Earthquakes and Logarithms
One thinks of an earthquake as a sudden motion or trembling in the earth caused by an abrupt release of accumulated ...
Apples, Oranges, and Interest Rates
How many times have you heard the expression, Don't compare apples and oranges? I'm sure that your mathematics teach...
The Rise and Fall of the Individual Batting Average
Yes, it is that time of the year again - the start of the major league baseball season! Every April ignites that ann...
Rates of Change
Most physical quantities change. The speed of a car changes with time; the size of a tumor changes with the quantity...
Bending Light and Snell's Law
Light bends! Light travels at different speeds through different substances and changes direction as it changes spee...
Card Tricks - Magic or Mathematics?
On the one hand, when viewed by students, magicians and mathematics have something in common - both have a "bag of tr...
What is the Value of Your Money?
Within the next ten years, you will possibly purchase a stereo, borrow money to attend college, purchase a car, inves...
The Mathematics of a Soda Pop Can
This HiMAP Pull-Out Section explores the mathematics behind how a company chooses the size and shape of its product c...
Voting: The Importance of Method
When people put an issue to a vote, they generally suppose that they are using a fair and accurate way of discovering...
What Do You Expect to Happen When…?
What do expect to happen when the weather report calls for an 80% chance of rain for tomorrow? What do you expect to ...
Zero-Coupon Bonds
Finance is an area where mathematics is applied every day. Business people have learned from experience that intuitio...
I Will if You Will
Has a situation like the following one ever happened to you?
Situation A: Tom and a couple of friends are discussin...
Checks, Check Digits, and Check Codes
Students in the classroom often hear, "Check your work!" Outside of the classroom, you are also confronted with situ...
Mathematical Swindles Part 1 - Some Puzzles & Games
Logical reasoning, using the tools and techniques of mathematics, is the key to the development and better understand...
Mathematical Swindles Part 2 - Some Puzzles & Games
Logical reasoning, using the tools and techniques of mathematics, is the key to the development and better understand...
Mathematics Makes a Splash: Evaluating Hand Timing Systems
Mathematics plays a role in virtually every sport practiced by modern man. Be it the simple arithmetic used in score ...
Managing Your Money: Linear Programming II
Have you ever made decisions about managing your money? Mathematics provides tools that help to make such decisions. ...
Life in the Fast Line: A Modeling Problem from the Grocery Store
The objective of this HIMAP Pull-Out Section Is to Introduce students to mathematical modeling as a form of problem s...
Geometry and Roof Framing
The primary function of a roof is to protect the house and occupants from weather. Roof construction should be strong...
Testing for Steroid Use: When Can You Save Money by Pooling Samples?
The activities in this issue's Pull-Out explore the question, "When can you expect to save money by pooling two ster...
Alcohol and Your Body
This lesson presents a mathematical model of how alcohol is eliminated from the body. The mathematical focus is on g...
Mathematics and the Apollo 11 Flight to the Moon
On a summer day in 1969, America launched a new adventure in space. Apollo 11 blasted off into orbit around Earth at...
A Mathematical Model of a National Economy
An interesting area of applied mathematics is the field of economics. In macroeconomics, models of a national econom...
Mathematical Modeling and Dynamical Systems
The theory of dynamical systems is applied to problems in many disciplines. Let's take a specific example from biolog...
Mathematics and the City Water Tower
Many cities store water in towers and from these towers they run water through pipes into houses, stores, and factor...
The Super Apple Collider
The following is a revision of a classic story that has been told to millions of students. A hunter at point A aims ...
Polling Pitfalls
In 1936, the famous magazine Literary Digest, distributed over 10 million mail-in ballots to assess voter preference...
The Mathematics of Bond Pricing and Interest Rate Risk
According to the Securities Industry Association, investors lost one trillion dollars in bonds in 1994. The total lo...
Buying a Car, Now or Later
An interesting activity for high-school mathematics scholars is to find, correct, and analyze errors. Much of mathem...
A PERT Answer
Have you ever been involved in a project where it seems like there are a million things to do and they all depend on...
The Monte Carlo Method and Random Number Generators
From The New York Times: "Monte Carlo Simulation, named for Monaco's famous gambling casino, can help to represent v...
Geometry While You Wait
Have you ever waited at the gas pump while filling your gas tank? Did you pass the time by fiddling with the gas-tan...
Mathematics and the Stock Market
Why do people invest in stocks? It's obvious - to make money. Many Americans realize that it is their responsibility ...
The Wandering Sunset
Doesn't the sun always set due west on the horizon? Actually, the sun sets in the west only on two days of each year:...
Latitude and Longitude
The question of one's exact location on the face of the earth has intrigued humankind for thousands of years. Locatio...