12 of 42 Items .... Type: The RealWorld

Problems, Questions, and Puzzles to spark discussion and argument in the maths classroom.

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An article about the Netflix price hike:

Netflix upped the rate of its "two-screen" plan from $8.99 to $9.99. This plan lets you watch two HD (or regular) streams simultaneously on different devices. Netflix's "one-screen" and "four-screen" plans remained unaffected.

Here's the thinking: If Netflix subscribers start dropping from the two-screen plans to one-screen plans, this will make them a lot less likely to share their password. No one wants a little offhand altruism to actually affect their viewing habits. That would be bad. If the resulting lack of password-sharers pushes more people to subscribe, then its worth the dollar per subscriber Netflix loses when a user downgrades because of the price increase.

Find the NetFlix subscription numbers to see how the price hike changed things. Was this a good move?


.: [MS Math], [Curmudgeon], [The RealWorld].

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What is the more critical mistake, the more damaging to civilization as we know it?


"Me and John are going to the mall"

or

\(\dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{3} = \dfrac{2}{5}\)


.: [ALL], [T.R.Milne], [The RealWorld].

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Here are six sets of containers. The water in the top one is draining into the bottom one at a constant rate. The puzzle here is to determine, at five intervals during the pour, what the surface of the water looks like when viewed from above.








Here are the possible choices. There is one set for the surface of the upper one and one set for the surface of the lower one. Some of these cards have missing pieces. Students need to draw those.










Print them from the source below.

source.


.: [ALL], [Mathshell], [The RealWorld].

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.: [Politics], [internet], [The RealWorld].

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R3
"Sony doesn't say" .... but do we have enough information to tell anyway?

‘The Interview’ Brings In $15 Million on Web 

LOS ANGELES —

“The Interview” generated roughly $15 million in online sales and rentals during its first four days of availability, Sony Pictures said on Sunday.

Sony did not say how much of that total represented $6 digital rentals versus $15 sales. The studio said there were about two million transactions over all. 


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.: [ALG1], [Dan Meyer], [The RealWorld].

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If the average golfer is able to get a hole-in-one once in approximately 3000 rounds of golf (18 holes apiece), then what is the probability of any one of 100 average golfers getting a hole-in-one on the 5th hole during the weekend golf tournament?

What's the best way to find this out if you're the insurance company that will write this policy?


.: [PROBABILTY], [T.R.Milne], [The RealWorld].

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Your teenage son has a fast car.



He knows that friction is determined by the weight of the car over the wheels, the "normal" force. He also knows that additional weight means that the car can't accelerate as fast, but he's also having problems with the rear tires spinning out.  He's convinced that having Fat Eddie sit in the back will help his quarter-mile time.

Will the extra weight help him or hurt him?


.: [PHYSICS], [T.R.Milne], [The RealWorld].

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A hotel rents a double-occupancy room for $30 more than a single-occupancy room. One night, the hotel took in $3115 after renting 15 double-occupancy rooms and 26 single-occupancy rooms. 

Other than by calling the hotel and asking directly, what ways could we use to find the single- and double- occupancy costs?


.: [ALG1], [T.R.Milne], [The RealWorld].

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Do we need any more information to find which has lower percentage of sugar?






.: [MS Math], [T.R.Milne], [The RealWorld].

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This should get everyone arguing.




.: [STATS], [internet], [The RealWorld].

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Given the following information, what's the best packing method for those tires in one of these containers? You might want to Desmos-Draw the floorplan to be sure.







Overall diameter is 25", BTW.


.: [LOGIC], [internet], [The RealWorld].

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If the weights are all equal masses, is this in equilibrium?


3

If not, how would you change it?
Can this arrangement work if two of the masses are equal and the third is different?



.: [PHYSICS], [T.R.Milne], [The RealWorld].