Archive for April, 2007
The Monty Hall Problem On CBS’ Numb3rs.
The Monty Hall Problem is a puzzle involving probability, based on the game show Let’s Make A Deal and its host, Monty Hall. This clip is taken from an episode of Numb3rs, a popular show based on the importance of Mathematics in solving crimes. The show airs on CBS Fridays at 10 pm eastern time. Check it Out!
Tips for Success in Mathematics
Students: HERE is a podcast explaining some extremely important tips in order for you to succeed in mathematics. This is an outline of the podcast’s major themes.
Hearing Is Believing!
Just For Fun!
Hearing is one of the five precious senses that most of us take for granted until we lose it. Learn more about sound and hearing loss in this lesson. Use mathematics to assess your hearing just as an audiologist does. Graph the Results.
Perimeter and Area
Today in class we continued working on practice problems dealing with measuring the perimeter and area of shapes created from triangles and rectangles. I encourage you to read through your notes if you are confused or even just to reinforce your understanding. For more practice problems, feel free to complete this worksheet. Below is a video summarizing the key concepts dealing with perimeter and area.
Understanding the concepts of perimeter and area are extremely important in today’s world. Perimeter determines the length of a border around a region or shape. Imagine I was to build a fence around my yard. I would need to know the perimeter of the yard in order to know how much of each material I would need to purchase. Buying too much of the materials would cause me to waste money and resources. Purchasing too little would defeat my purpose of trying to enclose my yard. However, by measuring the perimeter of my yard, I would be able to purchase exactly the amount of material necessary for me to complete the job. This way, while I am at work, I do not have to worry about my dog Spot running away. Area is also extremely important for similar reasons. If our school was to carpet our classroom, they would first calculate the area of the floor in order to determine how much carpet would need to be purchased. Thus, the school would not waste taxpayers’ money. The same case applies to a variety of other scenarios as well. As always, if you have any questions Make A Post!
Frequently Used Perimeter and Area Formulas:
P=Perimeter, A=Area, L=Length, W=Width
Square: P=4w or 4(l), A=w(w) or (l)(l)
Rectangle: P=2(l)+2(w), A=(l)(w)
Parallelogram: (B=Base, H=Height) P=2(l)+2(w), A=BH
Triangle: (B=Base, H=Height) A=1/2 BH
Trapezoid: (B1=Base1, B2=Base2, H=Height) A=1/2 (B1+B2)H
Circle: (r=Radius, C=Circumference) C=2(pi)r, A=(pi)(r)(r)
