RocketModeler was developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center in an effort to foster hands-on, inquiry-based learning in science and math. RocketModeler is a simulator that models the design and flight of a model rocket. The program works in two modes: Design Mode or Flight Mode. In the Design Mode, you can change design variables including the size of the rocket body, the fins, and the nose cone. You can also select different materials for each component. You can select from a variety of standard solid rocket engines. The program computes the center of gravity and pressure for your rocket and determines the stability. When you have a design that you like, you can switch to the Flight Mode (shown below), where you can launch your rocket and observe its flight trajectory. You can pause at any time to record data and then continue the flight through parachute deploy and recovery. This program has recently (Oct 8, 2004) been upgraded to support stomp rockets, bottle rockets, and ballistic shells in addition to solid model rockets. It also supports both English and metric units.

The task provides an opportunity for students to engage in Mathematical Practice Standard 4: Model with mathematics.

The context of this task is a familiar one: a cold beverage warms once it is taken out of the refrigerator. Rather than giving the explicit function governing this warmth, a graph is presented along with the general form of the function. Students must then interpret the graph in order to understand more specific details regarding the function.

This problem is a quadratic function example. The other tasks in this set illustrate F.BF.1a in the context of linear (Kimi and Jordan), exponential (Rumors), and rational (Summer Intern) functions.

The purpose of this task is to give students experience modeling a real-world example of exponential growth, in a context that provides a vivid illustration of the power of exponential growth, for example the cost of inaction for a year.

This is a text that covers the standard topics in a sophomore-level course in discrete mathematics: logic, sets, proof techniques, basic number theory, functions, relations, and elementary combinatorics, with an emphasis on motivation. It explains and clarifies the unwritten conventions in mathematics, and guides the students through a detailed discussion on how a proof is revised from its draft to a final polished form. Hands-on exercises help students understand a concept soon after learning it. The text adopts a spiral approach: many topics are revisited multiple times, sometimes from a different perspective or at a higher level of complexity. The goal is to slowly develop students’ problem-solving and writing skills.

In this task students must figure out how much fresh water you must add to get a particular salt concentration in aquarium water.

The intent of this problem is to have students think about how function addition works on a fundamental level, so formulas have been omitted on purpose.

This task asks students to determine a recursive process from a context. Students who study computer programming will make regular use of recursive processes.

This simple conceptual problem does not require algebraic manipulation, but requires students to articulate the reasoning behind each statement.

In this task students are given graphs of quantities related to weather. The purpose of the task is to show that graphs are more than a collection of coordinate points, that they can tell a story about the variables that are involved and together they can paint a very complete picture of a situation, in this case the weather.

These unit conversion problems provide a rich source of examples both for composition of functions (when several successive conversions are required) and inverses (units can always be converted in either of two directions).

Temperature conversions provide a rich source of linear functions which are encountered not only in science but also in our every day lives when we travel abroad. The first part of this task provides an opportunity to construct a linear function given two input-output pairs. The second part investigates the inverse of a linear function while the third part requires reasoning about quantities and/or solving a linear equation.

This task allows the students to compare characteristics of two quadratic functions that are each represented differently, one as the graph of a quadratic function and one written out algebraically. Specifically, we are asking the students to determine which function has the greatest maximum and the greatest non-negative root.

This is a simple task about interpreting the graph of a function in terms of the relationship between quantities that it represents.

This lesson covers the topic of Time Value of Money and prepares students for lessons on simple interest loans (operating notes and lines of credit) and amortized loans. It introduces the ideas of present and future values, compounding and discounting, payements and time periods. It uses Microsoft Excel extensively as an aid for problem calculations.

This task examines, in a graphical setting, the impact of adding a scalar, multiplying by a scalar, and making a linear substitution of variables on the graph of a function f. The setting here is abstract as there is no formula for the function f. The focus is therefore on understanding the geometric impact of these three operations.

This task provides an opportunity for students to construct linear and exponential functions, including arithmetic and geometric sequences, given a graph, a description of a relationship, or two input-output pairs (include reading these from a table).

This task provides an opportunity for students to construct linear and exponential functions, including arithmetic and geometric sequences, given a graph, a description of a relationship, or two input-output pairs (include reading these from a table).