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Name ___________________________

Part 1: Understanding the Virus

IT’S A ZOMBIE ATTACK!!! Patient 0 has just developed the Zombie Virus and is on the
move to create more Zombies. Humanity is at stake and everyone is freaking out…
except for Anna’s Precalculus class. To help, we must understand the problem first.
Let’s analyze the problem and write a report so that we can help stop the Zombies!!

Every 24 hours, Patient 0 infects 2 more people. Those infected will also infect 2 more
every 24 hours. This means that the number of active Zombies will triple each day.

1. Create the table and graph that models this horrific situation for one week.

2. What function family do your models seem

to represent?
_________________________

3. Use Desmos to find two equations that fit your data. Interpret each constant from your equation in context.
Equation 1: Equation 2:

What do the constants seem to represent? What do the constants seem to represent?

___ represents _______________________ ___ represents _______________________

___ represents _______________________ ___ represents _______________________

___ represents _______________________ ___ represents _______________________

4. According to your model, how many people will be infected in 10 days? _____________________________
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Part 2: Testing a Solution
It’s been 10 days… but WE FOUND ANOTHER VIRUS! This virus helps kill the
undead and lays them to rest so that they don’t bother the living anymore. The virus
will kill half of the Zombies each day that it is active.

First, how many Zombies are we talking about? How many Zombies will be
roaming the Earth in 10 days? (found on page 1)

_________________________________________________________

The Zombies are catching on and avoiding humans. There will be no new Zombies.
Every day, half of the Zombies will be laid to rest.

5. Create the table and graph that models this situation for one week.

6. What function family do your models seem to

represent?
_________________________
7. Use Desmos to find two equations that fit your data. Interpret each constant from your equation in context.
Equation 1: Equation 2:

What do the constants seem to represent? What do the constants seem to represent?

___ represents _______________________ ___ represents _______________________

___ represents _______________________ ___ represents _______________________

___ represents _______________________ ___ represents _______________________

8. According to your model, when will there be 0 Zombies remaining? _____________________________

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Part 3: Variants
It’s been a few years and the remaining bits of the Zombie virus have mutated and spread around the world
through trade and travel. Each country developed its own Patient 0 and you can assume it is just one victim.

Circle the country you have been assigned below:

Country Total Population

Canada 39,590,000

France 67,060,000

Mexico 127,600,000

El Salvador 6,454,000

Nigeria 201,000,000

South Africa 58,560,000

You have been given a country to study. Your task is to find the multiplier, meaning the number used to
multiply the number of zombies by each day to find the new total. The number of days it takes to infect the
total population is 9 days. Show your work or reasoning in the box below.
Sense-making: what is your plan to solve this? Execute your plan here:
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Part 4: Comparing the Virus to its Variants
Show all work and reasoning for your responses in the boxes below.

1. Original Zombie Virus

The population of China is 1,398,000,000. If the original zombie virus on page 1 starts infecting people
in China, how long will it take for the total population to be all zombies?
Sense-making: what is your plan to solve this? Execute your plan here:

2. Variant Zombie Virus

a. If your variant from page 3 starts infecting people in China at the same rate, how long will it take
for the total population to be completely infected?
Sense-making: what is your plan to solve this? Execute your plan here:

b. Predict: Without using a model, how long do you think it would take for half of China to be
infected by the variant virus?

c. Use your model to check. Were you correct? Which model did you use and how can you tell if
you were correct? Is what you found surprising in any way?
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Reference Sheets Data Fitting on Desmos

The purpose of this portion of the project is to create a model that could be used to make predictions based on
your data. We will use Desmos to perform multiple regressions to see which function family fits the data best.
Follow the directions below to create models for your data in each scenario. Use a different Desmos graph for
each. The website for this is http://www.desmos.com/graphing

1. Add a table and type your table values into Desmos

2. Add a new item in Desmos. Select “expression”

3. Type one of the parent functions from the Function Toolbox into that line. Use a ~ instead of = to perform a
regression. Use 1’s after your x’s and y’s. Example: 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏 would be 𝑦1~𝑎𝑥1 + 𝑏