History of This Website . . .
This website was established in about the year 2000 when I was a professor of mathematics at Seminole State College of Florida, then known as Seminole Community College, as a resource for students EVERYWHERE who need help with MATH. In my retirement years, with the website no longer connected to Seminole State College, I have added sections containing my favorite BIBLE VERSES and also some history and memories of my grandparents' beloved DAHLIADEL and DAHLIA PICTURES.
Now that I am retired, it’s time to focus on IMPORTANT things, especially when we face the problems and uncertainty of life and death. I’ve included my favorite BIBLE VERSES. In my opinion, the MOST IMPORTANT PAGES on this entire website are the Apologetics Pages, also called Evidence for the Faith. Whatever your religious beliefs may be or NOT be, be sure to read enough to KNOW who Jesus was, who he is, what he did for you and me, and WHY he did it!!
Bible Verses and True Stories
Now, in 2022, it is time to re-think the purposes of this website. From now on, while the website is still named "Math in Living Color," let me publicly acknowledge that the CENTER of this website is the BIBLE VERSES section, which focuses on the LORDSHIP of JESUS CHRIST. Math resources from 40 years as a math teacher remain on the left, and Dahliadel with Dahlia Pictures remain on the right. It turns out that the Bible Verses are right in the CENTER, right where they belong!
- For ALL of us, our clocks are running! We do NOT live forever in this life that we know today. Before this present life expires, it is most important that we KNOW about JESUS: Who WAS JESUS, who IS JESUS, and WHY does EVERYONE need to know this??? This section is for EVERYONE, whatever your faith: Christian, Jewish, Islam, Buddhist, Whatever books you read and believe, do NOT live and die without reading about JESUS! Please read about OUR JESUS and see HOW he lived, HOW he died, and WHAT he did for YOU and ME!! Do NOT live your life and die without studying for yourself about JESUS. I have a few suggested links below that will be helpful:
Apologetics (Logical/Historical Evidence the Bible is True!)
Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus
Irma and Eddie Williams, Missionaries
Mathematics on This Website . . .
To view a page, please click the following links:
I. Basic Algebra: One Step at a Time
Intermediate Algebra: One Step at a Time
College Algebra: One Step at a Time
Early in my teaching career in Florida community colleges, I became dissatisfied with traditional textbooks, thinking that there must be a BETTER way to teach math. After many years, it seemed that concepts should be introduced ONE STEP at a TIME, beginning with a simple explanation, with a few examples, in a worktext format in which students would be encouraged to SHOW ALL WORK. After repetition and PRACTICE on these concepts, students should then advance to more difficult concepts, one at a time, continuing to show all work. Thus, I wrote three levels of algebra, which you will find on this website. These will be useful in college and high school classes, as well as homeschool and independent study: "Basic, Intermediate, and College Algebra: One Step at a Time," presented on this website “one section at a time.” I was successful teaching with these books in my own classes for many years. Frequently students who had unsuccessfully attempted algebra, and especially College Algebra, several times with traditional textbooks, not only succeeded but became some of my BEST students.
II. Math in Living Color:
After teaching for a few years, I realized that teaching with COLOR, instead of white chalk on a blackboard or black markers on a whiteboard, enabled me to illustrate similarities and contrast different concepts with colors. My students responded with increased attention spans and registration in my classes. Students LOVE to see teaching in COLOR! Math was SO much easier to understand! During the last two years of my career before my retirement, I asked students to send me their questions from the ONE STEP curriculum. I posted solutions to these questions on my website on the “Math in Living Color” pages. Guess what? These solutions are still there, and more--in COLOR! Please see my “Math in Living Color” pages for solutions to the frequently asked questions from my ONE STEP curriculum. Hence the name of this website: MathInLivingColor.com.
III. Practice Tests
In my teaching career, I believed it was important to allow students to keep their completed exams. I also believed that in preparing for an exam, it was important that students have two practice exams with detailed solutions. The first practice exam was to show students what concepts will be required of them as they prepare for the exam. The second practice exam was for students to take the night before the exam to make sure they are ready for it. When I gave an exam and returned the exams in the next class, I didn’t want to spend an hour going over an exam with explanations that nobody really wanted to see. So, I prepared a detailed solution sheet that I handed out to the class. This allowed me to answer questions to the exam in about 5 minutes. This tradition also provided me with about 300 PRACTICE TESTS to post on this website, for the entire curriculum from PREALGEBRA to CALCULUS and DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (including Geometry, Probability, Introduction to Statistics, Logic, Logarithms, and Trigonometry).
IV. Videos (Dr. Rapalje, 1993)
There are also a few videos of me teaching select topics in Basic, Intermediate, and College Algebra. Notice how YOUNG I looked. I still have and wear most of the shirts that I was wearing in these videos!
V. Handouts and Learning Supplements
In my teaching of most classes, I usually wrote and distributed HANDOUTS and LEARNING SUPPLEMENTS. Many of these handouts are available on this website. When I find more handouts in my files, I will add them also.
I enjoyed a blessed career in which I measured my own success by the success of my students. Please see the section on this website called SUCCEEDING IN MATH, which includes topics “How to Study and Succeed in Math”, “Overcoming Math Anxiety”, “Test Taking Skills”, and “Attitude and Personality Type.”
VII. Dahlia Pictures
Perhaps you will notice that these math pages are decorated with pictures of DAHLIAS. For more information and pictures, please see the DAHLIA pages on this website.
Dahliadel and Dahlias on This Website . . .
I have a personal interest in DAHLIAS because my grandparents Warren and Aileen Maytrott were big-time dahlia growers in New Jersey from 1918 to 1968. They established and operated Dahliadel, which in their day was the largest dahlia farm in the world. In my own college days, it was my privilege to spend my summers working in the fields at Dahliadel. Sadly, since dahlias bloom in September and October when I had to return to Florida as a student (later as a teacher!), I was never able to see Dahliadel in its blaze of color. I never realized how beautiful and diverse these flowers can be until my retirement many years later.
So, on these pages please see the section on Dahliadel in New Jersey, which includes many pictures from the "old days" of Dahliadel, including their OLD trucks, arrangements made and photographed by my grandfather back in the 1930s, and even a picture of ME working under a big straw hat out in the fields in the 1960s.
In 1968, Dahliadel was sold to Mr. A.L. Friedlander, who renamed it "Dahliadel in the Mountains" and moved it to Waynesville, near Asheville, North Carolina. We later learned that Dahliadel in the Mountains survived for about 7 years, when in 1975, the dahlias were lost to a flooding incident. We learned this in 2010, about 35 years too late, when in my retirement, we launched a search of our own to discover what happened to "Dahliadel." We wrote the story of our search and our findings in a paper called "Dahliadel in the Mountains."
While we were not actually able to visit Dahliadel in the Mountains, we were able to visit the site where it had been, and we found a LOT of dahlias blooming in the mountains of North Carolina! Dahlias were plentiful in September and October at Haywood Community College, where Mr. Friedlander had requested that they be grown, and especially at Jack Leatherwood's place surrounded by mountains on every side.
On this website there are photographs of over 200 (currently 216 to be exact!) named varieties of dahlias, most of which were taken at Leatherwood's and Haywood Community College. The pictures are listed by American Dahlia Society (ADS) classification of size, color, and form. BTW, my grandfather Warren W. Maytrott was a pioneer leader in the founding of ADS! I've also listed the dahlia pictures by location. Pictures are also listed in alphabetical order by names of the dahlias.
About Me
My Background
A graduate of Florida State University AND the University of Florida, I'm a retired math teacher after 40 years in Florida community colleges:
Lake-Sumter Community College 1968-1970
Seminole Community College
1971-2007
Seminole State College of Florida 2008-2010.
My Expertise
My specialty during my teaching career was helping students succeed in math who NEVER thought they could do it! I wrote my own non-traditional curriculum to enable students to learn math "One Step at a Time." The use of colored chalk or colored markers (Math in Living Color) made learning math much easier for my students.
Personalized Lessons
On this website, you will find over 300 practice exams with detailed solutions at all levels of math from Pre-algebra to Calculus III and Differential Equations. This website will be helpful to supplement traditional explanations of math. It should be valuable for homeschooling. Best of all, it's ALL FREE!!
with Bible Verses, Dahlias, and Roses
Also free, two of my retirement loves: my favorite Bible verses and over 200 pictures of dahlias, are included.
Contact Me
Math in Living Color
My Blog
Dr. Robert J. Rapalje
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