1 The Rule of Four

Instructions: Introduce yourself to your new team. Make sure to know your team mates names and
together pick a name for your team. Read the problems carefully and discuss a solution strategy with your
colleagues. You should proceed together through the questions.

1.1 A word problem

Read the following paragraph.

Samantha is on a tight budget so she decided to visit different grocery stores and buy the items she needs
from the store which sells them at a cheaper price. She starts from home at 3 pm and first she drives 3.9
miles to Kroger. At the check-out she receives a call from her flatmate who wants to come to Meijer, her
next stop. So she returns home, picks up Tiffany and they leave for Meijer at 3.45 pm. Sam drives 2.9 miles
to Meijer. At 4.30 pm they leave Meijer and head to By The Pound, which is only 0.5 miles from home.
Finally, they return home at 5 pm. Consider the following quantities: d, the distance from home (measured
in miles) and t, the time after 3 pm (measured in minutes).

(a) Which quantity is a function of the other?

(b) Sketch a graph representing the described function.

(c) Assuming that she drives at a constant speed of 40 mph, can you find a formula for this function?

1.2 Interpreting notation

From the description below answer the given questions.

The following table gives the distance d in miles from central campus to the three closest Meijer grocery
stores, numbered accordingly to increasing distance. Moreover, the table also shows Google’s rating g of these
grocery stores out of five possible stars.

Meijers 1 2 3
d: Distance (mi) 2.9 4.2 5.5
g: Rating 4.0 2.6 4.7

(a) Could the rating of a Meijer grocery store be a function of its distance from central campus?

(b) Complete: g(3) = .

(c) Complete: d( )= 4.2 .

(d) Interpret “d(1) = 2.9” i.e., explain in words what the statement “d(1) = 2.9” means in the context of
this problem.

(e) Write down a symbolic notation for the statement “The farthest Meijer from central campus has the
best rating, namely 4.7 stars”.

Homework for tomorrow

[ ] Read sections 1.1-1.2.

[ ] Read the lesson plan for Lesson 1.

[ ] Prepare your first class. Using the lesson plan as a guide, build your own lesson. Make sure to allocate
enough times for every activity and know what you can cut if you run out of time.