Monday, March 14, 2011

Exponentially Insane

If you didn't know, my parents are math teachers. My mom and dad spent time arguing (not a real argument, a 'math discussion') how much difference the 8.9 and 9.0 earthquake rating would be. Since the earthquake people decided the earthquake was a 9.0 and not a 8.9, they set off into a discussion about how a tenth of a 'point' would be more and more destructive the higher the number works.

I have seen it explained using hurricane models. The same basic concept applies to hurricanes. The higher the wind speeds and lower the pressure, the more significant even the slightest change matters in hurricanes.

My mom also uses the NCAA tournament to teach exponential decay. Except this year, it is exponential decay with little tags hanging off of it.

If this makes no sense to you, its ok. It barely makes sense to me. I teach special ed English.  I am barely hanging on when it comes to math.

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