficiency and accuracy that the alternative method offered. Freed from unnecessary computational demands, students were instead able to spend more time focusing on designing an appropriate system of equations for a given problem and interpreting the results of their calculations. I found that these students made relatively few arithmetic mistakes as compared to students I tutored in the traditional method, and many of these students who saw both approaches preferred the alternative method.
dc.publisher	University of Georgia
dc.relation	http://math.coe.uga.edu/TME/Issues/v20n2/v20n2_Smith_Powell.pdf
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1062-9017
dc.source	Mathematics Educator, Vol 20, Iss 2, Pp 44-50 (2010)
dc.subject	Mathematics
dc.subject	QA1-939
dc.subject	Science
dc.subject	Q
dc.subject	DOAJ:Mathematics
dc.subject	DOAJ:Mathematics and Statistics
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Mathematics
dc.subject	QA1-939
dc.subject	Science
dc.subject	Q
dc.subject	DOAJ:Mathematics
dc.subject	DOAJ:Mathematics and Statistics
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Mathematics
dc.subject	QA1-939
dc.subject	Science
dc.subject	Q
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Mathematics
dc.subject	QA1-939
dc.subject	Science
dc.subject	Q
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Science
dc.subject	Q
dc.subject	Mathematics
dc.subject	QA1-939
dc.title	An Alternative Method to Gauss-Jordan Elimination: Minimizing Fraction Arithmetic
dc.type	article