We have been working on another linear equations project in math. This one is about how we can use linear equations to figure out what cell phone plans are best. The way that we went about doing this was to compare roaming costs across providers. For this project my partner was Marshall, and we looked into the providers Fido, Rogers, and Freedom.
This is the linear equation that we used to solve our problem. We took each of the monthly plan costs and price per megabyte and inputted it into our equation. For example, here is what the equation looked like for Fido.
With this equation, we can either graph it, or solve it algebraically. Here is our graph that we used to show the different providers and their roaming data rates.
As you can see, Rogers is way more expensive than the other two due to a much higher price per megabyte. Even though it does have the lowest monthly upfront cost, it still is so out of our frame that it will never be the most cost effective, unless you are using barely any data. Once we look at where Fido and Freedom cross, however, we can see that it is harder to differentiate where exactly they intersect. This is an example of where to use algebra to solve these equations.
Here’s my final mind map for this project!
These are the competencies I used in this project. I used these by researching and solving mathematic formulas in a linear equation.
i reflected on mathematical thinking through this blog post. I connected mathematical concepta with personal interests because i used some of this information to choose a new phone plan. I represented mathematic symbols in my work through my diagrams. I also applied flexible and strategic approaches by working through problems in our math. I visualized to explore and illustrate mathematical concepts and relationships by creating graphs and comparisons.
The way that this algebra works, in simple terms, is that we isolate one of the variables, in this case x, so we can find the exact value. As you can see in this video, the solution is 500 mb. Meaning, that once you use over 500 mbs, Freedom is cheapest.