Many
students view logarithms and exponents as a topic which they
will
never need outside of math class, but logs and exponents are
essential for understanding a wide variety of natural and man-made
phenomena. The best-know application is probably the decibel
scale for sound, but there are many others as well.
In
this classroom activity, students design an alternative temperature
gauge for a food processing company which needs very high precision
just above 0°C and only rough measures at higher temperature.Students design and test a mathematical function to
convert the output of a temperature sensor into the correct
angular position for the gauge shown. They then complete
the gauge by adding marks for intermediate values.
Teachers
can duplicate as many copies of this and other forms as they
like, and punch the necessary hole with a scrapbook-style hole
punch.
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