Monday, October 26, 2015
Tommy
HOW TO:)
When you were once a young child, did you ever measure your height on the wall? I know I did and I always included the date in which I measured to precisely know how much I grew within those select few months. Here is an example in which a young boy recorded his height every 6 months starting his 14th birthday. Please read the chart.
Time (starting 14th birthday, in months)
Height (feet)
0
5’0
6
5’ .5
12
5’1
18
5’5
24
5’5
30
5’5
36
5’8
42
5’10
48
5’11
As you can see here, the young boy grew 11 inches throughout his high school career! That’s incredible! That is an averageof 2.75in./year or 0.229ft/yr. Does this mean that every year he
grew exactly 2.75in? Well, look at the graph and tell me.
The Answer is no. If we were to find the derivative of this line (which isn’t linear, we would find out that the boy did NOT grow exactly 2.75in per year. In fact, from 18 months30 months he stayed the same height. Because of this, we do not know the exact rate of change of the graph. Finding the derivative of this will allow us to find the exact rate of change and therefore tell us

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I'm not a math person and i have no clue what a derivative is , but for some reason this made me laugh lol. It's nice to read something that's a lot different from the other posts. Very creative, Nice Job! :)
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Although I am being completely demolished in calc, I understand the basis of this piece and absolutely love it! It's very humorous and had me cheesing the entire time I read the piece. Good job and keep up the great work! :)
ReplyDeleteI really liked this because it gives a real life example of how derivates would be used, and now my calculus class will be easier to connect to real life, great work! -Damian Echavarria
ReplyDeleteFor those looking for some straightforward information, with some practical uses, your work is a breath of fresh air. I appreciate the mathematical terms and have the strange urge to go study for Calculus. Some very sophisticated writing that proves your intelligence. Great job.
ReplyDeleteI like how you had the chart so that the height of the boy was visible. i like this piece because i used to check my height too, and when i was younger i used to wonder why the boys' numbers jolted up out of no where lol later i realized it was because of a growth spurt. Nice work :)
ReplyDeleteShaniya Trotter
Thank you for stepping out of the flash fiction box! I like how you added some comedic relief in between all the math, it made it an easy read even though there was a complex concept. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteOkay Tommy I see you, I don't know whether to think you're in Stats or not. I liked it, it was straight forward and precise. Good job!
ReplyDelete-Oyinda Akinnusi
I think we all see the calculus inspiration here! I honestly would have never thought about checking height like that and applying derivatives to the whole thing. Its an interesting concept i like it
ReplyDeleteI remember my grandpa would record my height every time I went over to his house, at this point he stopped since I will forever be 5'2, but it just reminded me of my younger days. I also din't expect the calculus references but it makes sense and ties perfectly into the piece.
ReplyDeleteThis was fun to read and supported a common point about measuring children's heights.
ReplyDeleteunique blog. interesting in how you interpreted your love for math into your piece
ReplyDeleteThis is such a neat way to analyze something we all to often don't think too much about. You did a great job of making it into a little story as well. Very entertaining
ReplyDeleteI like the humor you added and it made me laugh, despite the fact that there was talk of the dreaded derivatives ( I'm in calculus), but anyways I like that you took a different approach to this assignment and i enjoyed reading something new and different.
ReplyDelete-Chloe Hopkins
This is very interesting, and unique. Good job.
ReplyDelete-Sirikanya Boonyanant
This was a really interesting piece Tommy (I mean that in a good way). I liked how we got a glimpse into your life and also saw how you grew up within the year because you learned how to use a derivative in real life. I also just want to say congratulations for knowing how to apply a derivative to the real world. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to join in the humor and pretend I understand this Calc talk. I'm sorry for all you calc kids, I can only imagine how grueling it is right now. You gave me a laugh Tommy, someone please teach me what a derivative is.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was very cute even though math is my worst subject this was great to read aside from all the stories a lot of people post on here, good job.
ReplyDelete-Meghan Ustrell
I appreciate the variety and diversity that this brings to the blog
ReplyDeleteI felt as if I was a piece of your mathematical world, this was so well crafted and thoughtfully executed. By incorporating technical terms you ran the risk of alienating the layman reader, but your ballsy move payed off and I have never been more engrossed and inspired by a How To in my short life. Bravo.
ReplyDelete-Christopher Trevino
I hate math with a passion, but this made me chuckle! Nice job on making numbers seem fun!
ReplyDeleteI really like the fact that you gave us something different from the fictional stories which are usually posted (not that that's a bad thing or anything) but you added pieces of comedy to something us students usually stress about, the monstrous subject that is math. LOL. Anyways, i also like how this piece was relatable with the fact that i was measured as a child as well. Good job!
ReplyDeleteSo fun to read! I'm not a math person, just to be claritin clear, but I had an idea as to what you were referring to, mathematically. Cool piece!
ReplyDelete~ Gregory Gomez
That's cool recording your height while growing but besides that its nice
ReplyDeleteUnique piece. When I was younger I recall my excitement when I saw a little improvement when my stature escalated as I got older. It became less exciting when the marks stayed that same. Thank you for your submission.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much of a math person but your How-to was very refreshing and interesting. Your writing style is very sophisticated and your piece is very well put together. Great Job Tommy.
ReplyDeleteVery nice piece, I love that you did something different, it was very refreshing! I love the comedic aspects of your piece as well, great job:)!
ReplyDeleteI like how you added that how you measured a wall when you were young and you said that everyone does that but actually most people don't
ReplyDeleteI liked what you wrote especially since I'm taking calculus right now and it shows me how useful it can be. I like how your piece was very unique from everyone elses. Good Job!
ReplyDelete-Jeremiah Eugenio
I think everybody would agree that we like the fact that this piece is very different from the others we read ! This piece was quite an entertaining story and liked all your calculus references! Great job! -Aylin Veloz
ReplyDeleteThis was really fun and interesting to read(:
ReplyDeleteThis was a nice little bit to read in between some of the heavier literature, and was in sense a bit comical! I can definitely see that your head was clouded by AP Calc (I feel you), and this was a cute little tie of the two subjects. Very creative.
ReplyDeleteThis was a nice problem, it certainly is much different than the past writings i have read in this class. Although i will never solve this, it does get one thinking about the definition of Derivatives( im not in calculus). Great job!
ReplyDeleteGood use of your own life experience in your informative piece.
ReplyDeleteI suck at math, but this was very instructional and intuitive! I also found this a bit comedic, not sure if that's what you were going for but you did a good job. Oh and the topic was very relate-able, which is always a great approaching point.
ReplyDelete-Brittany Hackney p.3
Why does your piece make me feel like I'm in Schaina's class all over again haha. This was a nice read, it's a lot different from what others posted and reminds us all of the excitement of math(yay)! Good job.
ReplyDeleteI like it, don't fully understand it but thats because math isn't my strong point. Still I was able to see your connection to unique and from my perspective complex math to a child marking their height. Interesting, very interesting. -Luke Riddington
ReplyDeleteI don't like Calc but this was funny. Good Job.
ReplyDelete