Just for Fun

Introduction | Task | Process | Guidance | Conclusion | Questions

Introduction
     What do you like to do in your spare time - shop at the mall, attend a baseball game, go to the movies, ride the rides at the amusement park, or hike in the great outdoors? In this project, you will see how equations, functions, and graphs can help you examine how people spend their leisure time.

The Task
Your mathematics and social studies teachers are working together on a research project for your class. To complete the project, you need to research a recreational activity and make a poster or Web page to present your information. For example, possible choices for your project might include shopping, attending amusement parks, attending sporting events, attending movies, or visiting national parks. Your poster or Web page must include the following information:

• the name of the activity you have selected;
• a brief history or the background of the activity;
• a scatter plot of some type of data for the selected activity. You must make a prediction about the future of the activity using this scatter plot.;
• an explanation of your prediction and how you made it using the scatter plot;
• two more graphs, tables, calculations, or timelines about the activity that you chose.

You will get more ideas about completing this project in the exercises in your textbook in Unit 3.

The Process
To successfully complete this project, you will need to complete the following items.

• Select a recreational activity to research.
• Find the history or background for the activity that you chose. For help, try these Web sites.
  www.statistics.com and search for entertainment or the topic of your choice
  www.icsc.org a Web site for shopping center statistics
  www.worldwideboxoffice.com a web site for movie data
  movieweb.com/movie/top25.html a Web site for movie data
  www.rcdb.com a Web site for amusement parks
  www.napha.org/index.html a Web site for amusement parks
  www.sportsline.com for sports
  www.nfl.com for football
  www.us-parks.com for national parks
  www.us-national-parks.net for national parks
  www.nps.gov for national parks
  www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004743.html for national parks
  
• Find data about the activity that you chose. For help, try the Web sites listed above.
• Prepare one scatter plot using data that you find. Make a prediction about the future of the activity that you chose using the scatter plot. Write an explanation of your prediction.
• Prepare two more graphs, tables, or timelines for the data that you found.
• Prepare your poster or Web page.
• Be creative. Add some additional data, information, or even pictures to your poster or Web page.

Guidance
Here are some additional questions and ideas you may want to consider for your project.

1. What can the types of recreational activities that people in a particular country do tell you about the country and the people? For example, if a lot of people in the U.S. spend money at malls frequently, what can you tell about the amount of money that people in the U.S. earn?
2. Research other countries to determine what types of activities they do in their spare time.
3. How do mathematics and social studies fit together in this project?

Conclusion
Here are some ideas for concluding your project.

• Present your project to your class or at a family night.
• Present the information on a Web page. Have other students critique your project and help you to make improvements to your project.
• Write a one-page summary of your project, including what you have learned from researching this topic.

Questions

Lesson 7—1
Aislyn decides to research attending sports events for her project. She finds these data on attendance at NBA basketball games and NFL football games. The table shows the total attendance for each sport for the 1997 season and the average change in attendance for the two years following 1997. Suppose the attendance at each sport continues to increase or decrease at these rates.

1. Write an expression for the attendance at NBA games after x years.
2. Write an expression for the attendance at NFL games after x years.
3. Use the expressions in parts a and b to write an equation to find the number of years until the attendance at each event is approximately the same.
4. In about how many years will the yearly attendance at the two types of events be the same?
5. How can Aislyn display these data in a scatter plot to show her prediction for when the attendance will be about the same?

1. Make a scatter plot of the data by plotting the ordered pairs (years since 1997, number of shopping malls).
2. Explain why the scatter plot is a function.
3. Draw a line that approximates the data.
4. How can Jacob use the line in part b to predict the number of shopping malls in 2010?
5. Predict the number of shopping malls in 2010. Do you think this prediction will be fairly accurate? Why or why not?