Recently in math we have been having lots of fun on the illest road trip ever. We haven’t actually been on a road trip but we have been doing a math project where we would calculate the costs (among many other things) of going on a road trip. By doing this we would learn lots of algebra and how we would use this in real life situations. The trip was also sponsored by mtv so there were lots of special perks that we got
In the beginning we had to choose the basics like what we drove, who we went with, if we wanted to eat expensive food or not. Some things were already set for us like the price of gas and the amount of money we had to spend besides that we pretty much had total freedom. I decided to go with my friend Lucas and both of our pets, that way we would have lots of company and it would be fun. Next I decided to drive a Penske sleep-in truck so I didn’t have to spend extra money on a hotel or another place to stay. Because of this I was able to buy a bunch of cool stuff to bring on my trip. I decided I would eat middle grade food which was like healthy food. It cost less than some but it was definitely good and worth it. I also decided I would go from New York to Area 51 and back to New York.
One fun activity we got to do was called the speed trap. In the speed trap Mr. Gross went through the school parking lot on his bike at an unknown speed. We were put into groups and we were tasked with calculating the distance he went and then from that calculate the speed. We did really well overall at this and had lots of fun. If we did this successfully we got bonus money. Me and a few others I worked with ended up getting 7000$ extra to spend on our trips. This also helped me buy some awesome things. Some of the awesome things I was able to buy include 10 Xbox one X’s, 480 mountain dews, and 29 penny board skateboards.
On the more math side of the project, we learned lots of algebra and how to translate that data onto graphs to see what it really meant. We also learned how to decipher and create mathematical formula’s to help us solve things like how much gas we use at what speed over a certain distance and time. Most of our formulas were based on the formula Y=MX+B. On the trip we also had sponsors. We either got sponsored by Coke, Pepsi or Snapple. The challenge here was we had to come up with a formula to figure out how much the sponsors gave us. I ended up choosing Coke by figuring out it would give me four more dollars than Pepsi at 164$. I used the formula Y=6x+104 for Coke and used Y=10x+60. Pepsi gives you more per day but Coke has a larger starting bonus which made it better for me. These formulas are hard to learn at first but once you understand them you realize of important they really are. Especially to completing bigger and bigger math problems as you keep going through high school and life.
Looking back on this project I thought it was super fun and creative. And I’ve never done a project like it before. One thing I would’ve done differently is get every little detail planned out before doing any of the math, that way you don’t have to redo any of it and it’s a smooth job for you. One thing I think I did well was the algebra itself because after checking my math I think I made very few mistakes at all. I thought overall it was a great project and I hope to do more like it.