Quantitative Lit
Intermediate Algebra
Math 1010
Instructor: Aart K. Costello
E-portfolio Project/Modeling Utah's Population
In this assignment, we chose a project from the mathematics department on the Salt Lake Community College website that would demonstrate the skills we've learned throughout this course. The project I chose provided the student with data on Utah's population for studied years starting in 1981 and ending in 2008. The student then used the information to create a graph, estimate two points on the line that best fit the data given, and use those points to find a linear equation that was relevant to the data presented. This is a basic example of algebraic slope equations taught in this course. My answers/findings are in bold font beneath the questions/prompts in the second file below. Strangely enough, the font changed when I converted the file to PDF, but I liked the way it looked, so I kept it that way.
I very much enjoyed this project. I was initially going to choose the project based on zero-gravity parabola flights, but I wanted to challenge myself to remember information from way back in the beginning of the semester. So, since parabolas were taught in this course so close to when I completed this assignment, I reached back to slopes of lines, etc. in order to test my retention skills. I am happy with my abilities in this area, as well. This was also a nice assignment to show students how the logical processes they were learning could be used in the real world to solve problems and further advance our society in a positive way.
