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Minnesota Standards

Minnesota 8th Grade Math Standards

All 38 Minnesota math standards for 8th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Minnesota Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

38 standards

Data and Probability

6 standards
8.1.1.1
Pose statistical questions about how data varies, how groups differ, or whether two number variables are linked, like height and arm span.
8.1.1.2
Make a scatter plot of two measurements, like height and shoe size, and describe clusters, outliers and whether the points trend up, down, in a line or in a curve.
Common Core 8.SP.1
8.1.1.3
Decide when a straight line fits the trend in a scatter plot, sketch a line of best fit by eye, and judge how closely the points hug it.
8.1.1.4
Use the equation of a trend line to answer questions about paired data, like predicting a plant's height on day 20, and explain slope and intercepts in context.
8.1.1.5
Make data displays, like tables and scatter plots, with labels and details that tell the data's story and support a claim.
8.1.1.6
Compare and share rival explanations for a data trend, judging whether a model's predictions are reasonable and whether a link shows cause or just correlation.

Spatial Reasoning

6 standards
8.2.3.1
Explain informally why the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse hold, using measurements, diagrams or computer tools.
8.2.3.2
Use the Pythagorean Theorem in multi-step real problems to find missing sides of right triangles in flat shapes and in 3D ones, like a box's diagonal.
8.2.3.3
Find the distance between two points on a coordinate grid, counting along a horizontal or vertical line or using the Pythagorean Theorem for slanted ones.
8.2.4.1
Explain with similar triangles why a line's slope is the same between any two of its points, and derive the equations y = mx and y = mx + b.
Common Core 8.EE.6
8.2.4.2
Given a line and a point off it on a coordinate grid, find lines through the point that are parallel or perpendicular to it, by hand or with graphing tools.
8.2.4.3
Tell whether a system of two linear equations has no solution, one or infinitely many, and link that to slopes and lines that cross, run parallel or match.

Patterns and Relationships

26 standards
8.3.5.1
Sort real numbers into rational and irrational, and know that the square root of a positive whole number is irrational unless it is a whole number, like √2.
8.3.5.2
Use nearby fractions or decimals to compare irrational numbers, place them roughly on a number line and estimate expressions, like √10 is just over 3.
8.3.5.3
Use the rules for positive and negative integer exponents to rewrite number expressions, like 2⁵ × 2⁻³ = 2².
8.3.5.4
Write very large or small numbers in scientific notation, like 3.2 × 10⁶, read how calculators show it, and compare such numbers with <, >, =, ≤ and ≥.
8.3.5.5
Find products and quotients of numbers written in scientific notation, like 2 × 10³ times 4 × 10⁵ is 8 × 10⁸, keeping the answer in that form.
8.3.5.6
Find and compare simple and compound interest in real situations, with interest compounded once a year, like $500 at 4% for 3 years.
8.3.5.7
Compare how the interest rate and length of a loan change the total cost of borrowing, finding the full amount repaid under different rates and terms.
8.3.5.8
Compare jobs by how they pay, like hourly with or without tips, salary, daily rate or pay per piece, and back money choices with tables, graphs or linear equations.
8.3.6.1
Rewrite algebraic expressions into equal forms, explaining each step by naming the property used, like commutative, associative, distributive, identity or inverse.
8.3.6.2
Evaluate expressions with square roots and absolute values for given variable values using the order of operations, like 3√x when x = 16.
8.3.6.3
Solve one-variable equations that take several steps, like 2x + 3 = 5x - 9, rearrange formulas like A = lw for w, and justify steps with properties of equality.
8.3.6.4
Use the link between squaring and square roots to solve problems, like finding a square garden's side from its area of 49 square feet.
8.3.6.5
Write linear relationships in point-slope and standard form, like 2x + 3y = 6, and convert them to slope-intercept form.
8.3.6.6
Reason with variables standing for points, slopes and intercepts to compare the general forms of a line, like two-point, point-slope, standard and slope-intercept.
8.3.6.7
Write multi-step linear inequalities for real situations, like 15 + 4x ≤ 50, solve them with inequality properties, then graph and explain solutions on a number line.
8.3.6.8
Write and solve equations and inequalities with the absolute value of a linear expression, like |x - 3| = 5, from real situations, and graph solutions on a number line.
8.3.6.9
Model real situations with two linear equations, solve the system by algebra and by graphing, and explain that the solution is where the lines cross.
8.3.7.1
Compare graphs of proportional and non-proportional linear relationships, noting slope and whether the line passes through the origin.
8.3.7.2
Tell linear from non-linear picture patterns, and for linear ones describe the change, find the nth term and write an equation for it.
8.3.7.3
Know a function gives each input one output and graphs as those pairs, write it in function notation, and see a steady input change cause a proportional output change.
8.3.7.4
Show a linear function as a table, words, an equation and a graph, and move from any of these to another, like a table to y = 3x + 1.
8.3.7.5
Explain how changing m or b in y = mx + b tilts or shifts the line, check with graphing tools, and see the line as y = mx moved up or down b units.
8.3.7.6
Find a linear function's slope, y-intercept and x-intercept, knowing its graph is straight, slope is the rate of change, and intercepts are where x or y is 0.
8.3.7.7
Recognize an arithmetic sequence, like 5, 8, 11, 14, as a linear function y = 3x + 5 for x = 0, 1, 2, 3 and so on.
8.3.7.8
Recognize a geometric sequence, like 3, 6, 12, 24, as a non-linear function that multiplies by the same number each step, written as y = 3 × 2^x.
8.3.7.9
Show arithmetic and geometric sequences with equations, tables, graphs and words, and use them to solve problems, like savings that grow each week.

The official Minnesota documents

The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Minnesota's standards, not the official wording, which Minnesota Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.