Real Numbers in Real Life
Where do numbers actually come into everyday living? The following problems offer scenarios that
aim to connect mathematics to questions that touch the world of the middle school student.
Here you have 80 mathematical challenges that immediately involve middle school students in the mathematics
of their everyday world. Each challenge contains an initial problem with a solution hint, a complete explanation
of the answer, and additional problems related to the same challenge. The next four resources listed below are
a sampling of those challenges that deal most directly with number and operations.
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Does showing movies make money for theater owners? With information about box office receipts, the
percentage that theater owners must pay to movie distributors, and operating expenses, students answer the
question by making profit-and-loss calculations.
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In this activity, students are given the mileage per gallon of gas, as determined by the EPA, and the tank capacity
of three cars and asked to determine which car will go the farthest on a single tank of gas.
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In this activity, students explore what percentage means when a class votes on an issue. The percentage
of the boys and the percentage of the girls who supported the issue are given, but not the number of boys and
girls in the class! MSP full record
An access ramp must be built over a three-step staircase, with steps 7 inches high and 10 inches wide. How far
away should the ramp start? This involves students in talking about and figuring slope.
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These problems are unique in that they relate to the everyday activities of Alaskan natives, such as
stretching and sewing beaver skins, picking and transporting berries, net fishing, and tarpapering a cabin roof.
The worksheets focus on standard and nonstandard measurement, money, percentages, and other topics that involve
arithmetic.
Fermi questions emphasize estimation, rely on numerical reasoning, and promote questioning skills.
A Fermi question might be: How many piano tuners are there in New York City? The site offers a collection
of questions and illustrates how such questions might be answered, while stressing the multiple approaches
and multiple answers possible. Solutions are given for two classic Fermi questions to demonstrate the
technique of questioning and estimating. MSP full record
Working within baseball and track themes, students practice their skills in finding averages and compound
interest, applying the distance-time-speed formula, and converting from fractions to decimals to percentages.
These math activities really engage the middle school student!
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This one-pager offers resources that tie calculation to everyday situations — from buying a soda
to taking after-school jobs to understanding weather reports. Included here are quick introductions to a class
project and to a newspaper resource that can provide lesson ideas for the entire year.
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Copyright
October 2007 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work
supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any
opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the National Science Foundation.
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This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
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