CSI Algebra: Factoring & Quadratic Functions Detectives, We can literally count the seconds until the Mathemagicians deploy their world conquering device. For their last crime spree, an associate by the name of Calcuu Paraboloid has terrorized the United States. Based on our intel, we believe Calcuu Paraboloid is the leader of the evil genius terrorist group. Investigators suspect that the world conquering device intends to vaporize calculators everywhere! From Wall St. to Walmart, the world would have to relearn how to do basic arithmetic operations. In other words, it’s the end of the world. As the Mathemagicians have done time and time again, they have scattered six mathematical puzzles and a cryptic text message that must be solved. After solving the puzzles, you can decode the message which will lead to Calcuu’s favorite number. So far there are six suspects that police have questioned. It is hoped that someone with a relatively strong number sense and geometry spatial sense can crack some codes that have puzzled the detectives on the case so far. Your job is to bring Calcuu Paraboloid to justice and save the planet. You need to be prepared to state your case and demonstrate your understanding of the following skills that Calcuu is known to use in the notes. -
Factoring trinomials including GCF and Distributive Property
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Quadratic Formula
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Graphing and interpreting parabolic graphs
Be sure to include: -
Other examples of the concepts
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Definitions
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Any other relevant information.
This is not a time to be sloppy. The slightest miscalculation or illegible footnote could result in a not guilty verdict. We are counting on you. Good luck to you, gumshoe.
Chief Harris
© 21st Century Math Projects
Who is Calcuu Paraboloid? Name: George
Name: Tecumseh
Occupation: Executive
Occupation: Chief
Favorite Number : 1
Favorite Number: -900
Name: Tom
Name: Ben
Occupation: Writer
Occupation: Inventor
Favorite Number: -74
Favorite Number: 1776
Name: Pocahontas Occupation: Translator
Name: Betsy Occupation: Seamstress Favorite Number: 630
Favorite Number: 42
© 21st Century Math Projects
Scene #1
Yellowstone National Park –- Wyoming, USA
A ranger was stunned to discover the famed petrified forest completely uprooted. Investigators suspect Calcuu Paraboloid excavated an entire allosaurus skeleton. In the dirt, they found this note. Land of the free? Home of the brave? We’ll see how you hold up after we flip the switch on our world conquering device. All electronic calculation devices will be one big cloud of poof. Go find your abacus and pull off your socks because you don’t have a chance at solving my puzzles.
Find the GCF of these three monomials. The coefficient of the monomial is equal to s.
792x9y13z4
1056x4yz5
220x12y6z2
s=________ Scene #2
Silicon Valley –- California, USA
The top secret headquarters of Google was infiltrated in the afternoon by a person dressed up like Elmo from Sesame Street. The person took sixteen prototype Google Gadgets. Based on the lost resources, it’s quite possible Google was preparing to conquer the world on their own. You Americans seem to spend a lot time on your phone throwing birds at pigs. Well here you go…
Graph the path of the three projectile birds (you may need to make tables). The birds are launched from (0,0) and the pig sits on (4,0).
y = -2x²+8x y = -x²+7x y = 4x–x² How many birds hit the pig? Zero One Two Three b = 0 i = 1 r = 2 d = -4 © 21st Century Math Projects
Scene #3
Hollywood Hills –- California, USA
Security officials were called to a number of celebrity homes. It seems that Calcuu Paraboloid stole their luxury countertops. Based on the positioning of the mayonnaise jars, Paraboloid may have also made a sandwich at each house. Party like a rockstar! I just robbed the six most important people in America according to TMZ! I left them each with a factoring question.
Jennifer
Will
Oprah
Lopez
Smith
Winfrey
15xy – 30y
x2 – 8x + 7
x2 – 9x + 14
Justin
Lady
Chuck
Bieber
Gaga
Norris
x2 + 11x – 26
4x2 – 25x + 6
5x2 – 6x – 8
Which four celebrities have (x-2) as one of their factors?
b = -2 u = -4 s = -7 a=-9 r = -18 © 21st Century Math Projects
Scene #4
St. Louis Arch -- Missouri, USA
Missourians were baffled when they woke up to find that their famous St. Louis arch was stolen during the night. Witnesses saw a helicopter carrying an arch away, but assumed it was just some other arch. Calcuu Paraboloid -- the New Spirit of St. Louis. This arch will be the perfect fit for the top of our
world conquering device. The shape of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri resembles a parabola with the equation h = -0.00635x2 +4.0005x – 0.07875, where h is the height in feet and x is the distance from one base in feet. What is the distance from one base of the arch to the other? This answer to the nearest foot is equal to u.
u = ______ Scene #5
Cowboy Stadium –- Texas, USA
Calcuu Paraboloid carved a hole through the roof of the largest dome stadium in the world, the home of the Dallas Cowboys. He escaped with their jumbotron, which happens to be the largest HD screen ever built.
Everything is bigger in Texas. Too bad that doesn’t mean they’ll win a playoff game or beat the Giants. After we conquer the world, we’re going to build our own football field. Help us out… In the NFL, a football field is 200 feet longer than it is wide, and the area of the field is 57,600 ft2. What is the width of the field? W will be equal to the width. (Before you mess this up, the field is not 100 yards long. You must include the lengths of the endzones.) (And hey wait a second! Before you mess it up now, notice the problem is in FEET)
w will be equal to the width of the field.
w = ______
© 21st Century Math Projects
Scene #6
Kennedy Space Center –- Florida, USA
NASA was rocked when the entire facility was hit with a bioweapon. Calcuu Paraboloid used the opportunity to steal a space shuttle. Presumably, this is the final piece of his world conquering device. The final note was left on the stall of a NASA restroom. The final text message followed.
Before you know it, the Mathemagicians are finally going to conquer the world! For my last puzzle, a Mars Rover baseball toss problem! (Vertical Motion Equations: The height H of an object t seconds after it is propelled upward with an initial velocity v represented by H = -½ gt2 + vt + h, where g is the gravitational pull and h is the initial height.) Suppose a NASA rover on Mars, throws a baseball upward with an initial velocity of 10 meters per second, letting go of the ball 2 meters above the ground. Since the gravity stuff works different on Mars it will take longer for the ball to land. How much longer will the ball stay in the air on Mars? The answer to this question rounded to the nearest tenth is equal to A.
Acceleration due to gravity Vertical Motion Equation When does the baseball hit the ground?
9.8 m/s2
3.7 m/s2
A = ______ CRYPTIC PUZZLE SOLVER TEXT MESSAGE Tick, tock, tick, tock. (u s A)(r b) ( ) (rAw rs u) (s 7r) uw © 21st Century Math Projects
