Tracking a Hurricane Name: Patrick Stevens School: Joliet Junior College Email: pstevens@jjc.edu Grade Level: Algebra 1 Class Setup: Work in groups of 2 Teacher Role: Facilitator Materials Needed: Tracking maps Straight Edge or Ruler Rationale: Following Hurricanes When a tropical “bump” occurs in the normal easterly flow of wind, the potential for hurricanes is at hand! Falling pressure and enhanced showers can combine to turn the “bump” into a depression which could then become a full-fledged hurricane. Hurricanes have the potential to cause millions of dollars in damage and cost thousands of lives. Some people track hurricanes for a living, watching carefully for the right conditions for their development. Sheets similar to the following (available at www.accuweather.com along with lots of interesting additional information about hurricanes) are commonly used to track the path of a hurricane. Hurricanes (and other things traveling the Earth) are tracked in terms of latitude and longitude. Lines of latitude run North-South and lines of longitude run East-West. By giving a precise latitude and longitude we can pinpoint the location of anything on the surface of the Earth. On the following map, the numbers running up the right and left side are latitude values and the numbers along the top and bottom are longitude numbers. See if you can determine the latitude and longitude of Myrtle Beach and Montgomery. The answers are listed at the bottom of the next page.

Student Activity Equipment: Tracking maps Straight Edge or Ruler Statement of Students will be required to plot the path of several hurricanes and to use Problem: slope to describe and compare the paths of different hurricanes. Procedure: a. Work in groups of 2.

b. Use data points from Hurricane Bill to plot its path on the Atlantic map and fill in the worksheet.

c. Use data points from Hurricane Danny to plot its path on the East Coast map and fill in the worksheet.

Calculations: a. For each consecutive pair of points on the worksheet, calculate the slope:

longitudeinchangelatitudeinchangeslope= .

b. Compare and contrast Hurricane Danny and Hurricane Bill. Write in

terms of direction and degree of change. Try to relate these ideas to the values of the slope. d. From Danny’s location on July 19th at 3pm, what slope would Danny have to travel to hit Charleston? What slope to hit Miami? e. Describe another mapping application that slope might be used. f. Describe a non-mapping application that could use graphing ordered

pairs. Myrtle Beach: Lat-34, Long-79; Montgomery: Lat-33.5, Long-86.

Hurricane Bill Tracking Worksheet. July 1997. Use Atlantic Map. Time Latitude Longitude Change

in Lat Change in Long

Slope

12pm July 11

33 68 ----------- ----------- -----------

8pm July 11

35 66

11pm July 12

43 54

Hurricane Danny Tracking Worksheet. July 1997. Use East Coast Map. Time Latitude Longitude Change

in Lat Change in Long

Slope

11pm July 17

29 90 ----------- ----------- -----------

3pm July 19

30 88

8am July 25

40 70

East Coast Map

Atlantic Map

Student Exercises Tracking hurricanes or other objects on the Earth’s surface can be done with a latitude and longitude system. Other things do not need latitude and longitude but graphing is still important. Consider the following problems. 1. You are moving to Joliet, Illinois and you need to rent a truck. One-Way trucking

will rent you a truck for a flat fee of $19.95 plus 50 cents per mile. Smooth trucking will rent you a truck for an $11.50 flat fee with 65 cents per mile. Joliet is roughly 150 miles from where you currently live. Which company should you rent from?

Fill out the following tables and then graph the data on the given graph. In this

case, slope is the change in cost divided by the change in mileage.

Mileage Cost for Mileage

Change in Mileage

Change in Cost

Slope

50

--------- --------- --------

100

150

2. Now we will try to generalize slope to any arbitrary set of ordered points. In general, when considering ordered pairs of points the slope will be the change in the vertical distance divided by the change in the horizontal distance sometimes referred to as “rise over run”. In the following example, let y = -2x + 20

x y = -2x + 20 Change in x Change in y Slope 0

--------- --------- --------

5

10

Before answering the following questions, re-examine the hurricane plots, the truck rental graphs, and the xy graphs. 3. How are the truck rental and xy graphs the same? How are they different? How do the slopes compare? 4. Can you describe the idea of slope in the sense of positive and negative? What does it mean to have a positive slope? What does it mean to have a negative slope? 5. Can you think of other applications that could use the idea of slope?

Tracking a Hurricane Grading Rubric

4-Excellent

3-Above Average

2-Average

1-Below average

0-Unacceptable

Points

On-Task Stayed on task.

Worked well in group.

Usually on task.

Needed occasional prodding to stay on task.

Little participation.

Needed constant

prodding.

Absolutely no effort.

_____

Calculations Calculations handled with no assistance

form instructor.

Calculations done with

little assistance

from instructor.

Assistance needed on half of the

calculations.

Assistance needed on

the majority of the

problems.

Unfinished.

_____

Exercises All problems correctly

completed. All necessary work shown. Work neatly done with thoughtful responses

where needed.

90% of problems correct.

Necessary work

shown.

70% of problems correct.

Some work incomplete. Thoughtful responses

absent.

50% of problems correct.

Incomplete work for the most part.

Less than 30% of the work done.

Incomplete work.

Total

______