Variation

My forum post, the Power of Variation.

Links to two videos to introduce variation.

This handout accompanies the second viewing of the Serious Crash video.

Use this handout to translate then work through several variation problems.

Math Motivation has a lesson on variation. The video shows a car's stopping and leaving skid marks. The coefficient is calculated and used to make a prediction. The mathematical predication is then tested with the car again stopping, this time from a higher speed.

The algebra of computing the length of a skid mark for a vehicle traveling at a given speed can also be done with curve fitting. The attached GeoGebra file allows the student to find the results of another experiment, use the slider bar to fir the curve to the experiment, then drag the speed along the horizontal access to see the length of the skid mark.

Link to GeoGebra file for download.