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 The American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges |
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The American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges |
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Florence
S. Gordon is Professor of Mathematics at New York Institute of
Technology. She is a co-author of Functioning in the Real World, co-author
of Contemporary Statistics: A Computer Approach and co-editor of the MAA
Notes volumes, Statistics for the Twenty First Century and A Fresh Start
for Collegiate Mathematics: Rethinking the Courses Below Calculus. She
has published extensively in mathematics and statistics education. E-mail: fgordon@nyit.edu |
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Traditional college algebra courses focus almost exclusively on power functions such as y = x2 and y = x3 rather than the more general y = xp. However, it is the more general form that is the basis of the mathematical models that arise throughout the natural sciences in a host of unexpected and highly interesting, applications. This article demonstrates a variety of applications drawn from biology and other areas that lead to power functions and some of the kinds of questions that can truly motivate students to find value in the mathematics they are learning. For instance: Why can’t a turkey fly? How much did a pterodactyl weigh? How many different species can the island of Puerto Rico support? How large does an island have to be to have 100 species inhabit it? How does the size of an organism relate to how fast it can run? Or swim? Or fly? |
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