USER GUIDE

When designing this website we have had two priorities on our mind:

· Effectiveness and

· Easiness of use.

The website should therefore be extremely easy to use. We have avoided any fancy technology that might complicate the website unnecessarily.

It is possible and free to have a little tour of the website and you are encouraged to move around and see what you can do.

The website is conceived as a small collection of books. On the first page you have the books listed. When you click on a book you “open” that book at the index or list of contents.

The different chapters (or sections, as they are also called) are listed there. You click on each section and open the different pages on that section.

Every page of the workbooks contains one or more questions. Be aware that each time you open a page the questions in that page will be slightly different. The questions will be similar but different. By using the refresh button or the REPEAT link you can access as many different but similar questions as you wish. The RANDOM button to the left sends you to a randomly chosen page in the section.

The answer to a question is usually a number, a word or an algebraic expression. You would normally enter the answer in the input box which is provided (there might be several boxes), then you would click on the interrogation mark which is usually around the answer box (or boxes).

If the answer (or collection of answers) is right, an alert box will appear saying so and the interrogation mark will become a green tick on a black background.

If the answer is wrong an alert box will appear saying so and the interrogation mark will become a red cross on a white background.

Sometimes the answer will involve creating a diagram by manipulating pictures. The answer will always be checked by clicking on an interrogation mark.

When the answer is wrong the alert box may give some indication of why the answer might be wrong. For example, the answer to most questions requires a certain minimum accuracy. If the answer is less accurate than required, it will be considered wrong. The alert box will sometimes hint that the problem may be one of accuracy. If that is the case an answer with more significant figures will be considered right.

If you click on the REPEAT link you will go to a different realisation of the same page. If you feel you need further practice with a type of question you may use the REPEAT link to answer as many different questions of the same type as you wish.

Choices in the answer

We have tried to take care of the possible different ways that the user might decide to answer a question. For example, when expanding the expression 2(n+3) the answer can be 2n+6 or 6+2n. Normally both answers will be considered as right.

Also a probability can be given as ½ or 0.5. Both answers should be considered as right by the system.

We have tried to do as much as we could to allow freedom of choice to the user. Nonetheless the user will need to use some common sense sometimes to get the right answer.

Accuracy

Normally there is no upper limit to the accuracy that you can use for an answer. Usually three (sometimes four) significant figures should be enough. But normally you can input as many as eight or even twenty accurate digits if you wish.

The exception is when the question itself is about accuracy. Therefore is the question was, for example, “Round 3.498 to 2 decimal places” the answer is 3.50 and NOT 3.5 or 3.500.

Another exception is bearings. Here the answers have to have three figures. Therefore if an answer is 023^o the answer 23^o is wrong.

MNN

Team Leader, GoodMaths.co.uk.