Australia Lesson Activities - Maths

Did you have cereal for breakfast this morning, or yesterday, or the day before…? Was it a big bowl or a small bowl? Did you use different amounts of milk for the different amounts of cereal? You bet you did!

Normal Amount of Cereal :(=) +/- 1cup of milk
Double Amount of Cereal : +/- 2 cups of milk

Those are called ratios. Ratios are used in all parts of your everyday life. Cooking is a perfect example of the use of ratios. With your cereal it does not really matter if you use too much milk, or too little. In baking, frying, or whenever a chemical reaction takes place, the amount you put of one substance compared to another is very, very important.

One of our staples or main foods is a certain kind of bread called Damper. Damper is made with flour, water, salt and beer. Beer is the substitute for yeast (the alcohol is burned off). What amount of flour you put in is a direct relation to how much salt, water and beer is included. The relationships of the ingredients in our damper bread are as follows.

4 cups of flour: 1 beer can: 3 teaspoons of salt: 2 cups of water (added slowly during the whole process)

But what if you wanted to make more? How about we double it (x2)!

4(x2): 1(x2): 3(x2): 2(x2)
8 cups of flour: 2 beer cans: 6 teaspoons of salt: 4 cups of water

Now we know the new ratios simply by multiplying each amount by 2!

Our group usually uses 6 cups of flour to make enough damper for the ten of us. That means that we multiplied the original 4 cups of flour by 1 and a half (x1.5). So now we must multiply the rest of the original amounts by 1.5.

4(x1.5): 1(x1.5): 3(x1.5): 2(x1.5)
6 cups of flour: 1.5 beer cans: 4.5 teaspoons of salt: 3 cups of water

Now you try to find out how much other ingredients will be needed if 12 cups of flour were used. Hint: What multiplied by 4 equals 12?

Next time you and a friend or parents are cooking, you can find out the different ratios used in all the ingredients!

Ratios are you in many different ways that just cooking too: Painting, building, sports…etc! Can you think of any?

By, Crister, who is now very hungry for damper after writing this!

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Here is a math question that can help the group. The support vehicle has given the group the ability to see more difficult terrain before fuel and water stops, however. The support vehicle does have its limitations as well. Could you help us decide whether we can make it from Croydon to Julia Springs with theses few givens in hand?

The ride from Croydon to Julia Springs is 375 kilometers. There are no fill-up stations for water or fuel between these two points. The truck holds 320 liters of fuel and gets an average of 14 kilometers per liter.

The truck also holds 250 liters of water and the group uses, as an average, about .95 liters a kilometer. The group averages 80 kilometers a day.
Here are your questions.

1) Does the group have enough fuel to make it from Croydon to Julia Springs? If there is extra how many kilometers can the group go off coarse and still get to Julia Springs?
2) Does the group have enough water, considering their current minimum intake of water per kilometer, to make it to Julia Springs? If not, how would the group need to cut down their water consumption in kilometers and could they afford to get lost and back track at all?

Hope we all make it to Julia Springs safely.
Mike “Mick” Roney

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2001 August 19. Sunday. Mount Isa.

Greg and Margaret, our hosts here in the outskirts of Mount Isa, have a small property which they have kindly allowed us to share with their chickens, dogs, goats, and two dromedaries. If you can stand the smell long enough to get close to them, the dromedaries are intriguing creatures. Here are some of the fascinating statistics I have discovered regarding these animals:

1. A 12% loss of body weight through dehydration is enough to kill a human being. A camel is able to lose 40% of its body weight before suffering dehydration.
2. In the years between 1860 and 1907, an estimated 12 000 camels were imported into Australia.
3. Dromedaries have a slow metabolic rate, due to their sixty-metre long intestine. Men’s intestines are around seven metres long.
4. The body temperature of a camel can fluctuate between 34 and 41 degrees Celsius. In humans, sickness and death result from just two or three degrees of variation in temperature.
5. Gestation lasts between 12½ and 14 months, compared to 9 months for human beings.
6. Camels can calve every two or three years up until the age of twenty, compared to every one or two years for humans until the approximate age of fifty.
7. During the early expeditions, each camel would carry up to 600 kilograms of water and supplies on its back. They would walk with these supplies for an average of 40 kilometres per day.
8. The Australian outback is inhabited by around 100 000 wild camels.
9. A camel can survive without water while working hard in the sun for over a week. A man will suffer terribly after just one full day.

There are many comparisons here between humans and camels. See if you can work out the ratios of the different comparisons. If the average camel weighs two hundred and fifty kilograms, and carries six hundred kilograms on its back, what would be the equivalent of how much you would carry based on your own weight? How far do you think you could walk in a hot dry desert carrying that weight?

bel

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AVERAGES + PERCENTAGES

Here are some statistics from the general update:

The Great Artesian Basin lies beneath 200 000 people and one fifth of the country.

There are about 4700 bores throughout the basin, 850 of which are uncontrolled.
34 000 kilometres of bore drains are exposed. 5 700 mega litres flow these from bores each year

It is estimated that around ninety-five per cent of open channel water is lost through a combination of evaporation, seepage, and breakouts

Suggested learning activities:
- Calculate the average number of litres lost per person (living over the basin) each year.
- Calculate the average number of litres lost per kilometre of exposed bore drain each year.
- Calculate how many litres of water are lost to evaporation, seepage and breakouts in the exposed bore drains each year.
- Calculate the percentage of bores that are uncontrolled.

jason

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Sunday, 2001, August 26. On the Plenty 'Highway', fifty kilometres east
of Jervois Station.

Despite what might seem to be an advantage in a largely barren
ecosystem, a small creature's survival in the desert can be more
difficult than that of a large animal. Although they do not have the
need for great amounts of water, they require water more often, both
because their bodies do not have the capability to store it, and
because they lose a greater percentage through the skin (or other body
covering). Termites must keep humidity levels inside their mounds and
underground work areas very high to prevent desiccation.

Imagine an 80 kilogram person shrinking to the size of a termite - 8
milligrams. That person would have 200 times more surface area compared
to their volume. Having that much less protected flesh would mean that
they would be losing 200 times as much moisture in the same level of
humidity.

Suggested learning activities: using these figures, work out how much
water loss your own pet, or the average pet dog (10kg) or cat (3kg) or
bird (100g), might have compared to a human. Find the average weights
of different animals; and try this with them. How much less water per
kilogram might an elephant need, under the same conditions?

bel

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"Allright, you men, gather up on the road for the day's instructions."
The sun was breaking over the horizon and Josh, as the day's team
leader, was gatherng us prior to our departure. for the day's ride.
"First order of the day is to set your watches back one half hour.
Yesterday we came into the Northern Territory so we're in a new time
zone today.

Crister spoke up, "Why didn't we do this last night, Josh, when we had
more time?" Josh smiled, "Because I would've had to get up a half hour
EARLIER!"

The Northern Territory is on Central Standard Time, which is plus 9 1⁄2
hours from GMT. This is half an hour behind the eastern states,1 1⁄2
hours ahead of Western Australia, and the same as South Australia. Confused?
Don't forget to throw in Daylight Savings Time! It doesn't apply to the
Northern Territory, so from November to March, the eastern states are 1
1⁄2 hours ahead of Northern Territory time, and South Australia is one
hour ahead.

Suggested activities: Examine a time zone map of your country.
- Determine how many time zones are established What determines the size or area of each time zone? Does Daylight Savings Time occur in each area and, if not, what affect does this have as you travel between time zones?
- Select another country around the world and compute the time difference
between the two countries, i.e., if you live in Alice Springs, NT, what time/day is it in Chicago, Illinois, US? (Don't forget to figure in the International Date Line!)

April

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