As the weather improves – Spring in Melbourne, my city & Fall in USA & Autumn in the UK – it is an ideal time to take math outdoors. Here are some fab exercises for Middle School Math.
Lego Man soccer fields will vary in size depending on the height of each player picked by each student. This does your head in. It is really challenging maths!
You’ll find full calculations at the Maths is Fun blog.
You’ll find more fab outdoor junior and middle school maths activities at the terrific Maths and Movement blog.
Some students will discover their co-ordinate point is not on the grid. Students should then work out that they will need a different scale for the y-axis. You can get more inspiration at the Stand Again blog.
The lethal dose for caffeine is about 150 milligrams per kg of body weight. While the average person’s caffeine consumption is around 200 milligrams a day, the Mayo Clinic advises against exceeding 500 to 600 milligrams per day.
This work titled Timing is Everything is by street artist ABOVE in London.
You may want this much energy but be warned, energy drinks can kill.
It would take a ridiculously huge number of ANGRY WOMBAT energy drinks to kill a 14 year old weighing, say, 48 kg. Nevertheless, some kids are more sensitive to caffeine than others and then much lower levels of consumption of energy drinks can be fatal.
See Death by Caffeine: The Maths Part 2 METRIC
Here is the work (see below) TIMING IS EVERYTHING by street artist ABOVE in London showing the timing.
The lethal dose for caffeine is about 68 milligrams per lb of body weight. Average consumption of caffeine is about 200 milligrams a day. The Mayo Clinic advises against exceeding 500 to 600 milligrams per day.
This work titled Timing is Everything is by street artist ABOVE in London.
You may want this much energy but be warned, energy drinks can kill.
It would take a ridiculously huge number of ANGRY WOMBAT energy drinks to kill a 14 year old weighing, say, 110 lb. Nevertheless, some kids are more sensitive to caffeine than others and then much lower levels of consumption of energy drinks can be fatal.
See Death by Caffeine:The Math Part 2 USA UNITS
Here is the work (see below) TIMING IS EVERYTHING by street artist ABOVE in London showing the timing.
The lethal dose for caffeine is about 150 milligrams per kg of body weight. While the average person’s caffeine consumption is around 200 milligrams a day, the Mayo Clinic advises against exceeding 500 to 600 milligrams per day.
This work titled Timing is Everything is by street artist ABOVE in London.
You may want this much energy but be warned, energy drinks can kill.
It would take a ridiculously huge number of ANGRY WOMBAT energy drinks to kill a 14 year old weighing, say, 48 kg. Nevertheless, some kids are more sensitive to caffeine than others and then much lower levels of consumption of energy drinks can be fatal.
See Death by Caffeine: The Maths Part 2 METRIC
Here is the work (see below) TIMING IS EVERYTHING by street artist ABOVE in London showing the timing.
The lethal dose for caffeine is about 68 milligrams per lb of body weight. Average consumption of caffeine is about 200 milligrams a day. The Mayo Clinic advises against exceeding 500 to 600 milligrams per day.
This work titled Timing is Everything is by street artist ABOVE in London.
You may want this much energy but be warned, energy drinks can kill.
It would take a ridiculously huge number of ANGRY WOMBAT energy drinks to kill a 14 year old weighing, say, 110 lb. Nevertheless, some kids are more sensitive to caffeine than others and then much lower levels of consumption of energy drinks can be fatal.
See Death by Caffeine:The Math Part 2 USA UNITS
Here is the work (see below) TIMING IS EVERYTHING by street artist ABOVE in London showing the timing.
Once lava flows are established new RIVERLETS can run on top of the original lava flow at great speed.
The fastest Lava flows recorded were in Hawaii in 1950 when Mauna Loa erupted. The lava traveled at 6 miles (10 kilometers) per hour through thick forest. But once the lava flows became established and good channels developed, the lava in the channels was flowing at up to 60 miles/hour (97 kph)
Can you out run a lava flow?
You are 2 km from the volcano rim and start running.
The Fire Season in Australia arrives suddenly. The frightening warning (above) can be heard on the national broadcaster as fires spring up around Australia. It seems no time at all since Aussie fire fighters were helping fight fires in California. Now they’re back. Elvis, The Aircrane, returns form the US for another tour of duty in Victoria.
Aircrane, Elvis, returns to fight bush fires in Australia. Herald Sun
Here is something you may not realise:
And the maths they need is
MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHS.
You can check out a typical Fire Fighter Maths Curriculum here. The significance of the Fire Fighter Maths is that the numbers are shocking. You can look at a wildfire on TV, but when you calculate how much time you have to escape, the answer is truly terrifying.
So here is a Fire Fighter Maths problem from one of Mathspig’s Middle School Worksheets titled:
On 7th February 2009 a bushfire began in Victoria Australia that killed 173 people, injured 414 people, destroyed 2,100 homes and displaced 7,562 people. Known as The Black Saturday Bushfires the fire front travelled at up to 600m per 30 seconds. The radiant heat produced was capable of killing people 400 meters away.
Are fire fighters safe in such a fire? How much time do they get to escape the fire in a fire truck even if the fire front is 5 km away? We can do the math:
Q 7: You are a fire fighter in a fire truck when the wind hits the fire front at 120 km/hr. Suddenly, the fire front starts moving at 100 kph. You are, thankfully, in a fire truck but the wind and smoke haze makes driving the truck difficult. You can only make 80 kph along a straight road away from the fire (See pic above). The fire front is 5 km away. How long have you got before the fire front hits?
Find S1 (Fire Front Speed) and S2 (Fire Truck Speed) in m/sec and kph.
Fill in this equation where d1 (distance of fire front from point on map) and d2 (Distance of Fire Truck from the same point on a map)
d1 = d2 + ………
3. Use the following equations to calculate the time t that you have before the flames hit.
USA UNITS
On 7th February 2009 in The Black Saturday Bushfires the fire front travelled at to 656 yds per 30 seconds. The radiant heat produced was capable of killing people 437 yds away.
Are fire fighters safe in such a fire? How much time do they get to escape the fire in a fire truck even if the fire front is 3.1 miles away? We can do the math. Answers below.
Q 7: You are a fire fighter in a fire truck when the wind hits the fire front at 75 mph. Suddenly, the fire front starts moving at 62 mph. You are, thankfully, in a fire truck but the wind and smoke haze makes driving the truck difficult. You can only make 50 mph along a straight road away from the fire (See pic above). The fire front is 3 miles away. How long have you got before the fire front hits?
Find S1 (Fire Front Speed) and S2 (Fire Truck Speed) in ft/sec and mph
Fill in this equation where d1 (distance of fire front from point on map) and d2 (Distance of Fire Truck from the same point on a map)
d1 = d2 + ………
3. Use the following equations to calculate the time t that you have before the flames hit.
WORKSHEETS
Fire Fighter Math 1: Wildfire AlgebraYou will find the worksheets in both METRIC & USA Units Here.Yes! There is a small fee. Mathspig and Roni the Rodent (left) have this very, very slow get rich quick scheme going. Ha!
Lesson Plan:
Students discover that fire fighters need middle-school math. Students complete some warm-up exercises involving unit conversions (mph to ft/sec or kph to m/sec) without and with a calculator and then they simplify algebraic expressions and solve simultaneous equations. Students use this math to calculate real life fire front speeds that fire fighters have faced in Montana, USA and Victoria, Australia. The power of this math is that the calculations are based on the stories about and conditions faced by these real fire fighters. No lectures are needed on the danger of wildfires as the numbers speak for themselves.
Mathspig is, like, soooooo excited. Tonight I’m gong to watch
TOMAS BERDYCH
Tomas Berdych (CZE) [7] play Andy Murray (GBR) [6] in the Semi-finals at the Australian Tennis Open.
Andy Murray
Some quick maths.
Tomas Berdych is 1.96 METRES (6 FT. 5 IN.)
While Andy Murray is 1.91 METRES (6 FT. 3 IN.)
But, but, but …. Andy Murray, who is 26 years old and is 2 years younger than Berdych.
Would you be able to return the serve of a top tennis player?
Here is the serve speed of the of the fastest recorded tennis serves in the world:
How long would it take a tennis ball traveling at these speeds to reach the service line on the other side of the court?
BUT … BUT … BUT …
The tennis ball leaves the servers racket approx 3m above the baseline and travels along the hypotenuse to the service line. We must call in Pythagorus Theorem!!!!
You can calculate the time it takes a tennis ball to reach the service line for each player in the Top 10 Service Speeds List by using the simple v = x/t equation.
The big question is this:
How fast is YOUR reaction time?
You have to be able to move your racket before the ball arrives.
Can you do it mathspiggies?
You can calculate your reaction time by two methods:
Mathspig Blog 