Today we are going to be Food Scientists; food science needs maths and this food science is important for your health and diet.
Before we do the maths we must understand the science of sugar. Here is a simple explanation.
In the USA corn, which is 100% glucose, undergoes an industrial process that breaks down the long glucose chains and converts some glucose to fructose because fructose delivers a bigger sweetness hit on your tongue and corn is cheap. The resulting HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is, on average, 60% fructose.
Now we can do the maths.
This important information below comes from the Goran Labs
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Food Science Maths
or
Fast Food Maths
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1. Draw up a bar graph of the weight of sugar(sucrose) and fructose for 8 drinks.
2. Plot the weight of sugar(sucrose) and fructose for 8 drinks on axes.
3. Assuming that 100ml of soft drink weighs 100g – this is realistic- calculate the percentage of sugar(sucrose) and fructose. This exercise is to see if students are paying attention. It is very easy!
4. Drinking too much sugar in any form is not advisable, but fructose in large quantities just adds calories without satisfying your hunger. Which drinks are loaded with fructose?
There is a lot of maths in Lego, mathspigs, but rather than smash up bridges not to mention toes with 40 kg weights, here are some other cool ways to do LEGO MATHS.
You can make yourself into a Lego Figure like Mathspig, but first ….
Ideally, students would measure their own Lego Man. Otherwise, use the dimensions shown and fill in the chart.
To calculate your Lego man conversion factor:
Lego Conversion Factor = Your Height mm/ Lego Man height mm
eg. Mathspig Height = 172 cm
Mathspig Lego Conversion = 1720/ 38.2 = 44.6
A full size Lego Mathspig is 172 cm, therefore a full sized lego Mathspigs legs would be:
Mathspig Lego Legs = 14.0 x 44.6 = 624.4 mm = 62.4 cm
Dimensions
mm
Lego Man Dimensions
mm
Your Real Dimensions
mm
Your Lego Man Dimension
mm
Height
(Not including the round thing
ie. the stub)
38.6
Head Height
Top to chin
8.5
************
Neck
1.2
*************
Torso
Shoulder to hip
(Swivel pt)
14.9
************
Leg Length
Hip to Floor
14.0
************
Now you could draw or photo shop a real picture of yourself to these dimensions or – this is so cool – just make a Lego Man Pic of yourself @ Reasonably Clever
Or search topics on Youtube eg. Introduction to Conics Khan
Why Does Mathspig like The Kahn Academy? Because it’s:
1. Free.
2. Quick
3. Clear
4. Low-key
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Salman gives digital chalk-and-talk tutes like a teacher. He hand draws the equations and graphs. He uses a calculator from time to time, but he tends not to use whizz bang spreadsheet graphs or perfectly presented textbook equations. It’s a bit wobbly and it’s all coming from Salman’s head.
And students like this approach. It makes maths look do-able.
The tutes on Maths Online are produced by Aussie Maths teachers and they are very good. Mathspig, of course, imagined the quadratic function tutes might look something like this:
Thanks to Jason studying maths & physics at University of Minnesota for this suggestion.
Unless you have seen the animated movie UP ‘Can a house fly?’ is a funny question. The movie with the Boy Scout, Carl, and the grumpy old guy had quite a few people asking could a house fly?
We can do the maths, mathspigs! But why do the maths if someone has already done the hard work for you?
Unfortunately, all of their calculations are in American units but we can use their calculations as a guide. We will not include the weight of the balloons or string and we will assume the balloons are spherical so the answers are approximations and add a few more balloons to make the house & balloons more buoyant than air. Here is the information you need:
Can you fly?
We know humans can fly using helium balloons as 2nd July 1982 Larry Walters tied 45 weather balloons to a garden chair and flew to an altitude of 4,600m (15,000 ft). He carried a bbgun to shoot balloons for his descent but only hit a couple and dropped the gun. He flew for over 45 mins and was arrested on landing. Larry Walters link.
While I would advise mathspigs against such a stunt it is interesting to calculate how many balloons you would need to fly:
Don’t forget to add your weight in Kg.
Here is one of my favorite HOT AIR balloons called, wait for it, THE HOT HARE BALLOON.
Mathspigs there are two things that stop kids doing maths. Fear & boredom. But we are going to show NO FEAR. You may find some of these equations a bit scary. I do too. But I can make some sense of some of this stuff. Here goes.
The article No Sweat. Well, not as Much as You think (New Scientist 18/7/09 #mce_temp_url# ) highlighted research by the US army into finding an equation for how much men and women sweat. They need this information so they can calculate how much water they need to carry. Makes sense.
The full research paper by Sawka & Co can be downloaded for free from The Journal of Applied Physiology#mce_temp_url# .
How do they calculate how much you sweat???
Basically, they use NUDE body mass work out how much weight you lose after exercise. Allowances are made for mass (or weight) by breathing in oxygen and breathing out water & carbon dioxide.
They can also calculate how much heat is lost when you are nude if m ( or m with a little dot) is your sweat rate in grams per hour.
Then things go a little crazy. Here’s one part of the equations for heat lost when dressed. I just want you too see how crazy some equations can be. We’re not going to use it. But when you are doing studies like this you get used to such equations.
ARE WE SCARED, MATHSPIGS? No. We’re going IN to look at the results. We can make sense of them.
Thanks to Dean Van DEn Heuvel, Kyneton, Victoria for this fab math pig pic. We like happy mathspigs!!!!
When you read the table below keep in mind:
How much do you sweat????
Here’s your answer!!!!!!!
With one more piece of data you can calculate how much you would sweat in Battle Dress Uniform or body Armor plus vest. Your surface area:
“Normal” BSA is generally taken to be 1.73 m² for an adult. ( More @ Wikipedia: #mce_temp_url#)
Mathspigs you are about to be hit on the head with some BALL PARK figures. There is so much maths involved in comparing cricket and baseball I hardly know where to begin. So I will just set you up with comparitive statistics for starters. Here they are:
You now have sufficient information to calculate the following:
Q1. If a cricket player makes 4 runs (and runs between the wickets) and a baseball player hits a home run, who runs the furtherest?
Q2. What are the delivery ball speeds of an average pitcher and a mid paced bowler in m/sec?
Q3. How far would the delivery of an average pitcher and a medium paced bowler travel in 10 seconds?
Q4. If Shoaib Akhar fielded a ball in cricket 20 m from the wicket when the batsman was still 8m from the wicket (A typical running speed for humans is 32 km/h) would he be able to run him out?
Q5. How long would it take a ball thrown by Joel Zumaya to reach the batsman if the pitchers mound was exactly in the middle of the baseball square?
Q6. Which sport is more dangerous? We will base our calculations on the speed (or velocity) and the weight (or mass) of the ball. We must use the same units in all calculations. For each sport plot x-axis: velocity of ball (v) against y-axis mass x velocity (mv) of the ball. mv is the momentum. In ballistics the change in momentum is called the IMPULSE (impact for us). If you are hit on the head with a ball it is the change in momentum of the ball that does the damage. A small ball at a high speed can do as much damage as a larger ball at a slower speed. We are not including spin, curve balls or air resistance to keep calculations straight forward … literally!!!
Now that you have your graph you can answer these questions:
Q6a. Which sport for professional players is the most dangerous?
Q6b. At what speed does a cricket ball do the same damage as a baseball? Show three examples. (Hint: Draw a straight line from the Y-axis)
Pics: Tim Lincecum (Left) with 101 mph pitch, Shane Warne (Upper Right) and Shoaib Akhtar (Lower Left)
Girls.. you may think diamonds are your best friend, but not at the moment. According to this article from The Australian (27/7/09) sales for the world’s largest diamond-producer are down by 57% at the moment. The price of diamonds should be dropping and indeed they are.
According to the most recent graphs I could find (below) from the Certified Diamond Exchange #mce_temp_url# diamond prices have dropped significantly from last year. And they are still dropping. Diamonds come in many sizes and shapes. So diamond graphs must compare similar diamonds eg. Large Fancy, Small round etc. The y-axis shows the price of the diamond compared to the Jan91 price which is set at 100.
Oooo!!! Aaaaeeee!!! Mathspigs Note: Cutting diamonds involves maths.. angles, symmetry, % and a lot of NERVE!!!
How big are BIG diamonds Or THAT ROCK YOUR WEARING EQUALS HOW MANY PAPERCLIPS?????
Let’s do some maths mathspigs!!!!! Diamonds are measured in carats. 5 carats = 1 gram. Now keep in mind that one paperclip weighs one gram. So we need some boxes of paper clips to do this exercise. Here are some examples of the largest diamonds in the world. More at: #mce_temp_url# Convert these to grams and hence paper clips and feel the weight. Would you want any of these diamonds hanging around your neck??????
The Blue Hope Diamond is believed to carry a curse because two of the families who owned it died. It weighs 45.52 carats.
The Koh-I-Noor (Mountain of Light) weighs 186 carats and is a part of the crown jewels.
The Excelsior diamond originally weighed 995 carats but it was cut into 10 pieces. The largest diamond it produced was 158 carats.
The Taylor-Burton diamond weighs 240.8 carats.
The Cullinan I or Star of Africa Diamond is the world’s largest cut diamond weighing 530.20 carats. It is a part of King Edward VII’s Sceptre and is housed in the Tower of London which means Mathspig has seen it, sort of. To view the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London you must stand on a moving walk way that really whips along so you see a crown for about 3 seconds!!!!!!
Angles, Symmetry and %’s.
As the school will not give you diamonds to cut – you could ask, but!!- we will make 2-D images. We will do the top of the diamond looking down. (The images here show the top and the underneath projections.) Start with a circle, an oval (ellipse in maths) or a rectangle and see how you would make some cuts. It is a good idea to locate the middle of your diamond. This will help with the symmetry. Then use a protractor to calculate the angles you used. This means you can do the same pattern again.
SUPER BLING CALCULATIONS FOR ADVANCED MATHSPIGS: Calculate the area in the middle of your diamond. This would be the part of the diamond you did not cut. The bigger this area the bigger the cut diamond will look and, of course, you are not wasting the gem by cutting it into little bits. Then calculate the total area of your shape. Now find the % of diamond left uncut. The bigger this % the better your gem cutting skills.
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (born April 22, 1982 in Brasília, Brazil), simply known as Kaká, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a midfielder.
Last week it was announced that Real Madrid had paid Kaka’s current club, AC Milan €65 million ($114.5m) for the soccer player.
This is the second highest payment in football history as the record transfer deal was set by Zinedine Zidane when he joined Madrid from Juventus for €75m ( $ 132.1 m) in 2001. (Sydney Morning Herald 10 June 2009 #mce_temp_url# )
Kaka Weight = 73 kg
Zidane weight = 78 kg.
Now mathspigs you have enough information to calculate how much these soccer players are worth per kilo.
You can use a table, a picture graph or a bar graph to compare the costs of these footballers per kilo with other products available on the market today. Don’t forget mathspigs football players are bought and sold like commodities so this is a reasonable comparison to make:
platinum = $46,700 per kilo
gold = $37,500 per kilo
silver = $ 560 per kilo
Tic Tacs = $ 44.44 per kilo (Confectionery costs from grocery.bestpricedirectory #mce_temp_url#
Freddo Frogs = $19.95 per kilo
Meanwhile you can easily work out if Kaka is worth his weight in gold. Or, to put it another way, how many kilo of gold would Real Madrid need if they were to pay for Kaka in gold bullion? Australia actually produces 1 kg gold ingots or bars. So how many gold bars would Kaka cost?
As one of our sayings in English is ‘It cost me an arm and a leg’ you can also work out how much a ‘very upmarket’ arm and leg might cost.
To do this maths pigs you need to know the approximate weight of a human arm and leg.
According to Wikianswers a human arm weighs approx 3.3 kg.
While according to that great source of information Wii Fit your legs make up 40% of your body weight. So one leg is 20 % of a person’s body weight. You now have enough information to calculate how much an arm & a leg is worth in World Soccer.
Government departments love statistics. Here is a statistic recently touted regarding obese patients and ambulances. Mathspig believes obese folk have enough problems without ambulance services refusing to carry them to hospital. More importantly, is this just fat-people prejudice or are the numbers right?
In 2008, according to this report from The Week (1/5/09) quoting The Sun-Herald, 576 obese patients were too big to carry in a 180 kilo-capacity ambulances? So their weight is the problem, is it?
What other creatures weigh in at about the 180 kilo mark? Have a guess mathspigs.
a tiger
a cow
a young gorilla
a baby walrus
Alarm Bells: Why can’t an ambulance carry a baby walrus? Utes, trucks and vans are all designed to carry loads much heavier than a baby walrus.
A Ford Falcon ute XR6 1999 can carry a load, depending on the exact model, from between 820 kg – 1120 kg. ( Later model shown here.)
Even using the lower limit you can see mathspigs we could fit 4 opera singers who weigh 180 kg
in the back of an average ute. It would be noisy. But possible.
What the?????
An ambulance should be able to carry someone who weighs 180kg. It could be that the paramedics are not permitted to lift an extra -heavy patient into the ambulance.
Or perhaps the wrong unit is being used. If a patient is too ‘big’ for the ambulance perhaps their volume or width is too big for the ambulance. In which case paramedics need tape measures to see if patients can fit onto their stretchers and/or into their ambulances. If a patient does not fit into an ambulance what can they do???? Obese folk will have to find their own way to the hospital, I guess.
Claiming obese folk are too heavy for ambulances is just more DUMB MATHS!!!!!!
Mathspigs there are two things that stop kids doing maths. Fear & boredom. But we are going to show NO FEAR. You may find some of these equations a bit scary. I do too. But I can make some sense of some of this stuff. Here goes.
Q1. If a cricket player makes 4 runs (and runs between the wickets) and a baseball player hits a home run, who runs the furtherest?
Q4. If Shoaib Akhar fielded a ball in cricket 20 m from the wicket when the batsman was still 8m from the wicket (A typical running speed for humans is 32 km/h) would he be able to run him out?
Q6a. Which sport for professional players is the most dangerous? 
Girls.. you may think diamonds are your best friend, but not at the moment. According to this article from The Australian (27/7/09) sales for the world’s largest diamond-producer are down by 57% at the moment. The price of diamonds should be dropping and indeed they are.
The Koh-I-Noor (Mountain of Light) weighs 186 carats and is a part of the crown jewels.
The Taylor-Burton diamond weighs 240.8 carats.
the Tower of London which means Mathspig has seen it, sort of. To view the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London you must stand on a moving walk way that really whips along so you see a crown for about 3 seconds!!!!!!
Angles, Symmetry and %’s. 
SUPER BLING CALCULATIONS FOR ADVANCED MATHSPIGS: Calculate the area in the middle of your diamond. This would be the part of the diamond you did not cut. The bigger this area the bigger the cut diamond will look and, of course, you are not wasting the gem by cutting it into little bits. Then calculate the total area of your shape. Now find the % of diamond left uncut. The bigger this % the better your gem cutting skills.
Last week it was announced that Real Madrid had paid Kaka’s current club, AC Milan €65 million ($114.5m) for the soccer player.
Kaka Weight = 73 kg
Alarm Bells: Why can’t an ambulance carry a baby walrus? Utes, trucks and vans are all designed to carry loads much heavier than a baby walrus.
