MTH1W is the one Grade 9 math course every Ontario student now takes. It replaced a choice between two courses, it asks students to code as part of algebra, and its results feed into a provincial assessment. This guide reads the course straight from the 2021 curriculum documents, then works one coding-for-algebra problem in Python. Our lessons support what the school teaches, and we do not grant Ontario credits: the MTH1W credit comes from the school.
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In short
MTH1W is Ontario’s de-streamed Grade 9 math course, issued in 2021, which replaced the separate applied and academic courses. It covers number, algebra, data, geometry and measurement, and financial literacy, and its coding expectation C2.1 links code to variables and equations. Modern Age Coders gives MTH1W help live online, in a batch or one to one.
Learn it with a teacher
Three courses for a student taking MTH1W
Algebra is the heart of the course, so it comes first. The other two cover the wider math and the coding strand.
Before 2021, Ontario students entering Grade 9 chose between an academic and an applied math course. MTH1W ended that choice. The ministry’s parent information puts it simply: “Starting September 2021, there will be one new Grade 9 math course for all students.”
MTH1W at a glance, from the Ontario curriculum website’s course record and parent information (read 22 October 2026)
What the source says
Course code and name
MTH1W, Mathematics, Grade 9
Year issued
2021
Destination
Listed as Destreamed
Prerequisite
None
What changed
“This means that there will no longer be applied or academic courses for Grade 9 math.”
The term
“There is strong evidence that supports not having Grade 8 students choose between applied and academic courses when they enter Grade 9. This is called de-streaming.”
What it replaced
“This course supersedes the two Grade 9 courses outlined in The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10: Mathematics, 2005”
What it builds on
“The new Grade 9 math course builds on the 2020 elementary (Grades 1 to 8) mathematics curriculum”
Credit
“Each of the courses listed above is worth one credit.”
Why the ministry made the change
The parent information lists several benefits it expects from de-streaming, among them “setting high academic standards for all students”, “enabling students with a range of skills and interests to learn together” and “keeping future options open for all students (for example, going to college, university or apprenticeship)”.
The practical effect for a family is that no Grade 8 student has to pick a math track before they know what they want to study. Everyone takes MTH1W, and the choices start in Grade 10.
What it means in the classroom
One course for everyone means one classroom with a wider range of starting points. A student who found Grade 8 math easy sits beside one who found it hard, and the teacher plans for both.
In our first classes we see both kinds of student. The confident ones sometimes coast and then meet linear relations unprepared; the anxious ones often know more than they think. Either way, the remedy is the same: secure fractions, integers and the meaning of a variable early in the term.
Source: The Ontario Curriculum: Mathematics, Grade 9 (MTH1W, 2021), the course record, its context section and its parent information, read through the curriculum website’s content service on 22 October 2026. We left out of this page one line of the benefit list that names groups of students. Modern Age Coders works independently of the Ontario Ministry of Education.
Inside the course
The MTH1W strands and what each one asks
MTH1W has seven strands in all. The first two, social-emotional learning skills and Mathematical Thinking and Making Connections, run through the course; the other five carry the content. The course description sums up the approach: “Students will use mathematical processes, mathematical modelling, and coding to make sense of the mathematics they are learning”.
MTH1W strands with one expectation quoted from each content strand (MTH1W curriculum, 2021, read 22 October 2026); the last column is ours
Strand
One expectation, quoted
What students usually find hard (ours)
AA. Social-Emotional Learning Skills
Developed “in connection with the expectations across all other strands”
Sticking with a problem after the first wrong attempt
A. Mathematical Thinking and Making Connections
Apply the mathematical processes to develop “a conceptual understanding of, and procedural fluency with, the mathematics they are learning”
Explaining a method, not only using it
B. Number
Use the sign and size of an exponent to “express numbers in scientific notation and evaluate powers”
Negative exponents, and operations with negative fractions
C. Algebra
“compare two linear relations of the form y = a x + b graphically and algebraically, and interpret the meaning of their point of intersection in terms of a given context”
Saying what the point of intersection means in words
D. Data
Analyse one-variable data in various ways, “including the use of quartile values and box plots”
Reading a box plot backwards, from picture to data
E. Geometry and Measurement
Solve problems involving “the side-length relationship for right triangles in real-life situations”
Choosing which side is the hypotenuse in a diagram that is turned around
F. Financial Literacy
Compare how interest rates, borrowing time and down payments affect the cost of a purchase
Mostly reading the situation carefully; we teach it from the class materials
Strand C is the centre of the course
Algebra in MTH1W covers expressions and equations (C1), coding (C2), applications of relations (C3) and characteristics of relations (C4). Linear relations appear in three of the four, and coding is expected to support all of them.
The jump from Grade 8 is real. In Grade 8 a student finds a value; in MTH1W they compare whole relations, their rates of change and initial values, and explain what a graph means in context.
Where coding fits
The MTH1W document says students “will extend and apply coding skills to dynamically represent situations, analyse mathematics concepts, and solve problems in various contexts.” The C2 overall expectation places that work “in algebra and across the other strands”.
So the coding in MTH1W is not a separate unit to get through. A good teacher uses it whenever a pattern, a relation or a large data set is easier to see by running code than by drawing by hand.
Expectation C2
The MTH1W coding expectations, C2.1 to C2.3
Strand C sets one overall expectation for coding: students will “apply coding skills to represent mathematical concepts and relationships dynamically, and to solve problems, in algebra and across the other strands”. Three specific expectations sit under it.
MTH1W coding expectations, quoted (MTH1W curriculum, 2021, read 22 October 2026); the right column is ours
Expectation
In the curriculum’s words
In plain language (ours)
C2.1
“use coding to demonstrate an understanding of algebraic concepts including variables, parameters, equations, and inequalities”
Show you understand algebra by using it in code: store values, hold a constant, test an equation, test a range
C2.2
“create code by decomposing situations into computational steps in order to represent mathematical concepts and relationships, and to solve problems”
Break a situation into steps a computer can follow, then write them
C2.3
“read code to predict its outcome, and alter code to adjust constraints, parameters, and outcomes to represent a similar or new mathematical situation”
Read someone’s code, say what it will do, then change it for a new case
What C2.1 means by its four words
The curriculum’s examples spell out each idea. Variables are used to “store data temporarily” and to access and alter it. A parameter acts as a placeholder “to represent a quantity that influences the output of a mathematical object but is viewed as being held constant”; in y = ax, the a.
Equations in code assign values and test equality; inequalities test a range. In our worked example below, the start height and burn rate are parameters, the height at each hour is a variable, the equal heights are an equation and “taller” is an inequality.
Coding arrives with history
MTH1W students are not starting from zero. The teacher notes tell teachers to “make connections to prior learning in coding from the elementary grades, such as using loops, conditional statements, and subprograms”, since Ontario students have had coding in math since Grade 1.
In practice that prior learning varies widely. Some Grade 9 students have written Python for years; others have only dragged blocks once or twice. Neither the curriculum nor the course record names a coding language or tool.
Coding for algebra, ours
A worked MTH1W example: two linear relations in Python
A problem we made up for this guide, pitched at MTH1W Strand C. It touches C2.1 (variables, parameters, an equation, inequalities), C2.3 (alter a parameter and predict) and C3.3 (the meaning of a point of intersection). The program ran in Python 3 and the output is printed below it.
The problem. Candle A is 30 cm tall and burns down 2 cm every hour. Candle B is 20 cm tall and burns 1 cm an hour. Both are lit at the same moment. When are they the same height, and what does that moment mean?
Name the relations. Height of A: y = 30 − 2x. Height of B: y = 20 − x, where x is hours since lighting. Both are linear, with negative rates of change.
Pick out the parameters. The start heights (30 and 20) and the burn rates (2 and 1) stay fixed for each candle. In code they become arguments to one function, so the same function serves both candles.
Decompose the situation. For each hour: work out both heights, stop if either candle is gone, then compare. That is C2.2 in four lines.
Solve it by algebra too. 30 − 2x = 20 − x gives x = 10, and both heights are then 10 cm. The code should agree; if it does not, one of them is wrong.
Interpret the intersection. Before hour 10, A is taller; after it, B is taller. The point (10, 10) is the moment the order changes, which is what C3.3 asks students to put into words.
Python · two candles (ours)python
# Two candles, two linear relations: when are they the same height? (ours)
def height(start, rate, hours):
"""Height in cm of a candle that starts at start cm and burns rate cm per hour."""
return start - rate * hours
a_start, a_rate = 30, 2 # parameters for candle A
b_start, b_rate = 20, 1 # parameters for candle B
for t in range(0, 16):
a = height(a_start, a_rate, t)
b = height(b_start, b_rate, t)
if a < 0 or b < 0:
break
if a == b:
print("Hour", t, ": both", a, "cm <- same height")
elif a > b:
print("Hour", t, ": A taller,", a, "vs", b)
else:
print("Hour", t, ": B taller,", a, "vs", b)
The run prints one line per hour, from Hour 0 : A taller, 30 vs 20 through Hour 9 : A taller, 12 vs 11, then Hour 10 : both 10 cm <- same height, then Hour 11 : B taller, 8 vs 9 and on to Hour 15 : B taller, 0 vs 5. The algebra and the program agree.
Alter a parameter (C2.3)
Change a_rate from 2 to 3 and predict before running. Algebra: 30 − 3x = 20 − x gives x = 5, height 15. The program agrees: Hour 5 : both 15 cm. A faster burn brings the crossing earlier.
Then try a change that breaks the story. Set a_rate to 1, the same as B. The lines are now parallel; A is always 10 cm taller and the candles never match. Ask the student what that means for the equation: 30 − x = 20 − x has no solution.
Linear or not? (C2.2)
One of the situations the curriculum lists for decomposing into steps is “determining whether a relationship is linear or non-linear”. The short program below does it our way, by checking whether every first difference matches the first one.
The seats around tables in a row grow by 4 each time, so they are linear. The areas of squares grow by 3, 5, 7 and 9, so they are not. The same test, run on a pattern from class, gives a quick check before any graph is drawn.
Python · linear or non-linear (ours)python
# Linear or non-linear? Check the first differences (ours)
def is_linear(values):
first = values[1] - values[0]
for i in range(2, len(values)):
if values[i] - values[i - 1] != first:
return False
return True
chairs = [6, 10, 14, 18, 22] # seats around 1 to 5 tables in a row
squares = [1, 4, 9, 16, 25] # areas of squares with sides 1 to 5
print("chairs:", is_linear(chairs))
print("squares:", is_linear(squares))
Output: chairs: True and squares: False. The function stops at the first difference that does not match, which is the efficient move: one counterexample is enough.
Practice, ours
Five MTH1W coding-for-algebra questions
Our own questions, built on the two programs above. They are not taken from EQAO, a school or a textbook. Answers follow.
Predict. Using the height function, what is height(25, 1.5, 4)? What does each argument mean?
Alter. Keep candle B as it is. What burn rate for candle A makes the two candles the same height at hour 5? Check with algebra.
Linear or not. What does is_linear([2, 6, 18, 54]) return? Describe the pattern in words.
Read the relation. For candle B, y = 20 − x. What are the rate of change and the initial value, and what does each mean for the candle?
Inequality. For which whole numbers of hours is candle A taller than candle B? Write and solve the inequality, then say how the program’s output shows the same answer.
19.0 cm. Start 25, rate 1.5, hours 4: 25 − 1.5 × 4 = 19. Python prints 19.0 because a decimal rate makes the result a decimal.
3 cm per hour. 30 − 5r = 20 − 5 gives 5r = 15, so r = 3. Both candles are then 15 cm tall at hour 5, matching the altered run above.
False. The differences are 4, 12 and 36, not equal, so the relation is non-linear. Each term is 3 times the one before, which students meet again as exponential growth.
Rate −1, initial value 20. The candle starts at 20 cm (the y-intercept) and loses 1 cm each hour (the slope). It burns out after 20 hours.
Hours 0 to 9. 30 − 2x > 20 − x gives 10 > x, so x < 10. In the output, every line before hour 10 says A is taller, and hour 10 is the equality.
The provincial assessment
MTH1W and the EQAO Grade 9 math assessment
Every MTH1W class also meets EQAO’s Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics. EQAO ties the two together in one sentence: “Students enrolled in the MTH1W Grade 9 de-streamed mathematics course are learning the knowledge and skills that are defined in the expectations found in the 2021 Ontario Grade 9 mathematics curriculum.”
What families need to know
The next sitting EQAO shows is a window from January 12 to February 5, 2027, with each school picking its own days. EQAO also states that the result feeds into the MTH1W course mark under ministry policy, without naming a weight, so we name none either.
The window named above is the next one EQAO lists, so a student whose MTH1W course ends at another point in the year should ask the school which sitting applies to them.
How we prepare students
Because the assessment mirrors the classroom curriculum, EQAO tells families it “does not require additional preparation”. We take that at face value: the preparation that matters is learning MTH1W well, then becoming familiar with the online format through EQAO’s own sample test.
Students who want a structured review can work through EQAO’s released questions with us. We never promise a level or a mark. Start from EQAO’s Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics page.
MTH1W opens every Grade 10 math pathway. The course table in the MTH1W curriculum shows exactly how.
Grade 10 and 11 courses that list MTH1W, from the course table in the MTH1W curriculum document (read 22 October 2026)
Course
Type
Prerequisite as listed
MPM2D, Principles of Mathematics, Grade 10
Academic
“Grade 9 Mathematics, De-streamed (2021), or Grade 9 Principles of Mathematics, Academic (2005)”
MFM2P, Foundations of Mathematics, Grade 10
Applied
“Grade 9 Mathematics, De-streamed (2021), or Grade 9 Foundations of Mathematics, Applied (2005)”
MEL3E, Mathematics for Work and Everyday Life, Grade 11
Workplace
Lists Grade 9 Mathematics, De-streamed (2021) among its options
The diploma requirement
Ontario’s graduation requirements page lists, for students who started Grade 9 in 2024 or later, “3 credits in mathematics (Grade 9, Grade 10 and 1 credit in Grade 11 or 12)”. MTH1W is the first of the three (page updated September 02, 2026).
The credit itself is earned at school. Because we do not grant Ontario credits, a family that needs a credit course turns to the home school, a board’s summer program or an Ontario credit provider, and uses us for the teaching around it.
Planning ahead from Grade 9
A student aiming at university math, science or engineering usually heads for the academic Grade 10 course and then Functions in Grade 11. The skills that carry furthest from MTH1W are linear relations, rearranging equations and confidence with negative numbers and fractions.
For Grades 10 to 12, see our online math tutoring page for Canada. Students who enjoyed the coding strand often take a computer science course in Grade 11; our ICS3U guide explains that one.
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Fees
The first class is on us. From then on, one monthly fee pays for eight live classes, shown in the price box with its currency code; there is no semester contract, and you may stop after any month.
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Questions from Grade 9 families
MTH1W: common questions
What is MTH1W?
MTH1W is the Ontario Grade 9 mathematics course, issued in 2021 and listed as de-streamed. It is the one Grade 9 math course for all students, covering number, algebra, data, geometry and measurement, and financial literacy, with coding and mathematical modelling used throughout.
What does de-streamed mean?
It means Grade 8 students no longer choose between an applied and an academic Grade 9 math course. Ontario's parent information says there is strong evidence for not having Grade 8 students make that choice, and that this is called de-streaming. Since September 2021 everyone takes MTH1W.
Can my teen earn the MTH1W credit with you?
No. Our classes run beside the school course, and we do not grant Ontario credits. The credit is earned at the student's own school, a board summer program or an Ontario credit provider, while our lessons supply extra teaching and practice.
What coding is in MTH1W?
Expectation C2 asks students to apply coding skills to represent math concepts and relationships and to solve problems, in algebra and across the course. C2.1 asks them to use code to show they understand variables, parameters, equations and inequalities.
Which programming language does MTH1W use?
The curriculum does not name one. Classes use different tools, from block-based editors to Python and spreadsheets. We teach in Python unless the class uses something else, and the algebra ideas carry across.
Is MTH1W hard?
It is a step up from Grade 8, mainly because students compare whole linear relations and explain their meaning, rather than finding single values. Students who are secure with fractions, negative numbers and the idea of a variable usually manage well. No one can promise a mark in advance.
What replaced the academic and applied Grade 9 courses?
MTH1W did. The MTH1W curriculum says the course supersedes the two Grade 9 courses in the 2005 Ontario mathematics curriculum for Grades 9 and 10.
Does the EQAO Grade 9 math assessment count?
It does. EQAO states that the result becomes part of the final MTH1W course mark under the ministry's assessment policy, without giving a weight. Its next window runs from January 12 to February 5, 2027.
What comes after MTH1W?
The MTH1W course table lists it as a prerequisite option for the Grade 10 academic and applied courses, MPM2D and MFM2P, and for the Grade 11 workplace course MEL3E. Students who started Grade 9 in 2024 or later need three math credits for the diploma.
When can my teen have classes?
Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. We fix lesson times in your local clock and check them again after Ontario changes its clocks on 1 November 2026.
How are lessons paid for?
We charge nothing for the first lesson. Families then pay monthly for eight live lessons, without a semester contract; the price box higher up gives the current group and private figures.
Elsewhere on this site
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