Cover Letter

The real world application of writing and solving equations is to have versatile

equations that can be applied to multiple situations that have the same structure but

different scales. For example, you can use algebra to determine the growth rate of a

group of a type of tree in one place, using the data of size, climate, and density to

calculate this. Then you can use the base equation and apply data from a different

group of trees to calculate the growth rate there. This unit all ties together as the main

idea was to have and create equations that can be used to get multiple answers through

variables. They actually lead into each other fairly well because they all shared their

common goals, and were similar. We went from doing the distributive property to

factoring, or reverse distributive. Then factoring was able to tie well into the other

aspects of the unit, creating a smooth transition from topic to topic.

Personal Experience
My personal experience in this unit was far better than the last unit. The work

here challenged me and really made me think about what I was doing in the project. A

great example of this is the 5th Problem of the Week. I really had to sit down and try a

bunch of different methods in order to finish it. I tried a method of elimination, just doing

a bunch of random number pairs and trying to apply them to the project. When I was

unable to find a pattern in this, I tried putting the data into a table. This did work and

actually allowed me to get an equation that could be used on almost any pair of number.

I definitely was not as bored by this unit as the last one, but it did have its easy parts. I

found the quiz to be extremely easy, and would almost say that it wasn’t worthwhile

being so easy for me. I also learned that group work is also really good and useful in

math as well. I actually had a lot of help and collaboration from peers to get a lot of the

work done, and it was as a group that a lot of the worksheets and problems were

completed with near perfect scores.

Unit Extension Question
A team of construction workers are working on building a massive bridge, the

largest the world has ever seen. They have to span a total of 100 miles of water, so

each team is building up their side of the bridge from the opposite side. What equation

could be used for them to determine when and where exactly the two sides of the bridge

meet, if one crew (a) is working ⅔ as efficiently as the others. If it takes the other crew

(r) 3 days to construct 10 miles of bridge after how many days will the bridge be

completed.