ADDITIONAL

MATHS SBA

School: SAASS

Centre number: 080010

Group Members;

● Avonell Kimberly Que-Ann Charles

● Ashida Kemmonda Allayah Thomas
● Khadijah Syreeta Catherine Richardson
 Table of Contents
Project Title 1

Purpose of Project 2

Variables 3

Method of Data Collection 4

Presentation of Data 5

Table 1 5

Table 2 6

Figure 1 7

Table 3 8

Table 4 9

Figure 2 10

Calculations 11

Analysis of Data 13

Discussion of Findings 15

Conclusion 16

Recommendations 17

Appendix 18

Bibliography 19
 1

Project Title
An investigation into the factors affecting the State of Charge (SoC) of a gaming laptop
primarily used for playing Fortnite. In an attempt to mathematically determine which factors
affect the State of Charge the most and least.
 2

Purpose of Project
Have you ever wondered why the battery charge on your laptop decreases at such different paces
when using different settings? 
During our time in form 5 we were tasked with several SBAs which required many of us to use
our laptops at the school on battery. On many occasions we were forced to use our laptops with
the dwindling battery percentages in mind. This made us interested in the effects of various
settings on our laptops’ battery percentages as we were constantly trying to prolong it. For this
reason, we decided to investigate the impacts of different settings on the laptop’s state of charge.
According to Ehsan Dehnavi, in Distributed Generation Systems, the State of Charge (SoC) of a
cell denotes the capacity that is currently available as a function of the rated (nominal) capacity.
The value of the SoC varies between 0% and 100% - where 0% is empty and 100% is full. In
simpler terms, the state of charge refers to the battery percentage when compared to the full
capacity. The SoC of a laptop used primarily for browsing and using office software is affected
by several factors.  We narrowed our investigation to the following factors: Wi-Fi & Bluetooth,
presence of keyboard backlight, screen backlight percentage and power modes. Keep in mind
that most of these settings will cause an increase in the power used by the laptop and so an
increase in the rate of the State of Charge.
The purpose of this investigation is to determine which factor causes the greatest loss and
which factor causes the greatest gain in the State of Charge (SoC) of a laptop.

Gamers often notice that the decline in the battery charge on their laptops varies based on distinct

settings. While gaming in our spare time, our computers often lost its charge midgame. In an

effort to prolong gaming time between charges, we decided to conduct this experiment to assess

the effects of various settings on the state of charge of the laptop. The state of charge (SOC)

refers to the ratio of the current capacity of the battery to the nominal capacity. The nominal

capacity refers to the limit of the charge that the battery can store as given by the manufacturer

(Chang 2013). In terms of percentage, the SOC is the battery percentage used of the total

capacity. The SOC alternates between 0% and 100%. Where 100% represents the limit of the

charge that the battery can store while 0% represents when the battery is empty.
 3

The purpose of this experiment is to compare how varying factors affected state of charge of the

laptop battery. Our experiment focused on the following factors that affect the state of charge of

the battery: Screen backlight, Graphics Card, Wifi / Bluetooth, and different power modes.

Variables
1) Controlled Variables ● The Gaming software being used (Fortnite)

● The model of laptop being used (HP Laptop AMD

Radeon (TM) R4 Graphics)

● A environment’s temperature of 25○Celsius

● The range through which discharge was investigated -

100% to 30% (30% usage)

2) Manipulated Variables ● Screen backlight

● Bluetooth connections

● The power modes

3) Responding Variables ● State of Charge (SoC) of the laptop

 4

Method of Data Collection

Two methods were used to collect the necessary data - experimentation and observation. An
experiment as defined by dictionary.com is a test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or operation
for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle. Our group chose to
run experiments because it gave us an opportunity to test each of our theories. Observation as
defined by meriamwebster.com is defined as an act of recognizing and noting a fact or
occurrence often involving measurement with instruments. Observation was chosen as a method
of data collection because it allowed us to see the results of the experiment.

The experiment was done during the week of March 1st to March 5th of 2021 with the help of
our teacher Mr. Felix. Our teacher provided the gaming laptop and facilitated each experiment
after school in the computer lab. We chose this location as the air conditioning system provided a
constant temperature of 25℃ for our experiment. This temperature was chosen so the laptop
could operate at its optimal temperature. To ensure a constant rate of discharge throughout our
experiment, our group did the experiment within the range of 100% and 30%. Based on our
research, it is recommended that the laptop’s battery be operated in that range as well for the
most consistent battery performance.

The following are the modes that we selected for our base case: 50% screen backlight, Wi-Fi &
Bluetooth together on (because their separate effects were negligible) and the balanced power
plan. The laptop was then set to 100% then unplugged and left to discharge while being used
normally (gaming) to get a base case for the battery life against which all other factors were
compared

Afterwards, we recharged the laptop to 100% and repeated the experiment while changing
different factors on it to see how long the battery will last when being used normally and noted
the times for it to reach to 30%. At times the experiments were repeated for a single case and an
average time was taken to get a representative time to reduce random errors. We also took the
time for the laptop to discharge when left idle with no programs running. The data was noted in
tables, and displayed on charts to be analysed at a later date.
 5

Presentation of Data
Table 1

What was changed Screen Wi-fi & Power Time / Time /

Backlight Bluetoot Mode
(Hours) (Mins)
% h

Normal use case 50% On Balanced 0.92 55

Screen backlight at 100% On Balanced 0.92 55

100%

Power Saver mode 50% On Power Saver 1.78 107

High performance 50% On HighPerform 0.72 43

mode ance

Table showing the effects of changing different factors on the time it took the laptop to discharge
from 100%-30% in normal use

The first row indicates the duration while it was in normal use as defined in the method of data
collection. Every row afterward shows the changes to the time when different factors were
varied.
 6

Table 2

Factors affecting Time / Normal use Time Difference

battery life (Minutes) (Minutes)

(mins)

Screen Backlight at 100% 55 55 0

Power Saver Mode 107 55 52

High Performance Mode 43 55 -12

Table showing the time differences in time between the normal use case and the
other factors

The formula to calculate the time difference and the working to achieve them are as follows:

Difference¿normal use time – time

Difference with screen backlight at 100%: 55 mins−55 mins=0 mins

Difference with power saver mode on: 55 mins−107 mins=−52 mins

Difference with high performance mode on: 55 mins−43 mins=12 mins

 7

Figure 1

Bar graph showing the difference in minutes in the sate of charge of a battery for
varying factors.
 8

Table 3
Screen Power Keyboard Time/ Time/

Backlight % Mode Backlight (Hours) (Minutes)

50% On off 1.78 107

50% Off off 0.92 55

Table showing the effects of Power mode on the duration of the State of Charge while the laptop
was idle
 9

Table 4

Bluetooth Normal Use Time/ Idle Time / Difference

(Minutes) (Minutes) (Minutes)

On 55 66 11

Off 72 124 52

Table showing difference in the times for the laptop when operated normally vs
when left idle when was Bluetooth were toggled

The formula to calculate the time difference and the calculations are as follows:

Difference¿Idle Time – Normal Use time

Difference with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on ¿ 66 mins−55 mins=11 mins

Difference with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off ¿ 102 mins−83 mins=19mins

11+52
The average time difference is ¿ =31.5 minutes=
2
 10

Figure 2

Bar Graph comparing the time in minutes of the normal use and idle time with
bluetooth on and off.
 11

Calculations

Calculating the rate of battery loss.

Since the laptop’s battery was left to discharge from 100%, to 30%, the rate of discharge can be
calculated using the following formula:

30
Rate =
time

Using this formula, the rate of battery drain was calculated for each use case as follows.

1) Normal use 30
¿ =0.55 percent per minute
55mins

2) Screen backlight at 100% 30

¿ =0.55 percent per minute
55mins

3) Power Saver Mode 30

¿ =0.28 percent per minute
107 mins

4) High Performance Mode 30

¿ =0.70 percent per minute
43 mins

5) Bluetooth off 30
¿ =0.36 percent per minute
83 mins

All answers above were represented in 2 decimal places.

 12

Calculating the percentage change

The percentage change can be used to show which factor had the most significant effect on the
State of Charge when compared to our normal use case which gave a time of 55 minutes. We
will use the following formula to calculate percentage change against normal use:

Time difference 100

Percentage change¿ ×
Normal Use time 1

Using this formula, the percentage difference was calculated as follows:

1) Screen backlight at 100% 0 mins 100

¿ × =0 %
55mins 1

2) Power Saver Mode 52 mins 100

¿− × =−94.5 %
55 mins 1

3) High Performance Mode 12mins 100

¿ × =21.8 %
55mins 1

(NB: The answers were represented to 1 decimal place. Also, a negative time difference indicates
an increase in the battery life whereas as a positive time difference indicates a decrease in the
battery life)
 13

Analysis of Data
Table 1 depicts the effects of changing different factors on the State of Charge (SoC) while the
laptop was in normal use. When a factor was changed and the time was obtained, it was reset to
the base settings before the next one was changed. The first row shows all the settings for normal
use and the resulting battery life.  In normal use, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth remained on, the keyboard
backlights off and every other factor was set in the middle. The laptop’s battery lasted for 75
minutes in this mode. When the keyboard backlight was activated, the laptop’s battery lasted 70
minutes; when the screen’s brightness was set to 100%, the laptop’s battery lasted 55 minutes;
when it was set to power saver mode, the battery lasted 77 minutes; when it was set to high
performance mode the battery lasted 65 minutes; and finally, when Wi-Fi and Bluetooth were
turned off, the battery lasted 83 minutes
The second table shows the time differences between the normal use case and the other factors.
When the keyboard backlight was turned on, the SoC was reduced by 5 minutes; when the screen
backlight was set to 100%, the SoC was reduced by 20 minutes; and when the high-performance
mode was activated, the SoC was reduced by 10 minutes. On the other hand, turning on power
saver mode resulted in a gain of 2 minutes and turning off Wi-fi and Bluetooth resulted in a gain
of 8 minutes. At the bottom of the table the formula used to calculate the difference for all the
factors affecting battery life are written with the working shown. 
Figure one is a representation of table 2 and all its information in the form of a bar graph. It
serves as a visual depiction of what was relayed in this paragraph. It shows clearly that the screen
backlight had the biggest cost to the SoC while the keyboard backlight had the smallest cost. It
also clearly shows the gains in the SoC from power saver mode and from turning off Wi-fi and
Bluetooth. Power saver mode had a small gain of 2 minutes while turning off Wi-fi and
Bluetooth had a more substantial gain of 8 minutes.
Table 3 shows the effects of Wi-fi & Bluetooth on the SoC while the laptop was idle.It shows
that the experiment was done while the keyboard backlight was off while at 50% screen
backlight and while using the balanced power setting. From the table, it is evident that the battery
lasted for 102 minutes when the Wi-fi and Bluetooth were kept off and 90 minutes when Wi-fi
and Bluetooth were left on – a 12-minute difference.
The fourth and final table shows the difference in time when the laptop is left in normal use and
when idle and how it is affected when the factor Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is left on or off. As such
the normal time, idle time and difference varies based on this fact. Located at the bottom of the
table is the formula used to calculate the difference in minutes by subtracting normal time from
idle time. It also shows how the average time difference of 17 minutes between idle and normal
use was calculated.
Figure two is the bar graph representation of the last table and shows the difference of time as
calculated at the bottom of table 4 when the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is on or off. It shows that the
difference is slightly greater when Wi-fi and Bluetooth is off than when it is on.
The first set of calculations in the final part of the presentation shows the rate of battery loss per
minute to 2 decimal places. As stated before, the laptop’s battery was left to discharge from 60%
to 30%due to the constant rate of discharge. The calculations show that the screen backlight at
 14

100% consumed battery at the fastest rate(at 0.55% per minute). In contrast, the slowest rate of
battery consumption (of 0.36%) was achieved when the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth was off. The other
rates of battery consumption varied but all remained between those two rates.
The second set of calculations were used to compare the percentage change in the time of a
factor compared to the SoC under normal use of 75 minutes. The percentage change shows
which factors had the largest and smallest effects on the SoC when compared to our normal use
case. The factor that resulted in the largest reduction in the battery life (at 26.67%) came when
the screen backlight was at 100% while the lowest reduction(at 6.67%) camewhen the keyboard
backlight was turned on. On the other hand, turning off Wi-fi and Bluetooth created the biggest
gain in SoCof 9% while the power saver mode created a miniscule gain of 2.67%.

The results the experimenters obtained in Table 1 illustrates the impact that changes in various

computer settings have on the State of Charge. Important to note, the Wi-fi and Bluetooth

connections were kept on constantly through each case because of the nature of the game. In the

case of normal use, the power mode was kept balanced, the screen backlight was kept at 50%,

and all other factors were kept at a stable level. The laptop’s battery lasted fifty-five minutes

with these settings. The researchers then increased the screen backlight to 100%, while the power

mode was kept at a stable level. In this case, the battery also lasted for fifty-five minutes. When

the researchers placed the computer in power saver mode and the screen backlight at the 50%

level, the battery lasted for 107 minutes; a notable increase in the length of time of the battery as

compared to the previous cases. Contrarily, when the experimenters placed the computer in the

high-performance mode, with a 50% level on the screen backlight, the battery only lasted forty-

three minutes.

As Table two indicates, there was no difference between the 50% screen backlight level and

100% screen backlight level; The state of charge increased by fifty-two minutes when the

computer was in power mode; finally, the researchers noted a decrease of 12 minutes in the state

of charge when the computer was in high performance mode.

 15

Table three illustrates the impact of the power mode on the state of charge while the computer

was idle. The screen backlight maintained a 50% status and the keyboard backlight was off. With

power mode on, the state of charge lasted 107 minutes, while it only lasted 55 minutes with the

power mode off.

Table four compares the idle time and normal use time of the state of charge with the Bluetooth

in two states: on and off. When the Bluetooth is turned on, the state of charge lasted fifty-five

minutes in normal use time. In idle time, the state of charge increased by 11 minutes to sixty-six

minutes. When the Bluetooth was turned off, the state of charge lasted seventy-two minutes

during normal use and 124 minutes during idle time; a glaring 52-minute difference.
 16

Discussion of Findings
From the analysis, it was found that within the 30% range of the laptop’s State of Charge (SoC)
the laptop lasted for 55 minutes when used normally. It was also discovered that the screen
backlight and the high-performance power mode all caused a reduction in the SoC of the laptop
when compared to normal use.

On the other hand, the SoC was significantly increased when in power saving mode or bluetooth
off. This increase can be attributed to the reduction in the power draw from the battery from the
setting being off. When Wi-fi and Bluetooth are on the device will consistently be searching for
a signal which reduces the SoC significantly. From our experiment, we see that it had the biggest
effect in reducing the rate of discharge when compared to all other settings. The next setting to
increase the SoC was the power saver mode. The increase here, however, was much larger when
compared to Bluetooth off. The gains in the SoC were significantly impacted.

Within normal usage, screen backlighting at 100% had no effect on the SoC of the laptop.
Although in normal laptops the screen demands a large amount of power from the battery.
However in gaming laptops based on our experiment the SoC isn’t affected by screen backlight.
As a result, this setting had the same rate of discharge (0.55% per minute) and the percentage
rate of change of (0%) when compared to normal use. The other factor to reduce the SoC was the
high-performance mode which had a percentage rate of change of 21.8% .

When the laptop was left idle, the State of Charge was significantly increased. This shows that
the general usage of the laptop decreases the SoC significantly. Thus, it is possible to increase
the SoC by using the laptop in power saving mode and whilst bluetooth is off. Bluetooth was
also shown to reduce the SoC even while idle.
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Conclusion
From this investigation it was found that the factor that caused the greatest loss to the laptop’s
battery life in a given State of Charge was high performance mode because it used the most
power from the battery, it had the fastest rate of battery loss per minute and had the biggest
percentage change in time compared to the time of normal usage. The factor that caused the
greatest gain, however, was power saving mode although when in use we noticed an automatic
reduction to the screen backlight. Power saving mode had the slowest rate of battery loss per
minute and had the smallest percentage change in time compared to the percentage change in
time of normal usage.
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Recommendations
If someone came to us for advice on doing the same project that we did, we’d recommend
that:

● They should clear their schedule to make time to do the SBA.

● They should ensure that they have a good bond with the teacher.
● They find a comfortable and quiet working environment to do the SBA since it's difficult
and requires concentration to execute.
● The factors in relation to the State of Charge of the laptop are properly observed so that
the data is well and correctly collected.

Based on our investigation, we recommend that you can increase the State of Charge by:

● Close some of the background programs that are not necessary to the task at hand.
● Using the power-saver mode
● Turning off Bluetooth if possible.

Some suggestions of future analyses in related area are:

● The experiment should have been done looking at the battery charge decrease rate
between two different types of gaming computers.
● The experiment should have been done using a hot and cool temperature to observe the
effects of battery life in different temperatures.
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Appendix
The following is the table that was used to collect the data for the experiment. The components
of each column of the table were varied and their effects on the time for the laptop’s battery to
move from 60% to 30% were noted.

What was changed Screen Wi-fi & Power Keyboard Time / Time /
Backlight Bluetoot Mode backlight
(Hours) (Mins)
% h

Normal use case

Keyboard backlight
turned on

Screen backlight at
100%

Power Saver mode

High performance
mode

Wifi& Bluetooth off

 20

Bibliography
Computer Hope, “How long should a laptop battery last after each charge?”, January 24th, 2018

Web Link: https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001236.htm

Margaret Rouse, Writer at TechTarget’s IT Encyclopedia, “battery life”, August 2013.

Web Link: https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/battery-life

Hampshire College, “Laptops and Temperature Extremes”.

Web Link: https://www.hampshire.edu/it/laptops-and-temperature-extremes

Meriam Webster Dictionary, “Definition of Observation”.

Web Link: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/observation

Dictionary.com, “Definition of Experiment”.

Web Link: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/experiment

Ehsan Dehnavi, Faculty of Biological Sciences at University of Tehran

Distributed Generation Systems , 2017.

Web Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/state-of-charge