Ever think you'd use math on spring break?!

Falllinnggg...

2008-03-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately one student fell off of a ladder while working on the roof of a house. He had leaned the ladder up aganist the house, but had the base of the ladder too close to the base of the house resulting in him experiencing gravity first hane! If he had pulled the ladder to approach more of a 75* angle, he wouldn't have fallen off because of the angle he would have been at.

Morning jog.

2008-03-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

After I got back from my morning runs I would figure out how many miles I had run. If someone runs roughly an 8 minute mile on average and ran for 20 minutes, how many miles would they have run?

"Would you like a beverage for the remainder of your flight?"

2008-03-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

As I sat on the flight making small talk with the man sitting next to me, the stewardess began serving us drinks. The man in front of me ordered a drink costing $4.00. At the time she didn't have $16 to return to him so she said she'd be back with his change. Over the intercom they made an announcement asking if anyone had change for a $20. She had 2 tens, but she needed a ten, a five, and five one's in order to give him the proper change. Little math nuances like that pop up everywhere!

How much will my pictures cost?

2008-03-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

When thinking about all the pictures I took, I realized I needed to take out a calculator (or do some quick mental math!) to figure out how much it would cost to print all the pictures. Different stores have different rates also!
CVS: $.29/picture with a $2.50 coupon (plus the gas to pick it up!)
Snapfish: $.09/picture with the 1st 20 free, plus shipping and handling
Walmart: $.18/picture (plus the gas to pick it up!)

Which is the best deal and why?

100 showers before dinner.

2008-03-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

At the start of the week the leaders needs to put their math thinking caps on to decide on an efficient shower rule! When work is finished around 4, dinner is served at 6 and most people want to shower in between, 10 minutes showers aren't an option! Accomodating for 100 people showering resulted in a mandatory 2 minute rule-including dressing and undressing in the shower trailer! Surprisingly it worked pretty well, but the question of-"How many minutes can each shower be in order for 100 people to shower in 2 hours?"- was the trick, or essential math, for clean and happy people!

Fair-sharing.

2008-03-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Although there were 100 students on this trip, everyone was from 7 different colleges. There were 6 totaly St. Mikes' students. When they split everyone into groups, they used fair sharing. Each college was divided evenly (so we were 3 groups of 2) and then rationed to make even groups. Fair sharing is a common way to divide up groups of people evenly.

"This is a one, this is a two, this is a three..."

2008-03-29T18:51:00.001-07:00

There's a common mind-game out there that we played mulitple times on the trip. The leader (who know's the "trick" of the game) holds up a fist and goes "This is a one." Then he puts out one finger and says "This is a two." Then the next finger (so 2 fingers are raised) to say, "This is a three." And it continues until all 5 fingers are raised, but the pinky is finger #6. The next part of the game the leader raises a finger and asks, "What's this finger?" And from the previous explaination, the player would respond accordingly, but it never is what he said it was because there's a trick to the game (which I won't give away incase anyone hasn't played this game!). As a player who doesn't know how to play the game, you'll get confused when the next time he starts the game he uses different numbers for different fingers-saying the pinky finger is a 3 and the thumb is a 6!

Through our culture we're told that certain fingers represent certain numbers. When taking piano lessons you're taught the thumb is finger 1, pointer finger 2, etc. Through observing this game, I realized that this is simply naming of the fingers. The value of the numbers is irrelevant and it is simply a nominal process.

Barge Bridge.

2008-03-29T18:37:00.001-07:00

As we're coming back from the French Quarter, we are stopped at the bridge to get back into our area. Why you asked would you be stopped on a bridge? Well, because a barge was passing through and the bridge was raised until the area was cleared. Since we were the first bus in line, I saw the procedure for how this bridge works. As the barge approches, the bridge is lifted to the proper angle to allow the barge to fit through. They never know what sized barges are coming through and therefore need the opening to accomodate for a variety of sizes. Angles are an important component to the struture of all bridges. Then, when the bridge closes, it needs to go back to a perfect 180* angle so that vehicles can pass through without any problems.

Can you eat cereal off a plate?

2008-03-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

Each day as I threw away multiple styrofoam tableware, I challenged myself to combine, consolidate, and try to reduce how many different types of styrofoan containers I was using. Some mornings we had pancakes, which required a plate, cereal, which required a bowl, and then a drink, which required a cup. The thought of using just the plate baffled me. That's not possible to put my pancakes, cereal with milk, and gatorade all in one container. Why?
Dimensions! Certain shapes and dimensions determine what we can do and the forms of containers invented. A flat object is used for certain types of food while a cylinder is commonly used for liquids. Sometime try to use a shaped piece of dishware that isn't meant for the type of food you're eating!

"I can't get it smooth!"

2008-03-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Who knew that there was a whole business and market of tools used to "mud" walls in preparation to paint?! One of these tools is called the corner tool. When you have fastened the sheet rock to the studs, you take a mud mixture and spackle it over all the screws so their not visible and any cracks. What do you do when you get to a corner? Two pieces of sheetrock meet causing an uneven surface. You have to mud over that and in order to do so you need a corner tool! This tool is a perfect 90* angle that you hold right on the right angle the wall forms and run the tool down the side of the corner to smooth out the mud applied. Next time you look at the wall of a corner, remember that someone made that smooth with a perfect right angle tool!

"This house is SO uneven!"

2008-03-27T05:57:00.001-07:00

As we cut each piece of sheet rock and measured it up aganist the wall, we quickly realized that the house was very irregular and uneven. Often times this required multiple measurements at different points of the piece we cut so we could shave some off so it fit exactly. One would assume that walls were even squares, but we quickly found out their not!

My own number line.

2008-03-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

Since I was using my camera often to document the trip, I discovered a few new tools my camera has: one being it's own number line. When I would use the manual settings, there's a function to adjust the light exposure and the shutter speed. When adjusting the light exposure, the numbers go from -2 to +2. Each measurement higher lets more light in. The shutter speed involves fractions and decimals. You can set it to 1/250 or you can set it on the opposite end to 1.3''. Different settings differentiate the exposure the camera allows.

Everythings a shape!

2008-03-27T05:46:00.000-07:00

The bunk beds were multiple rectangles on top of each other, the cots were one long rectangle being held up by triangles formed by the metal bars, the room was one huge square, the ceiling tiles were rectangles, the door handles to get outside were cylinders, the shower rings holding up the curtain dividers were circles, and the light fixtures were octagons. Everywhere around us shapes occur because in order to have a 3-dimensional world we need "the shape". Some structures are made of complex shapes, others stick to the traditional rectangle/square look.

$3.23 a gallon

2008-03-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

Gas prices have become the talk of the town for the past few months. It is said that by the end of the summer the prices will rise above $4/gallon. When taking a trip, like we did, calculating the amount of gas you're going to spend depending on how many miles you're driving is important. The bus drivers would plan it right so that they were filling up in areas that had lower prices than most. In one instance we stopped for lunch where he filled 1/4 of the tank because the prices were high and then a half hour later stopped because the prices were much lower and he was able to fill the remaining 3/4 of a tank. Luckily our vehicles keep track of the measurement of how much gas we have which involves how many gallons the vehicles tank is and then how many miles/gallon the car gets. This also affects the price a customer pays for the gas. A small VW Bug is not going to have the same price of gas as a Ford pick-up truck because their engine capacity and gas tank are different sizes.

Ace of Spades.

2008-03-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

Playing cards are considered to be a symbolic manipulative in the math world. Often they are used to play certain card games with such as rummy, crazy eights, "31", and black jack. Throughout the week, we played cards often! Some games the numbers have no value, but the symbols are most important (crazy eights) and in other games the number has a value that affects the game and score. ("31").

I spy a...

2008-03-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Shapes are everywhere! While working at the city park doing clean-up there were so many different shapes present. Shapes provide our world with an aesthetically pleasing environment so it's not so plain. In this picture of the park, how many different shapes are there?

"Who has the measuring tape?"

2008-03-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

Cutting, scoring, and finding the exact fit for pieces of sheet rock is not as easy as it seems! We had to measure the space we were trying to cover and then transfer those measurements onto the sheet rock making marks at the certain points. Using box-cutters we cut the piece as close to what we thought would fit as possible. Nothing was exact because the house was irregular, but for the most part measuring the length and width got us started in the right direction! It threw you for a loop when there were outlets or window sills you had to work around.

"Check please?!"

2008-03-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

Bills, checks, and money are always around us an require quick math.

One night we went into the French Quarter for dinner as a group. At the end of the meal everyone's "math light" turns on! "We gotta do the bill," we say. Finding the tip can be complicated unless you know the trick of finding 10% of the bill and then working from there. We gave 15% so we found 10% and then added half of 10%, which would be 5%.

FYI: The U.S. has different time zones!

2008-03-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

New Orleans is in a different time zone than Vermont which I did not realize until calling my parents from a rest stop in Mississippi on the way down to realize my time was an hour behind them. This made me question what time it really was! When you leave a time zone, you still feel like you're on the old time zone's clock.

Days and nights occur because the earth is spinning on an axis. Time changes as you move east or west, so the earth is divided into twenty-four time zones, one for each hour of the day. Some time zone boundaries zigzag so that people living in one region or country can have the same time.

My flight from New Orleans was @ 6:25-arriving in North Carolina @ 8:20. My next flight took off at 9:25 (NC Time). How many minutes did I have to get a sandwich and call a friend? If my friends are in New Orleans when I'm calling them, what time would it be for them if I called right when she landed at 8:40?

I didn't bring enough shorts!

2008-03-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

New Orleans' weather was in the mid 70's. This meant shorts were most comfortable when doing manual labor during the hotter parts of the day. I was told only to bring pants, but just incase I brought 3 pairs of shorts. I brought 5 work t-shirts-one for each day.

How many outfit combinations did I have for the week?

Shower power? No shower patterns.

2008-03-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

Our showering facilities consisted of a trailer in the back of the VFW we were staying in with 4 curtained off "stalls" so 4 students of the same gender could shower at once. Patterns are everywhere even in reference to showers! The rule for the week was that 2 groups of women showered then 1 group of men (since there were less men than women!). The shower pattern made an A, A, B, A, A, B pattern.

Let "X" equal the # of screws/wall

2008-03-26T21:16:00.001-07:00

Each wall we built was assembled using screws and sheet rock. The sheet rock hung horizontally and was screwed into the wall studs with the screws. A little bit of algebra was needed to figure out how many screws we'd need per wall when purchasing screws so we had enough (it was okay if some were left over!).

One example of the math we did would be: We started with 250 screws and needed to build 12 walls. How many screws could we use per wall so we didn't have to buy more? Would there be any leftover?

Let x=the # of screws/wall

Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee wasn't dry!

2008-03-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

We were in New Orleans helping to restore the city because of the damaage Hurrican Katrina had. Along the Mississippi River there is a levee which is a concrete wall that holds the water back when it rises. Some levee's are 4 feet high and some closer to 12 feet. Because parts of the city are below sea level, when the water level rises too much it rushes in resulting in a flood. This hurricane brought so much water that the 11 feet of water in the city covered the streets to the roofs of peoples houses bringing the water level to be at sea level.

If the levee is 8 feet high and the town is 10 feet under sea level, how many feet of water will they have if a levee broke or the water overflowed?

To kill time: Suduko.

2008-03-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Sudoku number puzzles have become very popular. You can use them as a challenging brain-teaser or as I did to pass the time on a 26 hour bus ride! The way it works is to have numbers 1-9 represented in each box and each row and column. Tricky! They can get difficult.

Are you getting enough H2O?

2008-03-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

All day, every day we're exposed to different measurements. When you go to the grocery store and the grocery list says "1/4 cup of milk" you have to know how many ounces are in a cup. Luckily, my Nalgene bottle tells me exactly how many ounces of water I have, but what if I drank out of another container of different measurement? I'd have to know how to convert.

Throughout each day at work I drank 3 Nalgene bottles of water. Every other day starting Monday I had my own full gallon of water that I drank on-site. If each Nalgene hold 32 oz., how many ounces in total did I drink working for 5 days?

(128 oz./gallon)