Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #12

The Situation:

The Thinking
Sketch a graph of function h below:
Where is the vertex: _______

What is the y-intercept: _______

How many zeros does the function have? ______

What is the domain of h:

_______________________

What is the range of h, written with inequalities

(with a > or < symbol):
_______________________

Write an additional question that could be asked

on STAAR about the situation above:

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #36

The Situation

The Thinking
Sketch the points from each table into each of the graphs below
F G H J

Describe in your own words how to tell if a relation is a function by looking at a graph and a table

Explain why each answer choice is either right or wrong:

F is _________ because ____________________________________________________________________

G is _________ because ___________________________________________________________________
H is _________ because ___________________________________________________________________
J is _________ because ____________________________________________________________________
Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #8

The Situation

The Thinking

Solve the equation algebraically:

Circle the mistake Lindsey made in her first step below:

-5x 7 4x = -6x + 8

Circle the mistake Susie made in her first step below:

-5x + 7 + 4x = -6x 8

Joshua thinks the answer is x = 7. Prove whether Joshua is Substitute the answer you found above back into the
right or wrong by substituting 7 in place of x in the equation in place of x to check to prove that it makes both
equation and using PEMDAS to simplify. sides equal

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #49

The Situation

The Thinking

Find the factors of Jason thinks that the factors of are

(x 3) and (x 2). How would you help
explain and correct his mistake?

Judy thinks that the factors of are

Check your factors by multiplying them to prove that they
actually DO equal
(x + 6) and (x 1). How would you help
explain and correct her mistake?
Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #26

The Situation

The Thinking
If you look only at Months 1 through 9, the Sketch a straight line that best fits the data points
between 1 and 9 (ignore month 10, 11, and 12)
scatterplot seems to show a positive
correlation, which means that as the month Is the slope positive or negative?
increases, the temperature _______________
About where does your line cross the y-axis? ____
Explain why you think the temperatures for months 10, 11,
and 12 dont follow the pattern? Calculate the slope of your line:

Write an equation for your line of best fit using the

slope and y-intercept:

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #11

The Situation

The Thinking

Graph the function f(x) = x and label it

What is the equation for the new line?

________________________________
Graph the new line and label it
Is the new line steeper or less steep?

What changed to make this true?

When the y-intercept was changed to 4, what

affect does that have on the graph of the new
line?

The Final Word

Could you make the correct answer choice without drawing a graph of the two lines? Why or why not?
Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #20

The Situation

The Thinking

Jason thought that the manager Choose two variables to represent the two unknown values:
purchased 20 coffee mugs. Prove why
his answer must be wrong. Let _____ represent ____________________________
Let _____ represent ____________________________

Write an equation using 21 as the total:

__________________________________________
Write a second equation involving all the costs:

__________________________________________
Use any method to decide how many coffee mugs the manager purchased:
Karla was ready to fill in her answer on
the test and was about to fill in the
bubble for a negative answer, but then
she stopped what made her think that
she must have done something wrong?

The Final Word

Record your answer and fill in the bubbles on your answer document.

Defend or prove why your answer is correct:

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #50

The Situation

The Thinking

Based on the graph, how many stores existed in 1992? What is the y-intercept of the graph?

About how many stores did the company open in the first
year since 1992?
About how many stores were open by the end of the year
2000?
James predicted that the number of stores increased by
10% each year, so he found 10% of the initial value by
multiplying 400 * 0.10, which equals 40. This would mean
40 stores opened in the first year. Does his prediction of
10% seem to be too high or too low? Why?

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #39

The Situation

The Thinking
Josue decided to solve the system of equations using Maria thought the solution was (2, 33). Prove whether her
substitution since the second equation was already solved solution is correct by substituting x = 2 and y = 33 into both
for y. He substituted the right side of the second equation equations to verify whether the equations are true:
in place of y in the first equation.
13 + 92
13 + 92 10 = 53 =
2
10 ( ) = 53
2

Then he simplified the fraction by dividing everything

inside the parenthesis by 2. Complete Josues work by
solving for x and then plugging it back in to find the value
of y.
10 (6.5 + 46) = 53

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #40

The Situation

The Thinking
Enrique believes the correct answer is J but then he What is the initial value in the table? (When x = 0)
substituted x = 1 into the equation to check
= . ()
= . ()
= As x increases by 1, what is the y-value being multiplied by
Is J the correct answer? How do you know? each time?

Does it make sense for the exponential factor in the Write an equation in the form y = abx where a is the initial
equation to be 0.25 like choices F and G below? Why or value and b is the factor being multiplied each time
why not?

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #42

The Situation

The Thinking
The words directly proportional mean the situation A constant of proportionality is found by dividing the
involves equivalent rates. In this situation, that means if output by the input, and can also be referred to as the unit
we divide the number of amps by 2, it would also divide rate:
the number of volts by 2. Using that information,
complete the table below: 480
= 40
12
Amps Volts
12 480 How can this constant of proportionality help you solve
6 the mystery to find the missing value?
3
1.5

How many volts would a current of 24 amps produce?

How do you know?

The Final Word

Record your answer and fill in the bubbles on your answer document.

Defend or prove why your answer is correct:

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #48

The Situation

The Thinking
Determine the number of quarters and dimes by
q represents the number of _________________ completing the table below. Be sure that the total number
___ represents the _______________ of dimes of quarters and dimes is 18!

Quarters (q) Dimes (d) Total Value

If you had 4 quarters and 7 dimes, what operation would 0 18 $1.80
you use to calculate the total number of coins you have: 1 17 $1.95
2 16
3
Write an equation using q, d, and the total of 18 coins:

If you had 17 quarters and 1 dime, how would you

calculate the total value of all your coins?

Write an equation using q, d, and the total cost of $2.85

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #21

The Situation

The Thinking
Complete the table with points from the graph: Josie believed the x values of the function only existed
x y within the domain -3.5 < x < 11 because thats all she could
-3 see on the graph. Explain why she is wrong.
-2
-1
0 How far to the left and to the right do the x-values actually
1 go?
2

What is the initial value (when x=0)? _________
The decay factor is because as the x-value increases by
1, the y-value is multiplied by ______
What is the lowest possible y-value in the range? _____
Does it ever quite get down to that value? _______
What is the highest possible y-value in the range?
Write the range as an inequality: _________________

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #30

The Situation

The Thinking

Domain is the set of possible inputs, which in this situation Range is the set of possible outputs, which in this situation
refers to ____, the number of ________________ bought refers to ____, the total ___________ to buy uniforms

What is the smallest input value that makes sense in this Complete the table
situation? u c
8
9

What is the largest input value that makes sense in this

situation?

What is the smallest output value that would make sense

in this situation?
Does the domain include decimal values or only whole
numbers? How do you know?

What is the largest output value that would make sense in

this situation?

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____
ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #53
The Situation
The Thinking
The domain for graph A is
all real numbers greater
than -2 and less than or
equal to 7
Domain: -2 < x 7
Because all x values on the
graph exist between -2 and
7 from left to right, and
there is an open circle on -2
so it is never equal to -2, but
there is a filled circle on 7
The Final Word
The domain for graph B is
all real numbers
__________________ -3
and _________________ 2
Domain: -3 ___ x ___ 2
The range for graph B is all
real numbers greater than
or equal to -7 and less than
or equal to 2
Range: -7 y 2
The domain for graph C is The domain for graph D is
Domain: ____________ Domain: ____________
The range for graph C is all The range for graph D is
real numbers
__________________ -7
and ______________ 2
Range: -7 ___ y ___ 2 Range: ____________
Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #7

The Situation

The Thinking
Complete the table that is verifying whether the following For the inequality 0.5x 2y 3 will the boundary line be
points are solutions to the inequality 0.5x 2y 3 dashed or solid? ___________

x y 0.5x 2y 3 Solution? True or False: Points on the boundary line are solutions to
0.5(0) 2(0) 3 the inequality. ___________
0 0 No
03
0.5(-2) 2(0.5) 3 For the inequality 0.5x 2y 3 will we shade above or
-2 -0.5 below the boundary line? ______________
-2 3
0.5(2) 2(1) 3
2 1 Defend your three answers above

2 -1

-2 -0.5

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #47

The Situation

The Thinking
When the y-variable is isolated on the left side (like this problem) What is the y-intercept of the boundary line?
remember the quick tips for graphing inequalities:

> and mean to shade ____________ the boundary line What is the slope of the boundary line?
(y-values of solutions are _________ than the boundary)

< and mean to shade ____________ the boundary line Should the boundary line be solid or dashed?
(y-values of solutions are _________ than the boundary) Why?

< and > mean the boundary line is _______________

(coordinates on the boundary line are _____ solutions)
Should we shade above or below the
and mean the boundary line is ________________ boundary? Why?
(coordinates on the boundary line are _____________)

WORD BANK: not, below, above, solid greater, less, solutions, dashed

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #51

The Situation

The Thinking

James looked at his formula Veronica decided to use the Eder decided that the Use the slope formula to
chart and found that the slope point (26, 7) as x1 and y1 and answer is B, but it was find the slope of the line.
formula is the point (-39, 12) as x2 and marked wrong. His work
2 1 y2. She still made a mistake is shown below.
=
2 1 substituting the values into
the slope formula. Find and 12 7
explain her error below =
Find and explain the error in (39) 26
James first step below
(39) 26 5
12 7 = =
12 7 13
=
26 (39)
What do you think Eder
did incorrectly?

The Final Word

Name: _______________________________________________________ Date: ______________________ Pd: _____

ALGEBRA LIFEWORK: STAAR #52

The Situation

The Thinking
Solve the equation algebraically:
Circle the mistake Lindsey made in her first step below:

3.6x 16 = 4.8 1.2x

Explain the mistake Susie made in her second step below:

3.6x 4.8 = 4.8 1.2x

2.4x 4.8 = 4.8

Joshua thinks the answer is F because when he solved the Substitute the answer you found above back into the
equation, he got x = -2. Prove whether Joshua is right or equation in place of x to check to prove that it makes both
wrong by substituting -2 in place of x in the equation. sides equal

The Final Word