Mathematics


The Bare Necessities

Skill: Algebra I - a,1
Food, clothing and shelter are the basic necessities for survival. Have the students look in the newspaper to find a place to live, clothes to wear, and food to eat. They should find the cost of each item. Then have them search the classified ads for a job and a salary. What conclusions can they draw about their spending habits given the information they have collected? Will the job they found pay enough money to pay for the items they found?

Scoring Leaders

Skill: Algebra I - a,5
Have the class turn to the Sports section and study the scoring leaders for the National Basketball Association. Have them make a graph to illustrate the information. For which teams do they play? They should compare that information to the NBA Standings to see which teams are the best in the league. What conclusions can they draw from this information?

Technology Shoppers

Skill: Algebra I - b,1,B
The newspaper is a great place to find the best buys on the latest technology. Have your students go shopping for computers, cell phones, televisions, DVD players, digital cameras or any other equipment. Have them graph the information according to price. They should write three conclusions about the information they compiled.

Obituaries

Skill: Algebra - b,2,C
Have the students look through the obituaries and select ten. They can create a graph to show each person's age. The average person in the United States lives to about the age of 76. Have the students can draw three conclusions based on the information on their graphs.

Smart Consumers

Skill: Algebra I - b,2,D
In a slumping economy, consumers are looking for the best deal available. Consumers need to "get the most bang for the buck." Assign your students a chance to get the most bang for their shopping buck by using the ads in today's paper. Imagine they have $1000 to spend. The goal is to get the most value for their money. They can create a shopping list and justify their purchases.

Sports Coverage

Skill: Algebra I - b,4,A
The students should classify all of the articles in the Sports section according to which sport is being covered. They should determine the percentage of coverage for each sport and create a pie chart to show the results of their findings. Have the students write a algebraic equation based on their graphs.

The Cost of a Classified Ad

Skill: Algebra I - b,4,A
Have the students turn to the Classified section. They can find the rate schedule and determine how much it costs for a line in a classified ad. They can find a three-line ad and figure out the cost. Then the students can write their own classified ad to sell something they own. After writing, they can compute how much the ad would cost to run for one week.

Auto Averages

Skill: Algebra I - b,4,B
Have the students search the car advertisements for the prices of ten new automobiles. They should then find the average price of the ten cars. Then have the students write a step-by-step description of the process they used to calculate the average cost.

Salary

Skill: Algebra II - a,1
Last season the average salary paid to players in the National Basketball Association was about 3 million dollars. The students can turn to the classified ads and pick out the five top-paying jobs in the newspaper. Have them figure out the average salary of these five jobs and the difference between that and the average NBA salary. Have many years would it take for an NBA player to make 3 million dollars if he worked one of those jobs?

High and Low Temperatures

Skill: Algebra II - a,6
Have the students examine the information about the high and low temperatures for cities in the United States. Have them select ten cities and create a chart to show the differences between the highs and lows. What conclusions can they draw based on the information they have compiled on their charts?

Cost of Living

Skill: Algebra II - b,1,B
Have the students examine the House for Sale ads and select 10 homes. They should list the houses in order of least to most expensive. Have them compare the most and least expensive homes. What does the most expensive one have that the least expensive one does not have? If each student put 20% down on their most expensive house, how much money will they need to borrow to pay for the rest? If their mortgage payment is $800 per month, how many months will it take to pay for the house?

Geometric Shapes

Skill: Geometry - a,3
Have the students identify different geometric figures from the newspaper. They should determine the properties of each figure including the shape, length of the sides, angles and area. Have them create a table to show the information.

Scaling Down

Skill: Geometry - a,6
Challenge the students to recreate their own scaled-down version of the front page of the newspaper. They should make their own duplicate page one half the size of the original. Have your students measure the columns, banner, headers, photographs and any other items in order to complete their version.

Cross Section

Skill: Geometry - d,1,A
The students should search through the newspaper for photographs and other graphics of buildings. Then have them draw a cross section of the inside of their buildings and label their drawings.

Area

Skill: Geometry - e,1,A
Have the students select five polygons from the newspaper. Then have them figure out the area of each polygon. They can create a chart that shows the information.

Pythagorean Theory

Skill: Geometry - e,1,C
Have the class identify right triangles in the newspaper. They should measure the length of the sides that make up the right angles and use the Pythagorean Theory to figure out the length of the hypotenuse (a2 x b2 = c2)

Tracking Stocks

Skill: Precalculus - c,4,B
Have the students select a stock from the New York Stock Exchange. They should track the stock for five days to establish a pattern for that stock. What prediction can they make about the stock on day six? If each student invested $1,000 in their stock, how much would they gain or lose?

Car Comparison

Skill: Mathematical Models with Applications - c,1,A
The students can examine the used car ads to find three ads for the same model and year. For example, they might find three ads for a 1999 Ford Taurus. They should compare the ads and list the cars in order from most to least expensive and figure out why there is a difference in price. Which one offers the best deal?

Anayzing Graphs

Skill: Mathematical Models with Applications - c,2,C
Have the students find a graph in the newspaper. The Business section is a good place to look. The students should write a detailed description of the graph and then write three observations based on the information.

Oh No! Tax Time!

Skill: Mathematical Models with Applications - c,5,B
By April 15 of every year, Americans are responsible to pay their taxes to the government. If their forms aren't on the way to the Internal Revenue Service by that date they are late. The formula can be complicated but taxpayers pay about 30% of their income to the government. The class can look through the want ads and find the salaries for five jobs. Then they can compute what 30% of each salary would be. Then they can make a list of programs mentioned in the newspaper, that are supported by our tax dollars.

Shopping for Mortgages

Skill: Mathematical Models with Applications - c,5,C
Most people who want to buy a house borrow money from a bank or a mortgage company in order to pay for their home. They shop around to find a low rate so the interest cost will be less. The students should scan through the Business section of the paper for information about interest rates for borrowing money. Mortgage companies and banks often advertise their rates. Then they can make a list of the rates and put them in order from lowest to highest.

Car Talk

Skill: Mathematical Models with Applications - c,6,A
The students should use the automobile ads for new cars and compute the difference between financing a car and paying cash. Have them choose five different cars advertised and show, for each one, the difference in total cost of buying for cash and financing. Why do people borrow money to buy cars if cash purchases cost less?

Stock Market Shopping

Skill: Mathematical Models with Applications - c,7,C
People can invest money in the stock market and make or lose a great deal of money. Information about these stocks can be found in the Business section. The students can go shopping using the data in the charts provided. Have them locate the NYSE listings (New York Stock Exchange) in the Business section. They can pick one stock they like and find the column that shows the price under the column marked LAST. Have them convert the figure to a dollar amount (13.50 = $13.50) and figure out how much the stock costs if they bought 30 shares. Then they can compute the cost of 30 shares each of 5 different stocks. Have the class check the listings again tomorrow to find out if their stock is worth more or less than they paid for it.