Need help with a lil math...

fire-stick

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I'm doing an enrichment today with 4th and 5th graders in an after school program. The enrichment is about teamwork.

I want to help them understand that teamwork is important because it helps you get along with, and work better with other people.

I somehow want to help them understand how many people there are on earth, (to kinda show them that there are ALOT of people on earth and that teamwork is very important.)

I want to tell them, "If each person on earth had a stamp it would cover......"

I'm guessing a stamp is about a square inch...

So how much of Indiana, (where we live), would 6.8 billion stamps cover?

Indiana is 36,418 sq mi... (wikipedia)
 

exodus125

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[SIZE=+1]1 mile = 63 360 inches[/SIZE]


63,360 squared = 4,014,489,600 square inches in a square mile.

you said indiana is 36,418 square miles, so 36,418 x 4,014,489,600 =

146,199,682,252,800 square inches, or 146,199,682,252,800 stamps.

a little over 146 Trillion stamps to cover all of indiana, and with 6.8 billion stamps, you can cover 0.00465% of indiana
 
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bobisculous

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So if each person were a square inch, you would have

6,800,000,000 square inches.
Divide that by 144 to get square feet.

You get 47,222,222 square feet.

In a square mile, you have (5280*5280) square feet, or
27,878,400 square feet.

Divide 47,222,222 by 27,878,400 = 1.6938641

So you would only be able to cover 1.6938641 square miles if everyone were a single 1 square inch stamp.

1.69 square miles vs. Indianas 36,000+

Not that much really.
-C
 
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exodus125

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actually, after my mad math skills, its apparent that what your trying to show by the calculations you had us figure out, will not help your cause. It would be better to figure out how long 6.8 stamps are or circle around the world how someone suggested. because .00465 percent is not too impressive.
 

exodus125

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for example, the moon is aprox 238,900 miles from earth, if everyone was a 1 inch stamp, and all the stamps were placed to form a line, the stamps would reach almost half way to the moon. if you want to really blow their minds, id do something like the average human height, for example int he us its something like 5'9" turn that to inches and its 69 inches, 69 x 6.8 billion is about 469 billion inches. so the current population on earth, if staked on top of each other to make a human ladder, would reach the moon 31,114 times. thats enough to go to the moon and back 15,000 times. (someone correct my math if its wrong)
 

bobisculous

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Nah, it would only be about 31 times, ~15 round trip.

(6,800,000,000*69)=4.692e11

(238,900*5280*12)=1.513e10

Divide those out, ~31 for a single trip. 15 for a round trip
 
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exodus125

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Nah, it would only be about 31 times, ~15 round trip.

(6,800,000,000*69)=4.692e11

(238,900*5280*12)=1.513e10

Divide those out, ~31 for a single trip. 15 for a round trip

yes i must have done something wrong, but " only 31 times" ,,,try running to the moon an back 15 times....ready,,,,,GO,.,,
 

Mike Painter

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I see no relationship between numbers and teams, except that at some fairly low numbers teams breakdown. It's why most businesses, if they have teams have small groups.

Why not do any of bazillion teamwork exercises that are used by professionals that do this?
 

fire-stick

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I see no relationship between numbers and teams, except that at some fairly low numbers teams breakdown. It's why most businesses, if they have teams have small groups.

Why not do any of bazillion teamwork exercises that are used by professionals that do this?

We did some of those! :) It was awesome!

The point I was trying to help them get was that teamwork, and getting along and stuff was very important because they will have to interact with people, and work with people their whole life. I just wanted to kind of put in perspective how many people there are on earth and how important teamwork and people skills are...

I appreciate everyone's help... :)

I especially liked this one...

"try running to the moon an back 15 times....ready.....GO..."

I'm almost .00000000025985% there!!! LOL
 

Bimmerboy

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Hmmm... yet another thread emphasizing the value of "teamwork" without a shred of mention regarding the value of the individual aside from how small he/she is.

This is considered "enrichment".

:shakehead

I, as well as (innumerable) many, have been the recipient of such "enrichment".

:barf:

Fire-stick,

So long as you're "teaching" 4th and 5th graders as to how important it is to go along with the group, is there equal importance given to the fact that every person is an individual entity?

If yes, then how?

What do you teach to kids as to what should, and should not happen when an individual thinks differently against the consensus of the group?
 

exodus125

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Hmmm... yet another thread emphasizing the value of "teamwork" without a shred of mention regarding the value of the individual aside from how small he/she is.

This is considered "enrichment".

:shakehead

I, as well as (innumerable) many, have been the recipient of such "enrichment".

:barf:

Fire-stick,

So long as you're "teaching" 4th and 5th graders as to how important it is to go along with the group, is there equal importance given to the fact that every person is an individual entity?

If yes, then how?

What do you teach to kids as to what should, and should not happen when an individual thinks differently against the consensus of the group?

ba humbug

 

exodus125

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like I said, ba humbug, your drilling the poor guy with critism, maybe you need a CPF group hug. :grouphug:
 

nerdgineer

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I think none of this is personal to firestick who I'm sure is trying to do a difficult job (dealing with a school administration and a bunch of 10 year olds...:shakehead...:)). It's just that IMHO "teamwork" has often been used in our educational system as a substitute for disciplined thinking and critical assessment, and to that extent, has been counterproductive to educational achievement.

It's important to remember that the most important aspect of teamwork is to have the key positions on the team filled by those individuals who have aptitude for them, so the whole team can actually perform. The pitcher should know how to pitch, the shortstop to field, and the first baseman to hit.

The point of education should be first to develop those individual pitchers, hitters, and fielders, for only then do you have the actually competent individuals who can later contribute to a team. That's why SATs are important and why self-esteem achieved not through individual accomplishment is a delusional lie.

One example: learning math is an individual achievement.

OK. Sorry, rant off....
 
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Bimmerboy

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like I said, ba humbug, your drilling the poor guy with critism, maybe you need a CPF group hug. :grouphug:

Group hug? Eeek! :duck:

I refuse to be assimilated!

You, and Nerdgineer have reminded me to mention that this is not a personal attack on Fire-stick. It is a questioning of what is being taught to kids, and how it is supposed to "enrich" them.

I'm still interested in hearing the answers to my three questions above.
 
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