GETTING STARTED PROJECT #2 - TORNADOES and ALGEBRA

NAME:CLASS:DATE:

PART A – ALGEBRA BASICS

A1 Go to https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/definitions.html and define the following terms.

Equation>Variable>Constant>Coefficient>

A2 Go to https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/equations-solving.html and review.

What is a solution?>What is the perfect way to solve an equation?>They say that solving an equation is just like what?>What should you always do with your “solution”?>

A3 Go to https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/linear-equations.html and review. What are the 3 different forms of a linear equation?>

A4 Go to https://www.mathsisfun.com/equation_of_line.html and review.

The equation in the box is in what form (one of your answers from A3 above)?

>What does m stand for?>What does b stand for?>How do they say to find m?>How do they say to find b?>

A5 Go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slope and scroll down to “Definition”.

How do they describe m?>A little further down, they provide a formula for m. What is it?>Review the examples then calculate the slopes of the lines going through the following pairs of points. Show all work. If you desire, you can do your work on a piece of scratch paper, take a pic, then insert an image.

1) (5, 7) and (8,15)>

2) (3, 4) and (7, 4)>

3) (2, 10) and (6, 5)>

A6 Go to https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/line-equation-point-slope.html and review.

What does (x1, y1) represent?>What does m represent?>What does (x, y) represent?>

A7 To convert from point-slope form to slope-intercept form, all you need to do is solve for y. In other words, you need to get y by itself. Convert the following equations from point-slope form to slope-intercept form. Show all work. If you desire, you can do your work on a piece of scratch paper, take a pic, then insert an image.

1) y – 3 = 2(x – 5)>

2) y + 1 = 2/3(x + 4)>

3) y – 2 = 5(x – 0)>What do you notice about the point in example 3 above?>

PART B – TORNADOES

B1 Search the web using the key words “tornado alley”.What does Tornado Alley refer to?>Website URL:

B2 Search the web using keywords “scale to measure tornadoes”.What is the scale currently used?>What does EF-3 mean? Describe in some detail.> Website URL:

B3 Search the web to find out the following information about tornadoes.

What was the most costly tornado?>Website URL:

What is the most deadly tornado?>Website URL:

What was the fastest tornado (wind speed)?>Website URL:

What was the fastest tornado (forward speed)?>Website URL:

What was the longest tornado (time)?>Website URL:

What was the longest tornado (path length)?>Website URL:

PART C – TORNADOES AND MATHEMATICS

Assume that you are living in a home in Tornado Alley and there is a tornadowarning. At 3:05 p.m. they state the tornado is 40 miles away. At 3:20 p.m. theystate the tornado is 35 miles away. Assume that the tornado is moving in a straight line at a constant speed right towards your house.

C1 How fast is it moving? This is the slope or rate of change. Let y represent the distance (in miles) from your house to the tornado, and x be the time (in minutes). Use the slope formula found earlier to calculate the speed. Let (x1, y1) be (5, 40) and (x2, y2) be (20, 35). (Note the 5 represents 5 minutes after 3 p.m. and the 20 represents 20 minutes after 3 p.m.). Show all work.

What is the slope?>What are the units of the above answer?>Why is the answer negative?>Convert your answer to miles per hour (MPH).>

C2 Point-slope form version #1. Put the speed (in miles per minute) in for m, and put the point (5, 40) in for (x1, y1).>

Slope-intercept form. Solve for y to put into slope-intercept form.>

C3 Point-slope form version #2. Put the speed (in miles per minute) in for m, and put the point (20, 35) in for (x1, y1).>

Slope-intercept form. Solve for y to put into slope-intercept form.>

C4 Look at the slope-intercept form from C2 and C3 above. Are they the same? >They should be. If not, go back and find your mistake. Why are they the same even though we plugged in different points?>

C5 Let’s find out how many minutes it takes for the tornado to arrive at your house. State the slope-intercept form you found and verified from above.>Set y equal to zero (remember y is the distance from your house to the tornado).>Solve for x.>x represents the minutes since 3 p.m. What time is it?>

C6 State the slope-intercept form you found and verified from above.>Let x equal zero and find y. >What does this value represent?>

C7 Create a graph being sure to give it a title and to label your axes. Make sure it is big and clear enough to see what is going on. The x-axis should go from

3 p.m. (0 minutes) until 6 p.m. (180 minutes). The y-axis should go from 0 to 45 miles. Feel free to draw on a separate piece of paper, take a pic, then insert an image.>

PART D – TORNADO SAFETY

D1 Search the web using keywords “tornado safety”. Review a few sites then answer the following questions.

What are two things you should do BEFORE a tornado?>What are two things you should do DURING a tornado?>What are two things you should NOT do DURING a tornado?>What are two things you should do AFTER a tornado?>What are two things you should NOT do AFTER a tornado?>Website URLs:

D2 Search the web for “tornado image”. Copy and paste your favorite image in the table below.

Tornado Image

Website URL:

D3 Save this Word document as firstname.lastname.tornado and submit via Canvas.