ixTo My Fellow Teachers:
I was hooked into mathematics by the intricacy and beauty of high school geometry.
I distinctly remember being home sick from school and constructing a new-to-me proof of
the Pythagorean theorem for the sheer joy of solving the puzzle. My interest in mathematics
grew through subsequent courses in algebra, trigonometry, and calculus, although I didn’t
fully grasp the connections among these fields of mathematics until I began to teach.
Classroom teachers and mathematicians from across the country have come together
to develop the Eureka Math curriculum to bring these connections to life. For example, in
Algebra II students will see that we can use the analytic concept of the average rate of change
to lead to the geometric formulas for the area of a circle and the volume of a sphere. They
will see that we can apply geometric concepts of congruence and similarity to parabolas in
the coordinate plane and that the study of motion around a circle—the simplest geometric
object—leads to an entire field of mathematics that encompasses and expands on the triangle
trigonometry studied in Geometry.
This course that we share with you is full of deep and beautiful mathematics, carefully
sequenced to coherently build on the foundations of Algebra I and Geometry previously
constructed. We have developed and refined the modules with great care; however, we
envision that you will adapt these materials to meet the needs of your particular students,
collaborating with your colleagues to tinker with the lessons and make them your own.
Speaking for the teachers and mathematicians who outlined, wrote, critiqued, rewrote,
edited, and revised these lessons, we thank you for the careful deliberation you put into your
preparation every day in order to promote student success. We consider you to be a crucial
part of our team, and we look forward to your input on how we can continue to improve the
Algebra II curriculum.
Chris Black
Seattle, WA
Algebra II lead writer/editor
Eureka Math/Great Minds