Problem Statement: For this problem we were asked to figure out how many people attended Obama's inauguration ceremony using a small satellite image showing blogs of people.
Process: We approached this problem by starting small and staying organized. We started this problem by trying to start out and create scales for distance and volume. For the distance we researched the distance from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument then measured the same distance using a ruler on our mini map. To find a scale for the volume we actually created a square yard of tape and figured out how many people could fit comfortably in one square yard. After we found two scales that seemed to fit we calculated the area of each blob of people and ended up with a shocking estimate.
Troubleshooting: Before I move on to talking about our estimate I will say that if we got the opportunity to redo this project we would double, triple and quadruple check our work. We got a crazy low estimate of people and when we back tracked the second time we couldn't find the solution. My group and I didn't catch the problem till presentation day when someone said that the formula for area of a circle we used was actually the circumference. We were very disappointed but still had a great time trying to figure this one out.
ESTIMATE: 17,620
Reflection (Habits of a Mathematician) : The two habits of a mathematician that my group and I felt that we used very well were solve a simpler problem and stay organized. We started out starting really small and simple, trying to work out our approach to the problem before we started, how will we find our scale, how many people do we think fit a sq yard. We worked uphill from that point but it was also important for us to stay organized and not lose our thoughts or work. We needed to know where we were and what we were doing the entire time otherwise we might have had to start over.
Process: We approached this problem by starting small and staying organized. We started this problem by trying to start out and create scales for distance and volume. For the distance we researched the distance from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument then measured the same distance using a ruler on our mini map. To find a scale for the volume we actually created a square yard of tape and figured out how many people could fit comfortably in one square yard. After we found two scales that seemed to fit we calculated the area of each blob of people and ended up with a shocking estimate.
Troubleshooting: Before I move on to talking about our estimate I will say that if we got the opportunity to redo this project we would double, triple and quadruple check our work. We got a crazy low estimate of people and when we back tracked the second time we couldn't find the solution. My group and I didn't catch the problem till presentation day when someone said that the formula for area of a circle we used was actually the circumference. We were very disappointed but still had a great time trying to figure this one out.
ESTIMATE: 17,620
Reflection (Habits of a Mathematician) : The two habits of a mathematician that my group and I felt that we used very well were solve a simpler problem and stay organized. We started out starting really small and simple, trying to work out our approach to the problem before we started, how will we find our scale, how many people do we think fit a sq yard. We worked uphill from that point but it was also important for us to stay organized and not lose our thoughts or work. We needed to know where we were and what we were doing the entire time otherwise we might have had to start over.