Mathematical Reasoning with Connections

Unit 1 Planning Guide (Integers)

Learning Goals
● LG.1: Students are expected to explore a non-standard problem and find and make conjectures about
patterns of numbers that can explain the underlying structure of the problem.
● LG.2: Students will delve more deeply into the structure of the problem and relate it to the
● concept of prime factorization.
● LG.3: Students will review elementary multiplication skills, designed to foster strategic planning and
introduce the importance of number fluency and use of flexible approaches by discussing effective and
efficient ways to determine the outcome of the game.
● LG.4: Students will be introduced to the definition of closure of a set under an operation. They are asked to
explore whether specific finite sets are closed under various operations.
● LG.5: Students will re-examine the definition of closure and what it means to extend this concept to infinite
sets.
● LG.6: Students will look at closure of the set of integers under the standard arithmetic operations (addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division).
● LG.7: Students will review the standard infinite sets of Complex Number System, namely Integers Z ,
Rational Numbers , Real Numbers R, and Complex numbers.
● LG.8: Students will examine whether commonly defined infinite sets of numbers are closed under various
operations.
● LG.9: Students will define arbitrary, non-traditional operations and requires students to decide whether
various sets are closed under these operations.
 Mathematical Reasoning with Connections
Unit 1 Planning Guide (Integers)

Activities

Date Activity Prerequisites

Activity 1-A-1

Activity 1-A-2

Activity 1-A-3 Factors of Composite Numbers

Activity 1-B-1 Square Roots (with Negatives)

Squares (with Negatives)
Average

Activity 1-C-1 Definition of an Integer

Activity 1-C-2 Definitions of Odd, Even, Integer, Prime, Natural

Numbers, Composite, Arithmetic Sequence Form

Activity 1-C-3 (Optional)

Activity 1-D-1 Order of Operations, Properties of Addition,

Properties of Multiplication
 Mathematical Reasoning with Connections
Unit 1 Planning Guide (Integers)

Class Discussions

Date Discussion Section Enhancement

8/7 What is meant by a closed set? Section 1-B

8/7 Is the set 𝑆 = {−1,0,1} closed under Section 1-B

multiplication? under addition?

8/7 If 2 is included in the set S, would it still be Section 1-B

closed?

Is there any other number that could be

included in the set and still retain closure?

What does symmetry about the diagonal in

the table imply for the operation of
multiplication in S?

8/7 Under what circumstances would a set be Section 1-B

not closed?

8/8 What difficulties do you think we might Section 1-C

encounter when investigating closure on
infinite sets rather than finite sets? Which
model or strategy used for finite sets might
still be helpful for infinite sets?

8/8 What numbers are we including when we Section 1-C

talk of an even number in the integers? An
odd number in the integers? How can we
formally describe or define an even integer?
An odd integer?

8/9 Is the set 𝑆 = {𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠}closed Section 1-C

under addition? Be sure to justify your
answer.
 Mathematical Reasoning with Connections
Unit 1 Planning Guide (Integers)

Points to Emphasize

Date Point of Emphasis Activity Enhancement

8/6 This is the type of mathematical activity that Activity 1-A-1
will be expected from students in this
course. They will be expected to persevere
when presented with a challenging task —
struggle is an intrinsic part of all high-level
learning, including mathematics learning -
and it will be encouraged and supported in
this course. It is not enough to find a
solution. Statements and conclusions must
be justified, and both teacher and students
must communicate their thinking in
mathematically appropriate language. In
cognitively demanding problems, there is
most often not just one correct solution
method; diverse thinking is valued and
everyone should learn from each other.
Thinking mathematically involves looking for
patterns and then describing and explaining
those patterns in the language of
mathematics.

8/7 Closure requires Activity 1-B-1

• A reference set and an operation.
• Elements of the set that are often - but not
necessarily - numbers.
• An operation that is often - but not
necessarily- binary.
• Considering possible result of the
operation, including that of a number paired
with itself.

8/7 It is necessary to complete every cell in the Activity 1-B-1

table since every possible result is needed
to verify a claim. In other words, when
discussing closure in an arbitrary set, the
amount of work cannot be reduced by
assuming that the properties of the set of
real numbers (for example, commutative
property for multiplication) hold in the given
set.

8/7 The set S is not closed under subtraction, Activity 1-B-1

division, square rooting and averaging, but
for different reasons. For subtraction and
averaging, the operations each yield a result
that is not a member of the set S. For
division and square rooting, the operation is
not defined for at least one element of the
set S.

8/8 This is another opportunity to reinforce the Activity 1-C-1

 Mathematical Reasoning with Connections
Unit 1 Planning Guide (Integers)

fact that refuting a claim can be done with a

single counter-example, but proving
something requires consideration of every
possibility.

8/8 In mathematics, we often have many ways Activity 1-C-1

to define a term or a concept. It is important
to have flexibility, because sometimes one
definition may be more useful than others
depending on the given situation.

8/9 Students may be surprised to see a table Activity 1-C-2

with relatively few cells used to justify a
conclusion on an infinite set. You can point
out that this proof relies on the identification
of an even integer as one whose last digit is
0, 2, 4, 6, or 8. This means that the
justification need only consider the last digit
of the numbers and the addends of the last
digits.

8/9 Your students may have used a similar Activity 1-C-2

proof without using this level of formality.
For example, instead of formally stating that
a:2k where k is an integer, they may have
used informal language such as a=2times△
and b=2times☐, or even more informally as
'two times something'. (This level of
informality is acceptable as students first
grapple with complex ideas. However, the
ultimate goal should always be towards
mathematically precise language). The key
insight that they need to have grasped here
is that their argument relies on the closure
of the integers under addition.

8/13 Every number can be represented in Activity 1-D-1

infinitely many ways. For example, 2 can
2 8
equivalently be written as 2.0, 2𝑥1, , ,
1 4
200%, 21 , √4, 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 9,etc.

Long division can be used to change the

common fraction form of a number into the
decimal fraction form.

For ease of mental computation, the most

frequently used equivalences are:

1 1.0 100%

1 0.5 50%
2
 Mathematical Reasoning with Connections
Unit 1 Planning Guide (Integers)

1 0.25 25%
4

1 0.125 12.5%
8

1 0.333... 1
33 %
3
3

2 0.666.. 2
66 %
3
3

1 0.1 10%
10
 Mathematical Reasoning with Connections
Unit 1 Planning Guide (Integers)

Warm-Up Exercises

Date Emphasis Section Enhancement

8/6 Squares, Square Roots, and Averages Section 1-B

8/8 Arithmetic Sequence Form Section 1-C

8/9 Even, Odd, Composite, Prime Section 1-C

8/13 Order of Operations Section 1-D

8/14 Properties of Addition & Multiplication Section 1-D

8/15 Closure Section 1-B

8/16 Number System Section 1-C

Assessments

Date Assessment Learning Goals

8/16 Integers and Closure Test LG.1, LG.2, LG.3, LG.4, LG.5, LG.6, LG.7, LG.8,
LG.9