Uses for parabolas

Well. I think that there are many uses for parabolas. Not just as trick questions on a test, but more legitimate, real life experiences. For instance, did you know that every time a dancer jumps, a parabola is made? They start on the floor, take off, sail through the air and come back down . If you could find the apogee of the jump and any point on the line if the jump, you would be able to determine the shape of the parabola and weather it was a vertical shrink or stretch. The higher the jump, the shorter the length of the parabola would be. If the center of the stage is (0,0) and a vertical and horizontal lines are "drawn" to form the Cartesian plane, the dancer(f(x)) leaps  two feet to the left of center, but still on that horizontal line, by accident, the equation of the dancer's jump would be dependent on the height, but the function form of the jump is f(x)= (x-2)2. 

                                      

Parabolas are in all sports. Everyone knows that the person jumping, diving or falling is making an arc, but only smart math geeks like us recognize that it isn't just arcs that are made, but  negative parabolas (concave down). 

Recycled fashion show

Every year Academy put on a "Trashion Fashion" Show. This is to show that fashion doesn't have to be just store bought items. Kids and adults alike make functional items, art pieces and clothing from recycled materials. This year i made three...well actually 5 items.

I made a dress and purse solely from playing cards tied together by yarn.

I also made wedges from my sister's old swimsuits, used firewood, the inserts to a pair of pointe shoes and extra plastic sewing mesh.

I made a 60's style dress based on the Monkees Video of "Cuddly toy" from an old sweatshirt and pop tabs for Sara. This is my favorite.

Then I made a flapper dress for my friend Molly from an old tee shirt and toilet paper tubes.

Aren't they cool?!?!?!?!

I also got First Place ($100) for my playing card dress.

Why do we have to learn math?

I know that many people are wondering why we have to learn math skills if we are going to go into a profession that doesn't need math. Why did we have to spend a year in geometry and even longer in algebra? Some professions actually use math on a daily basis. Like my dad's job involves him scratching really complicated math equations onto the yellow legal pad. I really have no idea as to what the chicken scribbles or how that helps but my dad is changing the world by using math.


My dad used math to write a soldering handbook. Trust me: it doesn't make for a very good bedtime story...

My mom is a stay-at-home mom. She cooks and cleans and takes care of us kids and she sews. The cooking involves math because if she wanted to make 1.5 of a recipe, she would have to use ratios to figure out how much of the ingredient to use in the new recipe. It is nice to experiment and see what happens, but if this is the first time she is trying that recipe, experimentation is probably not the best choice. You want to see what happens with the original recipe before you experiment with the ingredients. If it takes her to clean the house 6 hours by herself, how long does it take to clean the house if she has one daughter helping? 2? 3? So you can do a word problem to see how much time she saves with her daughters help clean the house. You can also make a word problem out of a simple trip to the store. Like if each daughter wants "x" amount of candy bars and you have a limited budget, how much can each daughter get? The final way that math is helpful in every day life (well... my mom's life)is in sewing. You have to use geometry when sewing. The triangle, for this specific pattern to work, has to have the biggest angle to be 90* with the sides to be a certain size. If she wants to make "X" sized quilt out of just these triangles of fabric, how many would she need? First she would find the area of the triangle and the area of the quilt. Then she would multiply the area of the triangle by a number that gets it very, very close to the area of the quilt with seam allowance included. Then you sew them together and you've got a quilt.


My point exactly...

Math isn't just another subject that you are required to take in school and you only go to the class because you have to. It is the foundation of our society, as much as we hate to admit it.... It solves problems of the world...much easier than trying to fiddle with it. If you take math class with a good attitude, you are likely to go far in life.