Activities to Accompany CNN Today for Liberal Arts Mathematics Volume I Video
- Why would a state be interested in finding the recipients of unclaimed assets
in the state’s possession? What reasons would a state have to not seek
out the recipients?
- The state of New York recently tried to find the owners of over $2 billion
in unclaimed assets. How much interest could New York earn in one month by
investing this amount at 10% simple interest instead of distributing it to
the owners?
- Assume New York was successful in finding the recipients of $400 million
of the unclaimed assets. What simple interest rate would the state need to
earn on the remaining funds to make $240 million per year in interest?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of payday loans over traditional
bank loans for consumers? Under what circumstances would you consider using
a payday loan?
- Suppose you want to buy a $100 sweater, but you cannot afford it until you
get paid in two weeks. However, the store is having a one-day sale during
which every item is discounted 10%. How much will you actually pay if you
decide to buy the sweater now with a payday loan for two weeks at a 15% charge?
Will it be worth getting the sale price?
- Matthew is considering borrowing $500 from a payday loan establishment that
charges $16 per $100 borrowed for a two-week period. How much simple interest
will he pay? Use the simple interest formula to calculate the corresponding
APR for this loan.
Credit Card High (rename: View Video in High Resolution)
Credit Card Low (rename: View Video in Low Resolution)
- Do you think credit card companies should be allowed to solicit on university
campuses? What role, if any, should universities have in promoting responsible
credit card use among students?
- Perform an informal survey of 10 of your friends. How many of them have
at least one credit card? Of those with credit cards, what is their average
balance? How do your results compare to the statistics given in the video?
- You will have to charge $500 for your textbooks this semester. Your VISA
has an APR of 17% and uses the adjusted balance method to calculate interest.
Your MasterCard has an APR of 16% and uses the average daily balance method.
If you plan to make a payment of $100 after 15 days, which credit card should
you use?
- Discuss the pros and cons of paying cash for a house verses taking out a
mortgage and investing the cash in the stock market.
- The video mentions that many high-end homes are being purchased with cash.
How much interest would a buyer save by paying cash for a $1,000,000 home
instead of utilizing a 30-year mortgage with a monthly payment of $6,320?
- A couple with a savings of $1 million decides to purchase a $1 million house.
They make a down payment of $100,000 and obtain a mortgage for the balance.
They plan to invest their remaining $900,000 and use the interest alone to
make the $5400 monthly mortgage payment on the 30-year mortgage. What interest
rate must they earn on the investment? Is this rate of return realistic?
- If the housing market slows down, the effects will ripple through other
sectors of the economy. List five areas of the economy and explain how and
why they would be affected by a housing recession.
- How much would a family save on a $100,000 house over the life of a 30-year
mortgage if their loan rate is 7% verses 8.5%? If the family can afford a
monthly payment of $800, what is the maximum loan they should seek under each
interest rate?
- Discuss the trends within the graphs of 30-year Mortgage Rates and Single
Family Housing Starts. Then analyze the relationship between the two graphs.
How are the housing starts affected by the mortgage rates?
- Why do you think girls register for fewer math and science courses than
boys when they enter college? What can be done to encourage girls to take
more math and sciences courses?
- Do some research to find a recent list of the top ten occupations with the
highest starting salaries for college graduates. How many of the top ten require
some proficiency in mathematics?
- Suppose a university with an enrollment of 10,000 students has 200 mathematics
majors, 125 physics majors, and 150 chemistry majors. What additional information
would you need to represent this situation on a Venn diagram?
Reasoning High (View Video in High Resolution)
Reasoning High (View Video in Low Resolution)
- Do you think the conclusion reached at the end of the video clip is valid
based on the poll results that are presented? Why or why not?
- Is the conclusion that “Tiger Rules” reached using inductive
or deductive reasoning? Explain.
- A classmate argues that by adding percents from the second graph he knows
that 65% of the people surveyed gave at least one unfavorable response. Is
your classmate correct? Use the survey results and a Venn diagram to explain.
- What changes were made to the original Monopoly game to create the Chinese
version? What social norms in China prompted these changes?
- Suppose you are playing a game of Monopoly with friends. After buying a
railroad on your first turn, you decide to try to buy all the railroads. What
is the probability that you land on another railroad on your next turn?
- You are starting a game of Monopoly with a friend. The rules state that
you each must roll the dice and the person with the highest total will take
the first turn. Your friend rolls a total of 6. What is the probability that
you will go first? What is the probability that your friend will go first?
Why do these probabilities not add to 100%?
- Do you think legal sports gambling should be allowed to continue in Nevada?
Explain your reasons.
- Suppose you are betting on a game for which the odds of your team winning
were 1 to 3. Due to an injury on the opposing team, your team’s odds
are now 2 to 3. How has your probability of winning been affected?
- Suppose the odds in one game are 4 to 5, while the odds in a second game
are 3 to 7. You want to bet for the team that has the greatest probability
of winning its game. On which of the four teams should you bet?
- Why are the elderly often targeted for phone scams? What advice would you
give an elderly relative to help him avoid becoming a victim of a telemarketing
scam?
- A telemarketer asks you to make a donation to support a local organization.
If you make a donation of $10, you will be entered in a raffle for a chance
to win $1,000. Last year they had 500 donations of $10. What is your expectation
from making this donation?
- When you hesitate to make the donation described in exercise 2, the telemarketer
says you can earn a chance to win $10,000 if you make a donation of $100.
Last year they had only 250 donations of $100. The telemarketer says this
is a much better deal because the donation and winnings are both increased
by a factor of ten, but the number of entries is cut in half. Which donation,
$10 or $100, offers you the greatest chance of winning money? Which donation
offers the greatest expected value? (See exercise 2.)
Frequency High(View Video in High Resolution)
Frequency Low(View Video in Low Resolution)
- Discuss how statistics from exit polls can affect the outcome of an election.
For example, if you hear on the evening news that your candidate has an enormous
lead according to exit polls, how does that affect your motivation to vote?
- Use the line graph on voter turnout to construct a bar graph displaying
the same information. What are the advantages of each type of graph for this
data?
- Redraw the line graph on voter turnout to exaggerate the real difference
in turnout from year to year. Make sure your scale is clearly indicated on
the graph.
- Which of the three measures of central tendency is most appropriate for
analyzing the SAT scores for a freshman class? Consider how a perfect score
of 1600, like that of Charles Mathis, will affect each measure.
- Analyze your grades in a current or recent class. Would your final grade
be higher if it were based on the mean of your exam scores or the median exam
score? Which measure do you think best represents your performance in the
class?
- Survey your classmates to determine the number of credit hours each student
is currently taking. Find the mean, median, and mode. Which measure best represents
the average number of credit hours?
- What factors might account for the discrepancies between the Justice Department’s
crime survey and the FBI report, which shows a slight decrease in violent
crime?
- The crime survey showed that rapes dropped 60%, aggravated assaults dropped
52.5%, and robbery fell 46.7% from 1993 – 2000. Charlie concludes that
overall these three crimes have fallen 53.07% during this period. Marilyn
argues that there is not enough information presented in the video to reach
this conclusion. Who is correct? Explain.
- Find statistics on aggravated assaults in your state for two recent, consecutive
years. By what percentage did the number of aggravated assaults increase or
decrease? How does your state rank in aggravated assaults compared to the
other states?
- What measure of wind speed, other than the average, should the Wright brothers
have considered when choosing a location for their flight? How should they
have used this measure?
- Is it possible for two cities to have the same average wind speed in a given
week but have different wind speed variances? Explain why this is impossible
or invent two sample data sets to show it is possible.
- Watch the evening news or use an online source to record the wind speed
in your city every day for a week. Calculate the mean wind speed for the week
and the standard deviation. Interpret your results.
- Suppose you own a movie theater and have just seen these survey results.
How would you apply the information to your business? What business decisions
might be influenced by these surveys?
- Which of the graphs or results shown in the video clip most closely resembles
a normal curve? Would you expect these survey questions to produce bell-shaped
graphs? Why or why not?
- Conduct a survey of one hundred 18 – 29 year-olds to determine the
number of movies seen in theaters in the last year. Create a bar graph to
illustrate your results. Does the graph look bell-shaped? How does your mean
compare to the average of 7.8 stated in the clip?
- Do you think Perot’s campaign was helped or hurt by his use of statistical
plots and graphs in his infomercials? Explain.
- Most politicians have platforms which appeal to a particular demographic.
What sample of the population did Perot reach with his infomercials? Why do
you think Perot’s message appealed to this sample of the population?
- Suppose your mathematics class is chosen as the sample for a survey to determine
the average income of a student at your school. Is your class an appropriate
sample for this survey? Why or why not?
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