This summer I went to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia with my family. While we were there, we visited Jamestown and there were a LOT of math connections!
Did you know that they would sometimes use rope soaked in a special mixture to ignite the gunpowder in rifles, instead of using flint? They would have to know how quick the rope burned to determine what length of rope they would need for when they were on duty. If you got that wrong... well, that would not be good for our original colonists!
Let's say that your length of rope would burn at a rate of about a foot an hour (based on the information the gunsmith gave us)...
1. What is the rate of change at each end of rope, if the rope was burned at each end?
2. What is the total rate of change in inches per hour? How about inches per minute?
3. Do you know why they had the rope burning on each end? I actually asked this question myself to the gunsmith :)
Remember! Every where you look you can find some type of math connection, even "back in the day"!
This summer I went to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia with my family. While we were there, we visited Jamestown and there were a LOT of math connections!
Did you know that they would sometimes use rope soaked in a special mixture to ignite the gunpowder in rifles, instead of using flint? They would have to know how quick the rope burned to determine what length of rope they would need for when they were on duty. If you got that wrong... well, that would not be good for our original colonists!
Let's say that your length of rope would burn at a rate of about a foot an hour (based on the information the gunsmith gave us)...
1. What is the rate of change at each end of rope, if the rope was burned at each end?
2. What is the total rate of change in inches per hour? How about inches per minute?
3. Do you know why they had the rope burning on each end? I actually asked this question myself to the gunsmith :)
Remember! Every where you look you can find some type of math connection, even "back in the day"!