How to Make a Number Line in PowerPoint

Making a nice number line in PowerPoint is quick and easy - it should only take about 10-15 minutes. These instructions are really just a frame for learning a few neat formatting tricks that will make using PowerPoint for graphical interfaces like posters (or even presentations!) a snap.

The first thing is to "Insert" a "Shape" (in this case a line) and choose the color, thickness, and other effects using "Format" in "Drawing Tools".
To make sure the line is straight, hold the "Shift" key down as you drag it out.
Make a smaller line for the tick marks, and copy paste however many times you'd like. The position doesn't matter - we'll straighten those out in a minute.

Left-click and drag the mouse  to highlight all of the ticks fully. 
When you release the mouse button, all of the ticks will be selected.
PowerPoint will only select shapes (or images) if it is entirely within the highlighted area, so you can be very selective by leaving out even a tiny particle of a shape.
If you select objects that you didn't want to select, just hold the <CTRL> key down and click on them to deselect.

Once you've selected everything, go to the "Format" window and look to the far left for the "Align" menu.  This menu gives you many options and, if you haven't yet,  you should definitely experiment and figure out what they all do and think about how they can be useful. These tickmarks need to be aligned horizontally, so choose "Align Middle" (although really top or bottom would also work fine in this case.)

Now, click anywhere else on the slide to deselect all of the ticks. Choose one and drag it all the way to one side so that the tick on the left and the tick on the right are in the desired positions.  (You can drag it around without ruining alignment by holding the <Shift> button down.
Once they are in place, go back to the "Align" menu and choose "Distribute Horizontally".  Congratulations! You have a number line (albeit blank).

Adding the numbers is easy too - just use text boxes and the align menu to get them straight and in place.

Math with Microsoft

Microsoft OneNote has many excellent features that support note-taking and searchability, but there are too many to list in one post.  This post will focus on math and OneNote.

First of all, there is a built in calculator in OneNote that can be used when typing.  Just type the calculations, add an equals sign and press enter:

(Note that trigonometric functions in OneNote are in degrees rather than radians.)  For a list of mathematical operations and supported functions, check out the informational page at Microsoft.com.

Microsoft OneNote makes it easy to ink mathematics using the "Ink to Math" option:


It does pretty well at guessing what you mean - but the more information it has, the  better it can guess.  So expect to see it adjust frequently as you write.

Once you are comfortable with the Ink to Math feature, using Microsoft Mathematics can give many more options.  Microsoft Mathematics is a free download and can be used independently, but once you have installed it then you can also install the add-in for OneNote. This gives many options.  You can use the add-in to graph equations.

You can also use it to factor or expand polynomial expressions, find derivatives or integrals, or even plot graphs in 2D or 3D:

The best part about this is that you can use this in class as a substitute for chalk and blackboard, and then print the notes to pdf so the students can use them as a resource, or to create their own activities in OneNote.