Algebra 1
Unit 2: Welcome to Algebra
“Project Time”
Quoting from The Journal of the Institute for Hacks,
Tomfoolery and Pranks at M.I.T. (M.I.T. Museum Press, Cambridge, MA,
1990), p. 108:
“The official length of the Harvard Bridge [connecting
Boston’s Back Bay area, where many MIT fraternity houses are located, with
Cambridge] is 364.4 Smoots plus one ear.
Distances on the bridge are indicated with a colored paint mark every
Smoot and a number every ten Smoots…”
The entry goes on to quote Mr. Oliver R. Smoot, Jr, MIT Class of 1962: “In October 1958, O’Connor… devised the idea of marking off the bridge in pledge lengths [“pledges” are freshmen who want to joint the fraternity, in this case Lambda Chi Alpha]…. As with many pledge tasks, there was an easy way out if a little ingenuity was exercised—namely use a string… Unfortunately, a brother in the class of ’61… accompanied us… we had no choice but to do the actual measurements. I can tell you that even then I could not do the equivalent of 365 push-ups, so much of the way I was carried or dragged…”
Here’s your mission:
Your group must devise a new unit of measure of length, related to physical attributes of one or more of the members in your group. Once you have decided on the unit, you must give conversion factors for your unit to “conventional” and back. Measure something at Uni with your measure (you may use a tape measure or meter stick and convert, if you wish). This should all be completed during one class period. Record your work below; give complete sentence answers to each question. NOTE: an individual part of this project will be homework after the test.
1.
What is your group’s unit of measure? Be creative! Give your unit a name and tell what physical
attributes it uses. (lose points if it is the same as a Smoot but with a
different name). Make a sketch to
illustrate (use the back of this sheet).
2.
Give a conversion for your unit to conventional (feet, meters,
yards, or inches) and for conventional into your unit. (Example:
to convert feet to inches multiply by 12; to convert inches to feet,
multiply by 1/12).
3. Which feature at Uni is your group measuring? How large is the feature? How can you tell that your measurement is correct?
Algebra
1
Unit 2: Welcome to Algebra
“Project Time”—INDIVIDUAL
PART
The back of this sheet is a copy of the work you group did in class a couple of days ago. Your group defined a new unit of measure and came up with conversion factors for your unit to conventional and conventional to your unit. You have two jobs to complete the project:
1.
Write a paragraph explaining why the conversion factors (item
2 on the back of this sheet) your group used are correct. Be sure to explain how you could use
the conversion factors.
2.
Look up, in an encyclopedia, atlas, gazetteer, or on the
internet (be sure to CITE YOUR SOURCE), the AREA of . Write it below (be sure to record the unit
of area), then convert that area into your group’s units; report
the answer using SCIENTIFIC NOTATION, and be sure to report the kind of
units. Some facts you might use: 3 ft = 1 yd; 5280 ft = 1 mi; 100 cm = 1 m;
1000 m = 1 km; 1 mi = 1.6097 km.
Area (conventional):
Source:
Area (your unit):
(Don’t forget to use SCIENTIFIC NOTATION for the area in
your unit, and state the UNITS OF AREA for both area measurements).