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Olympic Cycling

Four problem-solving activities on the theme of track cycling.

Publisher: Texas Instruments UK

Editor: Barrie Galpin

Author: Jonathan Powell

Topic:  Mathematics

Tags  Data ,  Tables ,  Sport ,  Geometry

 

With the Olympics being held in London in 2012 it seemed appropriate to make some TI-Nspire documents based around sport. Since I have some experience of competitive cycling I choose this as a topic. This file was produced after I asked myself ?where's the maths in that??

The TI-Nspire document is split into 4 different activities.

Activity 1 ? Frame Geometry

Are all cycle frames the same? Use TI-Nspire to make measurements of images of cycles gathered from the web and to compare angles and ratios of lengths.

Activity 2 ? Track Statistics

Are all cycle tracks the same? Compare the features of 25 tracks around the world using data provided. Then add more data to reach more reliable conclusions.

Activity 3 ? Track Dimensions

The lengths of the straights and the radii of the ends of cycle tracks vary. Build a model track so that it has a particular overall length.

Activity 4 ? A Fermi Problem on gear ratios

How many times do a bike?s pedals rotate during one lap of a cycle track?

 


The TI-Nspire document includes the four activities in separate Problems and may be used independently of each other. For Activity 1, TI-Nspire CX version is required and also the use of of laptops or computers. Navigator is also recommended in order to make best use of most of the activities.

Publisher specific license