A road trip with math

Hi everyone!

 

This is my last Scimatics blog post for grade 8. This project was all about using a linear relations graph to track, in our case, how much money was spent. For this project we had to plan a road trip that cost under $10000, but over $9500. In the price we had to include everything from gas for our vehicle, to a backpack we were buying for the trip. The driving question for this project was, How can we model change over time? The answer for this project is, a linear relations graph!

To start off this project we choose our vehicle that we would be traveling in, during our road trip. We then chose were we would be traveling and figured out the cost to rent the vehicle. For this project I was traveling in iceland, and my vehicle would cost $195 a day!

After we had figured out the basics, we had to practice math. We worked out of the math textbook, and some other questions. Once we understood how linear relations worked, there was a short test to show our ability.

 

Learning about linear Relations was just the first step to our project. We then created a budget, listing all of our daily costs and our starting one-time costs. This was to show our reasoning and analyzing competency. We had to reasonably estimate how much everything would cost and put it together so it wouldn’t go over $10000. I think I did a pretty good job at this, I didn’t go over the budget but it was a little hard to reach even $9500. In the end I did and was in the budget range.

Once we had figured out how much we were spending we had to create a chart using an app called desmos. Using this app we graphed out our trip and the cost per day. To do this we created a formula, mine was y= 474x + 2764. The “y” stands for the total cost, and the “x” stands for the number of days traveled. Using the formula and the graph, I calculated that it would cost, $9873 for 15 days. You can click on the photo for a better view.

If I were to travel for 18 days, it would cost $11295, which is going over the budget. If I travelled 20 days it would cost $12243. If for some reason my trip got cut short, and lasted 10 days, it would cost $7503. If you click on the photo then click it again you can see it in full.

you are reading the final step of the project, a blog post! The competency being assessed for this is, connecting and reflecting. During this project we had to connect the math we were learning to personal interests. I think I did a good job at this, because in my budget there are a lot of things I would like to do. Traveling to iceland is a place I would actually like to go, so mapping it out and making a budget for it was really interesting. This competency was also looking at reflecting, which is something I think I used to struggle with more. Though all the blog posts I’ve written it has become easier to reflect on my work.

 

During this project, I got to plan out an amazing vacation while learning about linear relations. I found this project interesting, which makes it easy to engage in. I enjoyed planning a road trip, and getting to calculate all the math. I think it was a great project to end my grade 8 year off with!

 

”I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.“

– Albert Einstein

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