In helping a friend plan her wedding, I was recently reminded of how math applies in planning an event. Here are a few ideas to share with your students.
A. Total cost given per-person cost: If the caterer charges $29.50 a guest, and you have 80 guests, how much will food cost? If you increase to 90 guests, how much will your catering cost go up?
B. Total with tip: If your total caterer bill is $2,500, and you add a 20% gratuity off the $2,500, how much would the total with tip be?
C. Here is what you’ve spent on center table decorations: $41.23, $32.12, $20.15, and $50.60. If all that decorates 5 tables, what is the cost per table?
D. The baker charges $356 for a cake that feeds 50. What is the cost per person?
Always remember, math is a useful tool that helps us with real-life tasks!
Solutions: A. $29.50 x 80 =$2,360.00; if increase to 90, total is $29.50 x 90=$2,655.00; difference is $2,655.00-$2,360.00=$295.00. B. 1.20 x $2,500 = $3,000 (Multiplied by 1.20 to include the 20% tip, as 100% + 20% = 120% = 1.20; could also have found 20% and added that to $2,500). C. $41.23+$32.12+$20.15+$50.60=$144.10; $144.10/5=$28.82 D. $356/50=$7.12
Need a curriculum that shows students every concept as a useful tool? Check out Kate’s Middle School and High School curriculum, along with elementary supplements that can enrich whatever curriculum you use. Enjoy 30% off most materials through the end of April!
Watching Christmas light shows has become a holiday tradition for many. But few stop to think of all the math that goes into these spectacular displays.
Strands per Outlet or Lights per Circuit
When hanging a lot of lights, you want to make sure you don’t blow a circuit! Bonfe offers this formula to help you figure out how many strands can go in each outlet: # of strands = circuit amperage ÷ strand amperage. We could also use algebra to write this same thing like this: n = c/s or y = z/x. We’re just using letters to stand for the different values, and a fraction to stand for division. Another site says to only use up to 80% of what your circuit can handle as a safety factor. Notice the percents!
Timing
Some light shows include timing with music. Syncing music with a light show requires precision that can be accomplished through various software programs that use math to determine when different effects and lights turn on and off at different moments in the show. In this case, programming the time in seconds that the lights sync with the music includes math!
Cost & Number
The financial cost of Christmas decorations can add up fast! Setting a budget and keeping track of how much money is spent uses addition and subtraction…as well as some rounding skills to keep an approximate total in the store. And how many lights do you need to decorate that garage anyway? Math can help you answer that!
Remember…
As you drive by light displays this year, remember that math applies outside of a textbook. It even aids with Christmas lights.
More importantly, think about why math applies. Why can we even know how many amps a string of light will require? It’s because electricity operates in a consistent fashion. Why? Because God created and sustains an orderly universe.
And that same Creator and Sustainer became a man to make a way for us to know Him by paying for our sin Himself.
Now that’s something to remember this Christmas and always.
Many of us have been fascinated at one time or another by tiny lights dotting the backyard on summer nights. Fireflies, lightning bugs, or whatever you call them are fascinating to watch…and perhaps try to catch. What many don’t stop to think about, however, is how amazingly designed these creatures are.
Light Bulbs
To better understand the marvels of fireflies, let’s pause and take a look at light bulbs for a minute. If you’ve ever put your hand near a light bulb while it’s on, you know that in addition to light, light bulbs produce heat (most of which is infrared radiation). We can use math to measure what’s called the efficacy of the light bulb—that is, how much light they produce compared to how much power they use. The higher the efficacy, the less power is being wasted in heat.
To find the efficacy, divide the lumens produced (a lumen is a unit of measure for light) by the watts (a watt is a unit of measure for power). We could write that as a formula like this:
Or if we wanted to save our hands and use letters, we could write it like this:
We could even use a fraction to represent the division:
Note that we just used algebra! We’re simply using letters as symbols to stand for the efficacy, lumens, and watts of any light bulb. We can write formulas like this because God created and sustains a consistent universe.
If you run to your closet and pull out a package of light bulbs, you can measure the efficacy by inserting the lumens and watts listed on the bulb into the formula. For example, let’s consider a bulb I have in a lamp in my office. It says it is a 53 W (W is an abbreviation for watt) bulb that produces 850 lumens. Leaving units off for simplicity and inserting these numbers into the formula, we’d get this:
Fun assignment: Find the efficacy of the light bulbs listed in the table on step 6 of this page. Notice that some bulbs are more efficient than others! Then take a look at this chart showing the efficacy of different bulbs.
The higher the efficacy, the more the power is going into making light and less into making heat/non-visible radiation. Some bulbs produce more light with less power than others, but they all end up wasting a good deal of power. According to what I could find, an ideal green light that doesn’t waste power in heat would have an efficacy of about 683. That’s a much greater number than the 16.04 efficacy of the light bulb in my office!
What percent of the power is actually used to product light? To find that, we need to find the efficiency, which we’ll define “as the ratio of the total light power to the total power.”[i] The efficiency can be rather tricky to figure out, as light bulbs don’t come labeled with how much power goes towards light, but one way to approximate it is to divide the efficacy (in lumens per watt) of the bulb by 683 (the efficacy of ideal green light, which is the highest efficacy possible and thus can be used to approximate the total power while we use the efficacy to approximate the power used to produce the light).
Plugging in the efficacy we found for my office light bulb would give us the following:
If we express this as a percent by multiplying by 100 and adding a % sign, we’d get approximately 2.35%. That means only about 2.35% of the power this bulb uses goes towards making a light; in other words, the other 97.65% goes toward making heat/non-visible radiation. We would say this light bulb is about 2.35% efficient.
Fun assignment: Check out this table to view the efficiency of various lights…and calculate the efficiency of some lightbulbs in your closet by first finding the efficacy, then dividing that by 683, and finally expressing that result as a percent. Notice all the math you’re using!
Fireflies
Now, fireflies don’t plug into an electrical outlet or battery to produce light. Instead, a firefly produces light using chemicals. Yes, that’s right: God created these little bugs to have a mini chemical factory on board! These chemicals prove useful to man as well—one of the chemicals used has been useful in “biomedical research.”[ii]
The chemical reaction in the firefly produces energy…which is what powers their lights. When we talk about the efficiency of the lights fireflies produce, we’ll talk in terms of energy. Note, though, that power and energy are related–power is the rate of use of energy. We could say that efficient bulbs use less power and less energy.
Unlike man-made light bulbs, the firefly produces light without wasting much energy at all—sources indicate almost 100% of the energy turns into light[iii]—in other words, it’s almost 100% efficient. Compared to the 2.35% efficiency we found for the light bulb in my office, that’s amazing! Yet if the firefly didn’t produce light efficiently, they’d heat up and burn to death.[iv] Instead, God designed them to produce “the most efficient light in the world.”[v]
Conclusion
Next time you head outside and see the light from fireflies, ponder God’s magnificent design. Think about the wisdom and care God took with His creation, even giving us light displays at night made from tiny living chemical factories. And remember that math helps us explore, describe, and better appreciate His amazing world…as well as to improve inventions (like light bulbs). We’re able to explore and design because God made us in His image. That same God wants each of us to know Him and live in His presence forever.
I’ve written many articles on this blog about how math helps us see the incredible order and design God placed around us. Today’s post, though, focuses on how math also gives us sober reminders that sin has marred God’s perfect world, bringing suffering and death.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of how math helps us explore diseases such as the coronavirus, and at how doing so can serve as a launching pad to discuss how desperately we all need the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Elementary and Above – Everywhere we turn lately, we encounter information on the coronavirus. Math helps us quantify what is happening in order to better respond. As an example, see the World Health Organization’s Situation Report – 37; it contains lots of numbers, such as that, as of February 26, 2020, China has had 78,191 confirmed cases with 2,718 deaths. Math can help us further explore data like this. For example, what percent of people who contracted the coronavirus in China have died so far (assuming, of course, these confirmed cases and death numbers are accurate)? To find that, we would use the formula Percent = Percentage ÷ Base. (Students may be used to seeing this formula written differently–use whatever method for finding percents they’ve been taught.) In other words, Percent = 2,718 ÷ 78,191, which is approximately 0.034761 or 3.4761%. In comparison, the World Health Organization’s January 2020 report cites 861 confirmed cases of avian influenza, with 455 deaths, for a percent of about 0.528455 or 52.8455%. That’s a much higher percent death rate, but a much lower number of confirmed cases.
Suggestion: Have your students calculate these percents themselves. You might also have your children look at the charts in the coronavirus report and point out how graphs can help us visualize data.
Junior High and Above – As the numbers in the first bullet point illustrate, the big concern with the coronavirus is its rapid growth. This provides an opportunity to explore exponential growth with your students. You see, the concern is that the spread of viruses like this will be exponential—after all, if 1 person gets sick and infects a certain number of people, and all those people then infect people, and so forth, the growth that might start out small can increase rapidly. Exponential growth can be described by the formula P = Piert, or ending population equals initial population times e (a special number called “Euler’s number” that starts 2.71828) raised to the rate multiplied by the time. The World Health Organization’s Situation Report – 37 says that globally there were 871 confirmed cases within the last 24 hours of the report date (February 26, 2020). This daily change represents a continuous growth rate of about 1.0797%. If this rate continues, then the number of people that will have the virus at a future time can be calculated by this formula: P = 81,109e0.01797t, where t is the time in days. (Note that we plugged in the cumulative cases for Pi even though some of those cases may now be recovering from it or no longer be infected, so students should realize that this is only an estimate for the growth.)
Suggestion: For pre-algebra or algebra students, have them plug in various values for t and see how, if the current growth rate continues, the number of infected patients would change over time. Point out that this doesn’t account for patients getting better or dying. Point out too that it is based on what happened just in the 24 hours before this report–we’d need to look at more data to see if this is a typical rate. Point out that seasonal changes, quarantines, improved treatment, precautionary measures, etc., would also affect the growth of the virus. In other words, talk about the limit of math in predicting what will happen; our predictions can be very wrong! Only God knows the future. Not only might our initial data be faulty or misrepresented due to what is available to us, but so might be the rate we’re using. In other words, the greater the value of time you plug into the model, the worse the model will be in predicting the actual number of infected people. This is important to keep in mind when reading stats quoted on various topics.
For upper-algebra students, have them calculate the formula we calculated themselves by using the formula P = Piert, with P as 81,109 (the total cumulative infected as of the report) and Pi as 80,238 (the total cumulative ineffective as of yesterday per the report—we found this by taking the 81,109 and subtracting the 871 cases reported in the last 24 hours), with a time (t) of 1, since we want time to be in days (and 24 hours is 1 day). Have them divide both sides by 80,238 and take the natural logarithm of both sides to find the value of r. They should get a rate of approximately 0.01797. You can also have them explore more of the potential errors in this model by looking up the world’s population and plugging it in for P in P = 81,109e0.01797t and solving for t. Point out that seasonal changes, quarantines, improved treatment, precautionary measures, people already infected becoming better, etc., would affect this.
As you show your students math in action with the coronavirus, talk with them about how math can help us describe what’s happening with various diseases, and use that information to determine risks and take measures to help. But as we do, we need to remember several key truths:
Suffering and death wasn’t part of God’s original creation. It entered the world because of sin. (Romans 5:12)
Our loving Creator entered into this fallen creation, suffered, and died, to rescue us from eternal death and bring us into a perfect world again. Jesus took the death penalty for sin. (John 3:16)
God is the One in charge. If we’re His children, we don’t need to fear, as our lives are in His hands. We will not go home to Heaven until He decides it’s time. (Isaiah 46:10; Psalm 31:15)
Ultimately, every person will die (unless Jesus returns first!) and face God. If we’re in Christ, we have nothing to fear in death, but if we’re not, the reality that death will come sooner or later should alert us to run to Christ, as after death comes judgement (Hebrews 9:27), and none of us will stand before a holy God on our own righteousness (Romans 3:23). Challenge students to make sure they’ve placed their trust personally in Jesus.
We need to be sharing Jesus with those around us. Diseases like the coronavirus remind us that we don’t know how long others have to hear the gospel. This article shares how in China, Christians are sharing, and watching God draw many to Himself. Challenge students that now’s the time to be sharing with the people God has divinely placed in their lives. This can be as simple as asking them what they think about the coronavirus…and if it did affect them, do they know what would happen to them if they die? They can then share how they know they have eternal life because Jesus died and rose again; He is the resurrection and the life, able to offer the eternal life He promised to those who believe in Him (John 11:25). (For more evangelism ideas and encouragement, check out LivingWaters.com.)
We need to humble ourselves and pray. When life is going well, it’s easy to think we’re in charge, but we’re not. The reality is that none of us ever really knows what the future holds. Let’s be on our knees, praying for those affected, for all the lost around us, for Christians facing this threat up close, for our leaders as they seek to handle this, and for God to strengthen us for whatever lies ahead.
Math in a fallen world often helps us record tragic events…but always remember we serve a God who knows everything, cared enough to die for us, and can carry us through all our trials.
Transform Your How Your Students See Math.
Want to teach math from a biblical worldview? Check out our junior high curriculum, and stay tuned for Algebra 2 later this year (we just submitted the draft to the publisher)!
My husband and I recently visited the Georgia Aquarium, and I was struck by how much math is used in caring for and describing the characteristics of sea creatures. Below are a couple of examples. I’ve tried to word them as actual problems for different ages. I hope you enjoy working through them with your students! (The answers are below.)
How Big Is That Tank? (All ages)
Elementary Problem: Let’s say there’s a tank that is approximately the size of a football field (which the biggest one at the Georgia Aquarium is nearly such a size). Football fields are about 100 yd long by about 50 yd. Let’s say this tank is 30 ft, or 10 yd, deep. Using these estimates of the size of the tank, find the approximate volume in cubic yards if it is a gigantic rectangular prism. (The volume is found by multiplying the length times the width times the depth.)
Junior High Problem: Given the information in the elementary problem, about how many gallons does the tank hold? 1 yd equals 36 in, and 231 cubic inches equals 1 gallon.
Algebra Problem: We found out online that a tank at the Georgia Aquarium holds about 6,300,000 gallons of water. Given that the volume of a rectangular prism is V = Bh, where B is the area of the rectangular base and h is the height, and that a tank is a rectangular prism, use algebra to find the area of the rectangular base (B) of the tank if the depth of the tank is 10 yd. Give your answer in square feet. What percentage of the area of a football field is this if the area of a football field is 45,000 ft2? Hint: You will need to first convert all the measurements to cubic inches. Then solve for B. 1 yd equals 36 in, 1 ft equals 12 in, and 231 cubic inches equals 1 gallon.
How Much Do Those Sea Lions Eat? (Upper Elementary and Above) – In the show, we were told that each sea lion eats a certain percentage of its body weight each day that is close to 5%.
If a sea lion weighs 500 lb, how many lb of food does it need each day?
What about if it grows to 800 lb?
If you were in charge of ordering the sea lion fish to eat, how many pounds would you need to order per day if you needed food for a 400 lb and a 750 lb sea lion?
Now, there’s a lot more math involved at the aquarium. (Measuring the temperature of the tanks to make sure it is what the animals need, figuring out how many fish can be in one tank, etc.) But hopefully you enjoyed that little glimpse into aquarium math.
Remember, math is much more than a textbook exercise—it is a real-life “tool”…and one that works because of God’s faithfulness.
Junior High Problem: Converting cubic yards to cubic feet: 50,000 yd3(36 in/1 yd)(36 in/1 yd)(36 in/1 yd) = 2,332,800,000 in3 Converting cubic inches to gallons: 2,332,800,000 in3(1 gal/231 in3) = 10,098,701.3 gal Note: The 50,000 yd3 came from the answer to the elementary problem.
Algebra Problem: Converting the volume to cubic inches: 6,300,000 gal(231 in3/1 gal)=1.4553 x 109 in3 Converting the depth to inches: 10 yd(36 in/1 yd) = 360 in Solving the formula for B: V = Bh Diving both sides by h -> B=V/h Plug in the values: B = 1.4553 x 109 in3/360 in = 4.0425 x 106 in2 Convert the final answer to square feet: B = 4.0425 x 106 in2(1 ft/12 in)(1 ft/12 in) = 28,072.91667 ft2 The percentage of the area of a foot field is P = 100 % (28,072.91667 ft2/45,000 ft2) = 62.38 %
How Much Do Those Sea Lions Eat?
0.05(500 lb) = 25 lb
0.05(800 lb) = 40 lb
0.05(400 lb) + 0.05(750 lb) = 20 lb + 37.50 lb = 57.50 lb per day
Since I’ve been working on planning my wedding, I thought it might be fun to share a glimpse at how math applies in event planning. It truly is a tool we can use in various situations God places us in!
Total Guest Count – One interesting aspect of event planning is figuring out how many people are coming…which involves addition in adding up all the friends and families being invited.
Budgets – Trying to plan an event on a budget involves adding up all the expenses and subtracting that from the total you have to spend to see how much you have left to spend (or how much over budget you’ve gone…which could be represented with negative numbers). For example, if you’ve spent $25 + $500 + $120, then you’ve spent a total of $645. If your budget is $1,000, you have $1,000 – $645, or $355 left to spend.
Total Cost of Items – Addition and multiplication are used extensively in figuring out how much you’re really spending on a specific aspect of the wedding. Take table centerpieces for example. Suppose your centerpiece consists of a $2 vase, a $1 candle, and a $1 a flower . It costs $2 + $1 + 1 = $4. If you have 25 tables to put centerpieces on, it will cost a total of $4 x 25, or $100. If you pay 5% (notice the percent!) sales tax on all of that, then the total cost will be $100 x 1.05 = $105.
As you teach math this week, remember to show your students why they’re learning the concepts they’re learning. Math is about much more than passing a test or solving meaningless problems—we want students to understand how to use this tool in their own life so they’ll be equipped for the various tasks God’s given them…and to do so while praising the great Creator whose faithfulness in holding all things together makes math possible in the first place.
Here are a few examples of how you can use the Super Bowl to show your students that math really does apply outside of a textbook.
We learn math, not just to pass a test, but to be equipped to use it to help us in tasks God’s given us here on earth (and to behold His glory and faithfulness in holding all things together—see God and Math?).
Believe it or not, the Super Bowl was replete with examples of math in action.
The Super Bowl Name – Notice the Roman numeral in Super Bowl LII. The Super Bowl name (along with the first quarter, second quarter, first down, second down, etc.) is an example of ordinal numbers.
The Team Jerseys – Perhaps the most obvious numbers on the field are those on the team jerseys. There’s an example of how we can use numbers like names—in this case, to identify different players.
The Field – Yep, there are numbers on the field itself (50-yard line, etc.), and distance is constantly measured throughout the game. How far of a field goal needs kicked? How much distance left to go to get to the next first down? In a more background way, laying out the football field itself required measurements. And how much grass is needed? Or paint? Again, measuring (think geometry) in action!
Confetti (and Other Costs and Profits) – So how much confetti was needed to fire off at the end of the game? And how much would it cost? How much did everything at the Super Bowl cost altogether? How much was brought in through ticket sales? Math can help us answer these behind-the-scenes questions.
The Ads – A lot of math goes on behind the scenes when it comes to ads. Below are a few examples.
How much money did NBC receive in advertising? If you knew the price of the ads sold, that could be calculated using addition. (In 2017, one source said it was around 385 million.)
When deciding if they should buy an ad, companies use math to help them compare different options. One useful measurement often used to compare options and develop an overall advertising plan is Gross Rating Points (GRPs), which is found by multiplying two different measurements together.[1] One can also look at how much the ad costs per thousand people it reaches, which is found by dividing the cost of the ad by the total people reached (in thousands).[2]
How much does an ad cost altogether? That would take adding up the cost of making the ad, the actual cost of buying the ad space, etc.
Is the ad a good ad to run? There’s no perfect way to tell this, but there are a lot of ways to try…and math can help. For example, one could test the ad before paying millions to air it in the Super Bowl. One testing method called the MSW* ARS shows ads (inside programs) to a sample group of people. Ads are given a score based on subtracting the percent that was for the target brand after the ad with the percent that was for the target brand before the ad (in other words, seeing the difference the ad made).[3]
Was the ad effective? Again, there’s no perfect way to measure this, but there are a lot of ways to try. Marketers use numerous formulas when evaluating sales and advertising to try to make sure that their advertising is really making a difference in sales.
The Graphics – Numerous graphics were introduced throughout the game. While we don’t often think of math and graphic design in the same sentence, graphic design often does use math. Not only does the computer program(s) used in designing use a lot of math behind the scenes, but graphic designers often use math to help position items, scale them, determine proportions, etc. Oh, and colors are specified using—you guessed it—numbers.
Statistics – What was the average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad? What is the football player’s percent complete? How many yards has the quarterback thrown so far (this would require adding)? And a host of other stats that use numbers (and addition to find those numbers)!
The Special Effects – Think of all the work that went in behind the scenes into coordinating various special effects. Math likely had a part in a lot of it: the angles of the lights, the levels of the various microphones (yes, math helps us measure audio levels too!), etc.
A lot goes in to an event like the Super Bowl—including a lot of math. The list above is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully it will get you (and your students) thinking.
Math’s much more than a textbook exercise—it’s a real-life tool we can use while praising the Creator.
Reminder: We’ve got a lot of math resources (and even curriculum) to help you teach math from this perspective.
[1] J. Craig Andrews and Terence A. Shimp, Advertising, Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, 10th ed. (Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2018), p. 348.[2] Ibid., p. 356.
What are you/your children’s biggest struggles in math?
The responses varied (stay tuned for others in future blogs), but several voiced the same struggle: why.
Knowing why you need to learn something certainly doesn’t seem like too much to expect. It’s actually a very reasonable question. As Alfred North Whitehead said, “There can be nothing more destructive of true education than to spend long hours in the acquirement of ideas and methods that lead nowhere.”
So why math? Well, math is a way of describing the consistent manner in which God holds His creation together. Thus it helps us work with the world around us—from everyday tasks to sending men to the moon. It helps us complete various tasks that God gives us to do here on earth.
For example, fractions give us a handy way of describing division, helping us work with real-life relationships. Oh, and don’t forget that music notes, sewing, and cooking all use fractions! (There’s more on the why of fractions in my previous post “Why Learn Fractions?”)
One mother shared that her child wondered why finding the area of triangles matters. While triangles might not at first appear to be the most practical shape, they can actually help us measure such real-life distances as the height of a building and the distance across a stream. (In fact, that’s exactly what students learn to do in Principles of Mathematics while studying triangles.) As for finding their area, triangles also help us measure other shapes. For example, if we want to find the area of a hexagon (which is what bees make their honeycombs out of), we would use triangles to do it. Triangles—along with the rest of geometry—are incredibly practical!
For those of you wondering the “why” of high school math, I recently had an article published in The Old Schoolhouse magazine on that exact topic. You can read “What’s the Purpose of High School Math?” online (note: it may take a minute to load)…and I’d love if you’d then leave a comment here and let me know what you think.
And for those wondering how to teach math in such a way that your students will understand why they’re learning each skill they study, check out the math resourcesI wrote specifically to help students understand math’s true purpose…and to praise the Creator of all as they study. After all, math applies because Jesus is upholding all things by the power of His Word (Hebrews 1:3) in such a predictable way that we can describe it mathematically! Math, when properly taught, should encourage us to trust Him more and more.
Have a specific math topic you’d like to know the “why” of? Leave it as a comment!
It’s the time of year again where many of you may be heading back to school after a summer break.
Here are some free resources to help encourage/equip you to teach math from a biblical worldview as you go.
Free Transforming Math Video – Watch this 18-minute video to get a glimpse into how biblical principles really can transform math, making it an exciting exploration of God’s creation. When you sign up for the video, you’ll also get a free read-aloud story that illustrates how often we really do use numbers, and a series of emails with other information and reminders to help you teach from a biblical worldview.
Math, Lightning, & Thunder – I recently blogged over on The Creation Club about how we can use math to help us approximate the distance to a lightning strike. Even a summer thunderstorm gives us an opportunity to explore God’s creation and marvel at God’s greatness (after all, He’s the one who makes the lightening and brings forth the wind – see Jeremiah 51:16).
Upcoming Articles – I have articles coming out this fall/winter in both the Old Schoolhouse Magazine and Homeschool Enrichment. If you get either of those magazines, be sure to take a look.
Sample Lessons – Watch a free preview of a lesson on place value, one on fractions, and one on lines and angles.
Note: If you’ve found these resources helpful, please share with a friend.
One of the things I stress a lot in my math resources is that math isn’t confined to a textbook. As I’ve been following the presidential elections this year, it occurred to me that it provides a great opportunity to show students math in action. Math is used quite a bit behind the scenes in determining each party’s candidate. Consider these applications:
Probably the most obvious math concept the elections show in action is percents. What percent of the vote went for each candidate? What percent of a specific area went to each candidate? What percent of the total delegates to a convention does each candidate have pledged to them? How many votes would a candidate have to receive in order to earn a specific percent if 40% of a specific population end up voting?
More percents and other math concepts are used in determining how many delegates are actually assigned to each candidate after an election. This article by the Washington Times gives an overview.
Statistics show up extensively throughout the election process. Polls are based on surveying a random sample of the population and trying to determine the views of the whole off of it. It’s a great time to look at how statistics work (and how easily they can be twisted). See Chapter 11 in Principles of Mathematics for an overview and example.
As you follow the elections, consider looking into your particular state’s primary or caucus system and examining the math behind it. Point out the use of percents, addition, etc. Look at the statistics behind a couple of presidential polls and at what they truly tell us.
Then sit back and remember that math only proves useful because this universe is consistent, and because God gave man the ability to subdue the earth. We’re made uniquely in God’s image, created to worship Him. Remind your students that math is far from meaningless bookwork—it’s a real-life tool that helps us in the tasks God has given us to do.
Meet the Author
I’m a sinner saved by grace through Jesus Christ. I’m also a writer—I’ve been writing ever since I could hold a pen. I… Meet Katherine [Loop] Hannon.
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Need a curriculum that shows students every concept as a useful tool? Check out Kate’s Middle School and High School curriculum, along with elementary supplements that can enrich whatever curriculum you use. Enjoy 30% off most materials through the end of April!
One of the things I stress a lot in my math resources is that math isn’t confined to a textbook. As I’ve been following the presidential elections this year, it occurred to me that it provides a great opportunity to show students math in action. Math is used quite a bit behind the scenes in determining each party’s candidate. Consider these applications:
I’m a sinner saved by grace through Jesus Christ. I’m also a writer—I’ve been writing ever since I could hold a pen. I… 
