Meadows or Malls: Report, Writeup, and Reflection

The Report
(Jack, Shaw, Adrian, Eli)

Type of land Acres of Land Cost Per Acre Total cost

Ranch land for 225 $50 11,250

recreation.

Ranch Land for 75 $500 37,500

Development

Army Land for 25 $200 5,000

Recreation

Army Land for 75 $2,000 150,000

Development

Mine Land for 0 $100 0

Recreation

Mine Land for 150 $1,000 150,000

Development

Total = 353,750

There are 550 acres of land that can be developed or used for recreation. The land comes
from a mine, a ranch, and army land. The amount of acres for recreation is 250 acres and
the amount for development is 300. The total cost for the land is 353,750.
The minimum amount of land to develop is 300 acres so we chose to stick with the
minimum to lower the cost. We are using most of the cheap land to minimize the cost.
Because there was one group of people that wanted most of the land for development and
the other group wanted most of the land for recreation we chose to split up the land as
equally as we could.
 Write up

During this math unit, we studied many different aspects of math. We studied the corner
point principle, many different types of graphing, and I think the most important of all
matrices. All of this added up to help us solve the final problem. The build-up to the
problem was a lot of different math subjects building off of each other. We started with
systems of linear equations. We were given three different ways to solve these equations.
I found that the one that works best for me was the substitution form. Our final problem
included lots of linear equations. These were in the form of the constraints we had to
follow. For example one of our constraints was RD + A D + MD ≥ 300 we had to
understand this equation to find the numbers to plug into our matrices.
We also had an independent dependent and inconsistent system of linear equations. I used
this in the final unit problem by recognizing that if our linear equations weren't
independent it would instantly fail our constraints because it would give us infinite
answers or no answers at all. Luckily we only had to work with this once on our unit
problem. It was on our final constraint combination. This is because the matrix was
unsolvable or had infinite solutions.

We then moved onto the corner point principle. This is showing how you can graph your
equations to find the best answer inside your feasible region. Without looking at a graph
this can get very confusing with having many answers and points in random space. This
helped on the final problem to keep me organized. This also involved our constraints
because those were the so-called boundaries in our final answer. Thinking back to my
process I could have plugged all the constraints and possible answers into a graph. This
would have done the work for me to give me the best fit for my constraints.
When we got to the end of the unit we started on matrices this is where I felt like I started
to see everything come together and make sense to me. We first started with the basics of
how to set up different matrices and how to solve them. We needed this to continue to use
matrices to solve the unit problem.
When solving linear equations using matrices you had to read the problem to get your
matrix. We took each constraint and found the linear equation that it was. We then
plugged it into a matrix calculator. This helped us immensely because we did not have to
solve each linear equation. This is the matric that solved our first constraint combination.
 Reflection

For this unit, I've had many highs and lows. Some of the content I felt super engaged with
and understood more than I felt I had understood lots of math in the past. Then other days
I would struggle to understand even a little bit of the content we were working on. On
these days when I could not understand anything, I would get fed up that I was not
understanding and kinda give up. I think this is because my interest and motivation to do
math are pretty low if I struggle to understand it. Unlike me in many other areas, I enjoy
the struggle a lot. Just sadly not in math.

This year I have seen lots of growth in my collaborative skills. I have always preferred
working in a group and have always been pretty good at it. This year I have improved on
not trying to always be the leader and trying to control the group. With the people in our
pod, we all work together well so that has seen less of a need for someone to lead the
group. This has been great for me because in the past I would always try to be the leader
even if someone else wanted to as well this would lead to a clash that would end up
costing us time and creating a mess that did not need to be created.