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Math Assault II: Fractions Copyright 1996 by VeeneTronics Corporation 3231 Cumberland Trail Olympia Fields, Il. 60461 Dedicated to my son, Craig Veeneman, (11-24-76 to 6-12-95) who wrote the story and designed all the game levels. For problems with speech see "Trouble Shooting Speech". You may use and distribute this free of charge. Four registration options are available (see order.frm): 1: Registration and online technical support............$15.00, 2: Part 2: Ratios, Decimals, Proportions, Percents......$20.00, 3: Speech (2 MB RAM needed) plus the above..............$25.00, 4: Printed manual plus all of the above.................$30.00. Include EMail address if available ($5.00 handling if no Email address). Compuserve members can register through Compuserve. Credits Program by Tony Veeneman Art: Levon McAllister Music: Don Harkins Story by: Craig Veeneman Game Design Assistance: Craig Veeneman, Lori Veeneman, Brian Zellinger Testing and Inspiration: Craig Veeneman, Lori Veeneman, Christopher Veeneman Support and Understanding: Mary Ann Veeneman Special Thanks to: Greg, Cory, Tony, Joe, Dennis, Kelli, Jeremy, Diane, Antwon, Tiffany, David, Philip, Chavez, Joe, Mindy, and Laura ****See Fraction.doc for more complete information**** MATH ASSAULT II: FRACTIONS Purpose of Educational Game Program The Legend of Greecia Continues System Requirements Quick Start Trouble shooting speech Starting a New Game Saving a Game Quitting a Game Continuing a Game Using the Mouse Music Speech Object of the Game Greecia Ronan and his Evil Minions. Inside Greecia, Windows, Action, etc. Solving Fractions, Windows, Buttons, etc. Advancement in Fractions Gems Command Line Options Educational Comments for Parents and Teachers Purpose of Math Assault II: Fractions Math Assault II: fractions is designed to teach players fractions, decimals, ratios, proportions, and percents in a game environment that involves solving word problems. The intended instructional grade ranges are fifth to eighth grade. The program is instructional and sequential. As the player proceeds through the program, he gains proficiency in these math areas. It is designed so that a player can succeed and learn even if the player does not know fractions and has problems with math calculations. The Legend of Greecia Continues Prologue... It is the year 2135. One stormy night the Superhero receives a call from his archnemises, Dr. Ronan, saying that he has developed a machine that will let him take over the world. At hearing this the Superhero heads to Dr. Ronan's laboratory in the city. The Superhero arrives at Ronan's laboratory in a motorcycle. The Superhero notices a large red demon drawing hanging outside the door. The Superhero recognizes it as the picture of Apathy. Apathy was the evil god who had taken over Greecia in the Greek Mathology books. The Superhero guesses the picture to be a warning but enters any way. The Superhero enters a large dark room. The room is dark and creepy which sends a shudder up the Superhero's spine. There is a corridor that is to the right side of the room. The Superhero walks down the long corridor that seems to stretch forever. The Superhero sees a window at the end of the corridor. He hears sounds of the city outside the window. There is a door to the left of the window which is open. The Superhero looks inside the door and slowly enters... THE GAME BEGINS System Requirements The following are needed to run the program: a) IBM or IBM AT or PS/2 compatible computer system. b) DOS 3.3 or higher. c) 640000 bytes of conventional (RAM) memory available. d) 523000 bytes of free memory (conventional, expanded, or extended). If expanded or extended memory is used, 459000 bytes of conventional memory must be available. e) A VGA or MCGA video card and monitor. f) Hard drive with 4.8 megabytes free. This will not run on floppy disks. The following are recommended to increase performance: a) Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16 or compatible. b) An 80386 or higher computer for speech. c) A Microsoft compatible mouse and driver. d) Expanded and/or extended memory. A minimum of 449 kbytes of free conventional memory is needed. e) A disk caching program such as Smart Drive. To get even better performance, the following are recommended: a) An 80486 or better processor. b) 563 k of free conventional memory if using Sound Blaster. c) 200 k of expanded memory. d) 500 k of expanded or extended memory for speech capability. A 80486 or higher is recommended for speech. Quick Start Place your disk 1 into your floppy disk drive. Type the letter of the disk drive you just placed the disk into followed by a colon and press ENTER (e.g. A:). Do not type quotation marks. 1. Insert Disk # 1. Type "INSTALL" then press "Enter ". 2. Complete the installation process. 3. Type "FRACT" then press "Enter ". Answer the on screen questions and begin playing. Trouble Shooting Speech Windows 95 If speech doesn't work with Windows 95 then do the following: 1) Make sure Himem.sys is in config.sys; 2) Add EMM386.sys to config.sys (not necessary but it improves performance.) 3) When booting (starting) the machine, immediately press F8. 4) At the Windows 95 startup menu, select "Previous version of MS Dos. 5) Go to the fraction directory: "cd\fraction". 6) Type "fract". 7) Press enter. General Comments About 580 k free RAM and about 500 k extended(XMS) or expanded(EMS) memory is needed. If at all possible use an expanded memory manager compatible with EMM386 which is part of MS DOS. On slower 80386 machines, always use EMS. This must be set in the config.sys file using an expanded memory manager. Always use a soundblaster or compatible device. The speech through the PC speaker is of dubious quality. Sometimes device drivers (TSR) loaded in the autoexec.bat file can not only consume much memory, but can interfere with the speech. If this occurs, try remarking these out using "rem" in the autoexec.bat file. If the program does not work, try reinstalling the program without speech. If this works, try again later with speech after making sure there is sufficient memory. As a last resort, install the program without speech and force the program to use the PC speaker by adding /j. For example type: fract /j GAME KEYBOARD All of the above keys are active while in Greecia. ARROW - move the man. ALT. - shoot. CTRL - angles shot when ALT. pushed. SPACE - man jumps when arrow pressed. INSERT - flip. END - duck. This also changes the vertical direction of a shot. Inside Greecia Movement in Greecia Each location in Greecia has three scenes. Your objective is to get to the last scene while scoring as many points as possible and gathering as many potions as possible. All potions have very powerful magic, and some of the potions are necessary for you to successfully travel through Greecia. Be wary of bad potions left by Ronan. Zeus has marked these with an X. Explore all areas because there are a few scattered invisible potions. These have special powers when doing fractions. Starting a New Game 1. Make sure you are in the fraction directory. If not, type cd\fraction. Then press "Enter ". 2. Type "fract" then press "Enter " . 3. When the game begins, you must decide if you want to play the game or practice using the keys. 4. Choose one or two players by pressing the appropriate number. 5. Enter your name at the prompt. 6. Choose male or female. 7. If this is your first time you can choose the level of game difficulty. Levels range from 1 to 3 with level 1 being the easiest and level 3 being the hardest. 8. Choose your hero. Choice 1 is the lightest; choice 3 is the darkest. 9. Speech on / off. If you have sufficient memory and at least a 80386 computer, you can use speech. Saving a Game There are three ways to save a game. a) At any time push the escape key (esc) and then press F2. b) Press Esc to quit then press Esc again. When prompted to save the game, press Y or esc. Note: With two players, only the active player's game is saved. The other player can save his game when it is his turn. Quitting a Game At any time press escape (esc), and then press esc again. To save the game press 'Y' or esc again. If you quit without saving or escaping in this manner, your current results will not be saved. With two players, each person must press esc to quit. Continuing a Game At the prompt for your name, type your name exactly as spelled before. Using the Mouse The mouse can be used anywhere in the game except for moving and shooting in Greecia. Point the cursor to the object on the screen desired and click with the left mouse button. Music Two types of music are available: midi music files and PC speaker music. Midi music plays on any SoundBlaster or true hardware compatible sound card. Note: the following two sound cards are only compatible when emulation drivers are loaded: Mediavision Pro Audio Spectrum; Gravis Ultrasound (also called GUS). If no sound card is present, the program automatically defaults to PC speaker music. In some cases you may wish to force the game to play PC speaker music to reduce memory requirements or because of problems with the sound card. To force PC speaker music add /j to the fract command. Example: fract /j If you wish to begin the game with the music turned off, add /m to the fract command. Example: fract /m If you wish to turn the music on or off during the game, hit esc. and then F4. Speech Speech requires a machine with at least a 80386 processor. A 80486 or better is recommended. Speech through the PC speaker on a slower machine such as a 386sx requires that an expanded memory manager be installed. PC speaker speech should not be used when running through Windows. The speech is of poor quality. In all situations, it is best to use an expanded memory manager such as EMM386.exe because it is faster than extended memory, and it reduces the memory requirements. See your DOS manual to add this to your config.sys file. For speech to work, you must have selected the correct sound card during the installation of the program. If you selected the wrong card, you must reinstall the program. If you are using SoundBlaster, you must insure that the hardware port and the hardware interrupt are properly set. The default port value is 220 and the default interrupt (IRQ level) is 7. If either of these values is different, you must either reinstall the program or edit the batch file fract.bat. To change from the default interrupt value of 7 to an interrupt value of 5, edit the line in fract.bat that begins with SoundBST. The first parameter is for the port address, the second is for the interrupt. For example: SoundBST /p220 /i5 means port 220 and interrupt 5. If you are using the Covox Speech Thing, you must insure that the correct parallel port is used. You could possibly have your printer or another device connected to this port. The default parallel port number is 1. Edit fract.bat in the following way to change the parallel port: SoundCVX /p0 default value of port 1; SoundCVX /p1 port value of 2; SoundCVX /p2 port value of 3. Object of the Game The object is to return to the future, 2135, to escape the curse of Dr. Ronan. You do this by traveling through Greecia, learning fractions, and fighting the ancient creatures you meet. After you destroy the Green Dragon in the Labyrinth, you can enter the time portal which takes you back to the future. Greecia Each level and location in Greecia has three scenes. Your objective is to get to the last scene while scoring as many points as possible and gathering as many potions as possible. All potions have very powerful magic, and some of the potions are necessary for you to successfully travel through Greecia. Be wary of bad potions left by Ronan. Zeus has marked these with an X. Explore all areas because there are a few scattered invisible potions. These have special powers when doing fractions. At the end of each game level you must fight Ronan's Main Minion. To do this, you must prove yourself worthy in three ways: 1) You must increase in wisdom and intelligence in fractions and rise to a higher rank. 2) You must kill the creatures guarding the Minion in the third scene. 3) You must demonstrate your intelligence on a Test of Worthiness. The Test requires you to demonstrate your Fraction Knowledge from all the gems you have passed. (Hint: seek all gems and write them down.) If you fail the Test of Worthiness, you must complete the game level again. After you have passed the level, you will see your progress on the map, then you will see Zeus and Iris in the cave. Ronan and his Evil Minions. Alloni the Evil Guardian. Alloni was last seen hiding in the Deadwood Forest. He is purple because he is full of rage at the thought that you would enter his forest. Presently he is sleeping. If you destroy enough of his creatures, he will awake to meet you. Markus the Pirate. Markus lives in Pirate's Cove and is the head pirate. Be careful not to anger Markus because he throws things and he might just throw you. Mars, god of War. Mars is currently teaching battle strategies in the acropolis. All good Grecians look to Markus for the extra edge when fighting their enemies. He has many tricks up his sleeve and is a formidable opponent. Armageddon, the eight legged monster. Armageddon was once the most beautiful woman in Greecia. She was changed into a bug years ago by a terrible enemy. Since then she has been so full of anger she destroys anyone who attempts to cross the plains. She guards the passages leading to the mountains. Daala, the Snow Beast. Daala is a white creature dressed in a red cape who guards Monster Mountain. Few people appreciate Daala's chilly approach to battle. Be careful or Daala will cool you off. Daala is said to be very cool. Gorgon, the fish. Gorgon is a former god who used to live on the Haunted Beach. A while back he angered Zeus who then turned him into a fish and condemned him to swim in the sea. Unfortunately, to get to the caves you must go through the sea. Any friend of Zeus is an enemy of Gorgon. Zoil, the cave bat. Zoil may look human but don't be fooled. Zoil has the ability to transform himself into the features of the last human he killed. He expects to make another transformation soon. The Green Dragon. The ancient Mooglish were an advanced civilization that developed a time portal to move to different time periods. It is said that all the Mooglish went to the future to escape their enemies in battle. They left behind a green dragon to guard the portal to insure that no one would follow them. You must destroy the Green Dragon to enter the portal to return to your time period. Inside Greecia, windows, action, etc. Left Window Tells how many fraction problems are left before you can advance to the next scene. There are three scenes. Points Window This is the total number of points earned so far. Weapon Window Identifies the weapon currently in use. Gather stronger weapons as you travel. Level Window This gives the level and scene of your farthest advancement. For example, 4 - 3 means you have advanced to level 4, scene 3. Note that you can go backwards. It is possible to be on level 4 - 1 or 4 - 2 even though this window says 4 - 3. Lives Window This tells the number of lives you have before you die and are sent back to the beginning of the current level and scene. Location Window This gives the present level and scene of your actual location. This is different from the level window if you have gone backwards. Help Button "H" This button gives on screen information about key movements, potions, weapons, etc. Magic Button "M" Either press on the button or click with the mouse on the icon in the magic window. These are special potions that will increase your power, speed, invincibility, etc. POTION LETTER DESCRIPTION L Slows all your enemies. S Speeds you up. Needed to walk in some locations. I Makes you invincible to weapons. F Freezes your enemies though they can still shoot. P Powers up your weapons. D Anti-Gravity. Allows you to walk in the air. W Allows you to walk on items that might otherwise kill you. T Walk through walls that would normally stop you. Z Become spiritual like Zeus-most powerful of all. You can walk on air and are invincible. J Jump through spirit world and appear on other side of Greecia. Use carefully. O Walk off into spirit world. (Actually walk in spirit world where no one can touch you.) N Lanterns to light up your life and your world. These are needed in dark places in Greecia. Gems provide Number Wisdom as you pick them up. These will be used in the TEST OF WORTHINESS. (HINT: Pick up every gem you see and write down its message.) Calculators can be used when doing fractions to help you solve problems. (HINT: These are important in game difficulty 2 and 3. Invisible Freeze Clocks can be used in the when doing fractions to stop the clock.(NOTE: There are few of these but they are very valuable.) Escape Button "Esc" Esc - escape is always available everywhere in the game. When Esc is pushed, a menu appears and these keys are presented: Esc Quit the game. F1 Save the game of the currently active player. F2 Delete a game (cannot delete present game). This is not active if /D command line option used. Enter the name teacher to delete names. See command line options. F3 Turn the music on or off. F4 Turn the sound effects on or off. F5 Increase the game speed. The game starts at maximum speed. This will probably only be needed on very fast computers after first being slowed down. F6 Slow the game speed. This will probably only be needed on very fast computers. F7 Print names and scores. F8 If you use speech, this will turn the speech on and off. Solving Fractions, windows, buttons, etc. Left Window Tells how many fraction problems are left before you can advance to the next scene. There are three scenes. Clock Window This is the number clock which starts at 0 when you begin a new problem and continues until you finish or change the problem. If you use a Freeze Clock potion (F), this clock will halt until you begin a new problem. Points Window This is the total number of points earned so far. Level Window This gives the level and scene of your farthest advancement. For example, 4 - 3 means you have advanced to level 4, scene 3. Note that you can go backwards. It is possible to be on level 4 - 1 or 4 - 2 even though this window says 4 - 3. Freeze Clock Button "F" If you have earned a freeze clock potion in Greecia, you can spend it here. This can increase your point value. (Hint: Use this in the beginning of a problem.) Calculator Button "C" The number of calculators you have depends on the degree of difficulty (when you started) and the number of calculators you picked up in Greecia. Press "C" to make the calculator appear. There are two ways to exit the calculator: press or click on "Q" or use insert. "Insert" removes the calculator, inserts your answer onto the answer line, and presses enter for you. This is a fast way to decrease your time and work. Make sure, however, the final answer is the correct answer to the problem. The calculator does three types of problems: whole numbers, decimals, and fractions. Note: the calculator will not do fractions if you choose to not allow fraction during the installation. To change this later, add or remove /B in Fract.bat. /B means you CANNOT do fractions in the calculator. Whole numbers are the same as decimals except when dividing. Whole numbers have remainders and decimals don't. Use the 'R' key to switch between 'Remainder On' and 'Remainder Off'. If you divide and the remainder is off, the answer is in decimals. For fractions use (up arrow) to insert a numerator and use (down arrow) to insert a denominator. To insert a whole number use CTRL . Also, if you keep pressing the space bar, the cursor cycles between numerator, denominator, and whole number. The answer to any fraction problem will be a fraction reduced to lowest terms. Hint: For faster speed on a problem involving two or more steps and when the answer to the first step is the beginning to the next step, use = twice rathe than the enter key. This places the answer into the first part of the next problem. For example: suppose you wanted to add 4 + 5 and then subtract 6 from the answer. Enter: 4 + 5 = = This places 9 into the next problem. Enter: - 6 = You will see 9 - 6 = 3. Enter: Ins The answer, 3 is entered into the game and your results are seen. Hint Button "H" Whenever help is needed push H. This will give you the next hint. Hints always start with hint 1 (Hn 1) and can go up to hint 6, depending on the problem. The last hint gives the answer to the problem. Zeus always tells you when you are on the last hint so you can choose not to see it. In general you get more points when you use fewer hints. (HINT: When a problem is extremely difficult, it is often faster to see all the hints. This is because it increases your understanding of the complete solution process.) If you wish to see a hint again, push the keys F1 - F5 that correspond to hints 1 - 5. Repeat Button "R" If speech is on, this will repeat the problem. Escape Button "Esc" Esc - escape is always available everywhere in the game. When Esc is pushed, a menu appears and these keys are presented: Esc Quit the game. F1 Save the game of the currently active player. F2 Delete a game (cannot delete present game). Not active if /D command line option used. In this case use the name teacher to delete names. See command line options. F3 Turn the music on or off. F4 Turn the sound effects on or off. F5 Increase the game speed. The game starts at maximum speed. This will probably only be needed on very fast computers after first being slowed down. F6 Slow the game speed. This will probably only be needed on very fast computers. F7 Print names and scores. F8 If you use speech, this will turn the speech on and off. Whole Number Button " CTRL " This allows you to return to whole numbers after typing numerators or denominators. Use CTRL (CTRL + ) to type whole numbers or push the space bar. Numerator Button " " Use the (up arrow) to insert a numerator or push the space bar. Denominator Button " " Use the (down arrow) to insert a denominator or push the space bar. Pressing the space bar allows you to move between numerator, denominator, and whole number. Advancement in Fractions To gain enough wisdom and intelligence to defeat Ronan's minions in Greecia you must rise to a higher rank. There are 8 ranks. They are: RANK MINION GAME LOCATION SCENES NEEDED TO FIGHT LEVEL Peasant (Travels through game level 1 but can't complete) Soldier Alloni 1 Deadwood Forest 1-3 Commander Markus 2 Pirate's Cove 4-6 Commando Mars 3 Acropolis 7-9 Hero Armageddon 4 Plains of Sorrow 10-12 Master Daala 5 Monster Mountain 13-15 Grandmaster Gorgon 6 Haunted Beach 16-18 Superhero Zoil 7 Caves of Death 19-21 Superhero Green Dragon 8 Labyrinth 22-24 To advance a rank, such as from Peasant to Soldier, you must pass three scenes. There are 8 levels with 3 scenes each level. 8 ranks are available. If you get the first three problems in a scene correct with no hints, Zeus will let you skip the remainder of the fractions in that scene. Zeus is constantly watching your performance in Fractions. If you answer wrong or use too many hints, you will see the problem again. However, next time, he'll change the numbers. Gems This is a complete listing of all gems needed to pass the test of worthiness. Beginner FRACTION: a number to name 'part' of a whole. NUMERATOR is the number on top of a 'fraction'. DENOMINATOR is the number on the 'bottom'. WHOLE NUMBER is the number on the 'left' side. DENOMINATOR tells the number of 'parts' that make up the whole. PROPER FRACTION: numerator is 'less' than the denominator. IMPROPER FRACTION: numerator is 'greater' than the denominator. MIXED NUMBER: a whole number and a 'fraction'. yd is read 'SQUARE' YARDS. ft is read 'SQUARE' FEET. To find ft 'multiply' FEET X FEET. GRAMS measure metric 'mass' or how heavy. SQUARE METERS measure metric 'area' or length x width. SQUARE MILLIMETERS measure a small metric 'area'. SQUARE KILOMETERS measure a large metric 'area'. Find EQUIVALENT FRACTIONS by dividing or 'multiplying'. LOWEST TERMS means reduced to simplest 'form'. FACTORS: two numbers 'multiplied' to form a product. PINTS measure 'volume': how high, wide, & deep. 1 MILE equals '5280' feet. SQUARE MILES measure 'area': how long x how wide. KILO means '1000' times. KILOLITER means 1000 'liters'. MILLI means divide into '1000' parts. 1000 MILLIMETERS = 1 'meter'. 1000 MILLIGRAMS = 1 'gram'. 100 CENTIMETERS equal 1 'meter'. COMMON FACTOR: two numbers have the 'same' factor. GREATEST COMMON FACTOR: biggest 'factor' of 2 numbers. The GREATEST 'COMMON' FACTOR of 16 and 20 is 4. Fraction to DECIMAL: divide the numerator by the 'denominator'. DECIMAL to fraction: divide the 'decimal' part by the decimal place value. The TENTHS PLACE is the 'first' decimal place. The HUNDREDTHS PLACE is the 'second' decimal place. RECIPROCAL means turn the fraction 'upside' down. RECIPROCAL: two 'numbers' whose product is 1. INVERT means turn the 'fraction' upside down. To 'divide' fractions multiply by the RECIPROCAL. 1 POUND = 16 'ounces'. 1 GALLON = 4 'quarts'. 1 YARD = 3 'feet'. 1 YARD = 36 'inches'. SQUARE FEET = length X 'width': how long x how wide. 1 LITER = '1000' milliliters. '1000' GRAMS = 1 kilogram. 1/10 in 'DECIMALS' is 0.1. 1/100 in DECIMALS is '0.01'. 1/1000 in DECIMALS is '0.001'. Advanced FRACTION: a number to name 'part' of a whole. NUMERATOR is the number on top of a 'fraction'. DENOMINATOR is the number on the 'bottom'. WHOLE NUMBER is the number on the 'left' side. DENOMINATOR tells number of 'parts' that make up the whole. PROPER FRACTION: numerator 'less' than denominator. IMPROPER FRACTION: numerator 'greater' than denominator. MIXED NUMBER: whole number and a 'fraction'. Find EQUIVALENT FRACTIONS by dividing or 'multiplying'. LOWEST TERMS means reduced to simplest 'form'. FACTORS: two numbers 'multiplied' to form a product. COMMON FACTOR: two numbers have the 'same' factor. GREATEST COMMON FACTOR: biggest 'factor' of 2 numbers. The GREATEST 'COMMON' FACTOR of 16 and 20 is 4. Fraction to DECIMAL: divide the numerator by the 'denominator'. DECIMAL to fraction: divide the 'decimal' part by the decimal place value. The TENTHS PLACE is the 'first' decimal place. The HUNDREDTHS PLACE is the 'second' decimal place. The THOUSANDTHS PLACE is the 'third' decimal place. The TEN THOUSANDTHS PLACE is the 'fourth' decimal place. The HUNDRED THOUSANDTHS PLACE is the 'fifth' decimal place. RECIPROCAL means turn the fraction 'upside' down. RECIPROCAL: two 'numbers' whose product is 1. INVERT means turn the 'fraction' upside down. To 'divide' fractions multiply by the RECIPROCAL. Five MULTIPLES of 4 are: 4, 8, '12', 16, 20. To add fractions with LIKE DENOMINATORS, add the 'numerators'. To subtract fractions with LIKE DENOMINATORS, 'subtract' the numerators. COMMON MULTIPLE: a number is a 'multiple' of two numbers. LEAST COMMON MULTIPLE: smallest 'multiple' common to two numbers. LEAST COMMON DENOMINATOR: smallest multiple of all 'denominators'. To add MIXED NUMBERS rewrite using the least 'common' denominator. To subtract MIXED NUMBERS rewrite using the least 'common' denominator. A RATIO is a 'comparison' of two numbers by division. A PROPORTION is a statement that two 'ratios' are equivalent. UNIT PRICE: how much a product 'costs' for a given unit. PERCENT means per 'hundred'. To change decimal to PERCENT multiply by '100'. OF in percent statements is another word for 'times'. IS in mathematics is another word for 'equals'. % is a symbol for 'percent'. Decimal to PERCENT: multiply by 100 and add a 'percent' sign. PERCENT to decimal: 'divide' by 100 and omit the percent sign. Fraction to percent: convert to 'decimal' then change to a percent. PERCENT of a number: convert percent to decimal or fraction than 'multiply'. PERCENT of one number to another: 'Divide' then convert decimal to percent. Find a number when PERCENT of it is known: percent to decimal than 'divide'. Find PERCENT OF change: 'Subtract' for amount of change, divide for percent. Command Line Options Some aspects of the game can be controlled at startup by using command line parameters. These are: /B Review Problems Active at end /C Disable Calculator /D Disable Deleting names /E Extra Memory Forced /F Short Cut /H Display help /I Fraction Calculator Off /J PC Speaker Music Forced /L Shows directory of records for CD-ROM version /M Disable music /S Disable sound effects /X Speech uses XMS memory first Example: This will disable music and sound effects. c:\fract /M /S Educational Comments for Parents and Teachers The purpose of this program is to teach people how to solve fraction, decimal, ratio, proportion, and percent word problems ranging from 5th grade to 8th grade. 240 separate math problems are presented in two sections of 120 problems each. The first 120 problems are at the beginning level, and the second 120 problems are at the advanced level. A player chooses his level at the beginning. Each problem is presented with random numbers so they keep changing. The unique feature of this program is that each problem is given a complete step by step solution through a series of hints. The player chooses to see as many hints as desired. As a problem randomly changes, so does the unique hints and the solution. All problems are solved with graphics so the player not only sees the numbers which represent the unique random solution, but the player also sees pictures corresponding to the random numbers. In this way a player not only sees the mathematical solution, but can also see the reasoning and logic underlying the mathematical solution. In the Beginning Level the sequential progression of problems is: 1) the concepts of numerator and denominator; 2) understanding a fraction; 3) understanding mixed numbers; 4) proper fractions; 5) improper fractions; 6) conversions between mixed numbers and improper fractions; 7) reducing fractions; 8) multiplying fractions; 9) dividing fractions. In the advanced level the sequential progression is: 10) reviewing multiplying and dividing fractions; 11) addition of fractions; 12) subtraction of fractions; 13) decimal - fraction conversions; 14) ratios; 15) proportions; 16) percents. Ten problem types are presented, developed, and reinforced throughout the game. These are: 1) numeration; 2 customary weight (pounds, ounces, etc.); 3) customary volume (quarts, gallons, etc.); 4) customary length (inches, feet, etc.); 5) customary area (square inches, square feet, etc.); 6) money in dollars and cents (dollars, cents); 7) metric length (meters, kilometers, etc.); 8) metric volume (liters, kiloliters, etc.); 9) metric mass (grams, kilograms, etc.); 10) metric area (square meters, square kilometers, etc.); The program assumes there are four reasons people experience difficulty in solving math word problems. These are: 1) poor motivation to succeed; 2) an inability to interpret key vocabulary words; 3) an inability to form a mental picture of the problem; 4) an inability to focus on the processes involved in word problems. These four difficulties are addressed in these ways: 1) Poor Motivation The game is presented in the context of a story during which a player must move back and forth between an arcade game and the math problems. A player must succeed in both to win the game. In addition, because the focus of the game is thinking skills, a convenient calculator is provided to remove calculating mistakes as a source of error. 2) Vocabulary Words In the beginning math levels, key vocabulary words are the focus of the initial hints. These are then displayed on the main screen after first viewed. Also the TEST OF WORTHINESS in Greecia requires the memorization of "Gems". These involve vocabulary words or formulas such as 16 ounces = 1 pound. A player cannot proceed without this. 3) Forming a Mental Picture The math section attempts to show the relationship between words and pictures in two ways. When the first hint is selected, a picture of the problem is illustrated focusing on the overall concept involved in the problem. Since there are 240 unique word problems, 240 pictures are available. The second way is by using small pictures to represent all the elements in the word problem. Hints 2 - 6 (minimum three hints, maximum six hints) explicitly solve the problem. The number of pictures used corresponds to the number of items presented in the problem. Since each problem varies randomly each time it's presented, the hints also vary each time. 4) Focusing on the Processes involved The most difficult part of learning to solve word problems is to focus on the processes involved. When given the solution to a problem, most students try to memorize the answer without understanding the underlying concept. Since the numbers inside the word problems are randomly generated, and their order of presentation is mixed, students cannot memorize an answer when they do the problem more than once. What's more, not only do the problems change every time, but the hints change every time to reflect the different numbers in the problems. This forces the student to focus on the underlying processes. To further insure that a student cannot "pass" the problem by looking at all the hints or "mindlessly" memorizing the process without understanding it, the problem will be presented again. To "pass" a problem and not see the problem again, the player's first attempt at an answer must be correct, and the player may not use more than one hint. If either of these conditions is violated, the problem will reappear. This will continue until the problem is answered correctly the first time with no more than one hint. It is suggested that players take notes when doing math problems. This will help when remembering formulas and procedures previously presented.