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Let’s graph this and/or make it better; What constitutes a “blown game?”
A few minutes ago the other day, NPR’s Mike Pesca tweeted his mathematical rule as to what constitutes a “blown game” in basketball. That means if at any time a team is winning by (# of minutes left in...
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A stop-sign vs. a stoplight; when does each make sense? (Part 2, Math modeling)
I know it’s been a while since we visited this, but quick recap: We want to figure out when it is appropriate to have a stop-sign at an intersection versus a stoplight. In Part 1, we made some...
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Can someone help me improve this problem? (U-Haul rental rates ; systems of...
So the Emergent Math family moved houses this weekend (editor’s note: they didn’t actually move the houses, they moved the furniture inside the houses). We were given basically three different options...
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Do NFL teams actually use that draft pick chart when trading draft picks?
The 2011 National Football League draft of players is tomorrow, and I was inspired by a really interesting post over on Mr. Honner’s blog regarding the NFL Draft Pick Trade Value chart and exponential...
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U-haul Linear Systems problem (updated and improved)
A couple weeks ago I posted this problem. I like the problem, but I wasn’t a huge fan of its solution and frankly, it sort of got away from me. Thankfully, my colleagues are more adept than I am at...
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Underground parking spots cost $30000-$50000 to build in D.C. This smells...
Artifact The Washington City Paper has a (rather lengthy) post on parking in D.C. Fair warning: it’s pretty wonky with zoning rules, ordinances, etc. However, the numbers caught my eye: … An...
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Thought Experiment: I bet you could teach an entire math course with this one...
Or at least a huge chunk of an Algebra, Stats, and/or Pre-Cal course.
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Why doesn’t Nike+ use math to encourage me to run?
Artifact The Nike+ app, which at the end of my run the other day, looked like this: (editor’s note: yes, I’m slow. Thank you for noticing. Also, along with some encouragement in data format, I had Tim...
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CNET has some TV viewing size/distance recommendations.
Feels like there’s a similarity (and a lot of other stuff) type problem in here. Artifact From CNET: In a perfect videophile world, you’d want to sit no closer than 1.5 times the screen’s diagonal...
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Evaluating energy efficiency claims
Artifact This (or other) energy efficient light bulb package(s). So many opportunities here, depending on how targeted you want to be. Or, if you prefer, what kind of problem you plan to facilitate....
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“Equation Ratscrew”
I used to love “Egyptian Ratscrew” (also called “Egyptian Rat Slap” for the more easily offended I suppose). We used to play it all the time in my Physics/Calculus class. It combined the speed of...
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Larry Ellison, billionaire CEO, makes unsound business decisions with regards...
Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle, has gobs and gobs of money. How much money? Well enough that he can do this. Boy that seems wasteful, doesn’t it. I mean, when I’m playing basketball on my...
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Where inquiry and methods intersect
Had a nice, quick twitter conversation with Anna (@borschtwithanna) yesterday morning. Anna reached out with a question about providing methods in an inquiry-based classroom. If you teach PBL or PrBL,...
View ArticleSystems of Linear Inequalities: Paleontological Dig
(Editor's note: the original post and activity mistook Paleontology for Archaeology. Archaeology is the study of human made fossils; paleontology is the study of dinosaur remains. The terminology has...
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