Australia Lesson Activities - Maths

Interpreting Math Word Problems:

The Information:
Well, here we are at the Humbert River in the Gregory National Park. It is our second-to-last layover and we have two weeks left on the trip. Also, we will have a day of sponsorship filming as well. This leaves us with 11 riding days. The ride up to Darwin will be 590 kilometres from where we are now. It is necessary that we get to Darwin on time because if not, some members of the group will miss their flights, and lose a lot of money.

The Question:
How many kilometres do we need to average each day?

The Method:
We need to analyse the paragraph of info and find which bits are useful to us.

- There are 2 weeks left.
- There are 3 non-riding days.
- That leaves 11 riding days.
- We have 590 kilometres to travel.

Now that we have the information boiled down into little tid-bits, it is easy to look at the problem and figure out a solution.

590 kilometres divided by 11 days will give us the answer.

590/11=53.63

We must travel on average 53.63 kilometres a day!

Suggested activities

1. Use the method of boiling down information to show yourself what figures you need to work with in a math word problem.

2. Also, think up a word problem like this - about how much food you eat a year, how many miles you travel in car on the way to school, the distance each day on a trip you take, etc.

By,
Crister

THEME: ‘Cattle Ranching’
SUBJECT AREA: Maths
TOPIC: Money management - cattle mustering costs

Your job is to hire a crew to muster a large paddock (gather cattle from a large pasture). Not only is efficiency important, but you must complete the work in the most economical way possible. The paddock is 300 square kilometres, extremely rocky, and the cattle are scattered throughout. The options are to hire seven ringers (drovers) on horseback, or to hire a heli-mustering company using single pilot helicopters. Which do you think would be the most economical? Let’s take a look…

A ringer gets $100/day so a crew of nine would cost a station $900\day to employ. Cost of food for the crew, fuel for vehicles and assorted expenses can run an additional $100/day. Total: Cow camp costs: $1000\day. Due to the paddock’s size and rockiness, it will take approximately one week for the ringers to muster it. Total cost to complete the muster: $7000

To hire one helicopter to muster the paddock would cost a station $240/hour. This includes the use and maintenance of the helicopter and pilot’s fee of $60/hour. Helicopter fuel is another expense at $60/hour. Total: $300/hour. For a ten-hour day of work, one helicopter would cost $3000. Due to the quickness of travel and the ease with which a helicopter can move about the paddock, mustering time is considerably reduced as horses would have to negotiate the rough terrain, which would take longer to muster.

As a cattle station manager, which do you think would be the most efficient way to complete the mustering?

Suggested activities: Compare the costs of the mustering techniques, predicting the length of time each would take to muster the paddock. Analyse your costs for each and select the most efficient way to complete this job. (Hint: two helicopters mustered this pasture in five hours.) What would be the total costs involved and which is the most economical way to complete this job?

April

THEME: Road Trains
SUBJECT AREA: Mathematics
TOPIC: Ratios / Comparison

2001 October 14, Sunday. Dorisvale Station, thirty-five kilometres from Pine Creek

Looking at the sheer weight of metal involved, and the speed at which road trains travel, it’s more surprising that they can usually stay on the roads, than it is that they sometimes come off. This particular driver had enough reason (if not an excuse) to lose control. In the past week he had driven thousands of kilometres between Kununurra, Darwin, and Katherine, sometimes stopping only to unload cattle, then moving on.

Road trains are found on roads throughout the Territory, and are one of the major hazards to other road users, along with cattle and kangaroos. They take a deceptively long time to overtake, and, one single lane roads, you need to completely clear the road to let them pass. Usually you’ll need to stop anyway, to wait for the dust cloud to clear.

Suggested learning activities: Look at the information below, which compares our support vehicle to the unfortunate road train, which blocked its path yesterday. Find the ratio for each comparison. By looking at the average ratio, find out, overall, how much ‘bigger’ the train is. Then compare the train to your family car.

Number of Wheels:
Train: 14 per trailer, 10 on engine
Canter: 6 total

Weight:
Train: 83 tonnes, plus 80x650kg beasts
Canter: 5 tonnes

Length:
Train: 40 metres
Canter: 7 metres

Cattle carrying Capacity:
Train: 80 head
Canter: 7 head

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