Deflategate

2023-11-20 09:44:31

Deflategate


 

The deflated ball controversy makes an interesting segue into negative number line understanding.  A particular digital psi football gauge reads 0 when the ball is at a proper NFL inflation of 13 psi.  Footballs inflated under 13 psi produce negative psi readings and students have to decide the range of possible inflation levels and which reading is less inflated.

Students work with negative numbers, inequalities, and graph on the number line, all in this controversial context.  Finally, students use proportional reasoning to determine if an air temperature difference could have accounted for the deflated footballs (the math & physics has been simplified down a bit, we went with many sources boiled the math down to, you can see all the math here).  Older students can dabble in writing compound inequalities and absolute value inequalities.

Screen Shot 2015-01-24 at 9.29.23 PM

Note: If you are interested in opening with a video about "Deflategate" there are plenty of articles and video news reports online.  Just do a Google search.

For Adventurer members we have an editable Word docx and solutions.

Activity Solutions & Supporting Materials
Share this:
Comments (1)
Admin - 2024-02-11 12:44:36
Ss loved @yummymath deflated football assignment. I learned some things too! #talkingpoints #SuperBowlXLIX — Lori Barr (@LbarrBarr) January 31, 2015
    Display 1 - 1 Of total 1
    Layla's antibiotics
      Layla The dosage of Layla's medicat...
    Pottytalk
      I'm trying to be more savy abo...
    Coronavirus trends
    Johns Hopkins University of Medicine has a team ...
    Largest s'more ever!
    Thursday, August 10, 2023 is National S'more...
    What's with the plovers?
    Cute little birds.  Piping plovers are ...
    Parabolic Pee
    Mr. Mark's new little baby can make some amazing...
    Cost of light bulbs - updated!
    There's a lot of misinformation out there ab...
    Is this promo a good deal?
    McDonald's was offering an "Arch Card" speci...
    It's Girl Scout cookie time again!
      Let your students talk about...
    Do I have enough wrapping paper?
    In this problem based activity students...