Mathematics at Mass Academy is taught by Mr.Regele and is quite similar to Math Modeling courses. The emphasis isn’t on a specific curriculum or accuracy, instead, the significance is placed on establishing a foolproof method for approaching any mathematical challenges. The environment in the class is collaborative so as to foster learning.
One of my most significant achievements in the course so far was partaking in the HiMCM competition. HiMCM stands for High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling. The contest releases two problems and teams of three to four students must pick one problem and form a comprehensive solution and present it in a 20 page paper (see below). I worked with my peers Charlotte Cain, Robin Warner, and Jessie Taubert. At Mass Academy this process occurred over the span of 36 hours. Each group had to take a problem from its early stages to a finished project, making effective teamwork and communication essential. My group chose the problem regarding solar batteries. Our task was to do a cost analysis of different solar batteries on the market and determine which would be the most cost effective depending on the amount of use and location. Our approach began by determining the amount of energy consumed by the average household in the US, we then created an algorithm that would take the energy data and run a cost analysis on the different solar batteries based on a set climate zone and other constant factors. Overall the contest taught me a lot about how to effectively work as a team. (If the embedded pdf does not work, click here to see the pdf)
Oftentimes as mathematics begins to become more complex and difficult, solving problems without programs and calculators can be difficult. For example finding a line of best fit for a data set is simply impractical to complete by hand. However, utilizing a laptop to solve a problem still requires understanding of the problem and how to use the tools at your disposal to achieve this. In the course we have been given many opportunities to solve and present problems using the program Mathematica. Below is a writeup for the most recent problem, where a data set was given and the equation for the Median-Median line of best fit must be found. (If the embedded pdf does not work, click here to see the pdf)