Weight Fluctuation & Calculus

The purpose of a Calculus Project is to demonstrate the utility of Calculus from what we learned in the classroom by applying the techniques to a chosen problems. The problem can come from everyday occurrences such the fluctuations of body weights, annual salary, changes in world population or earth temperature etc. We shall focus a function with multiple independent variables. For example,

salary = f(GDP, education, experience).

body weight = g(calories intake, calories outgoing, …).

a country\’s population = h(year, GDP, …).

gas mileage = f(dist, temp, average speed).

gas temperature = g(gas pressure, gas volume) from the ideal gas law.

in general, performance measurement = f(control variable 1, control variable 2, control variable 3,…)

A typical project will be in the range from 3 to 5 pages long with explanation of the project: define the problem/function, define the data collection, illustrate the techniques from Calculus used – mainly multi-variable differential, and a summary or conclusion

Outline

1. What is the problem – define your function with multiple variables?

2. Data Collection – how do you get the data? (private or public)

3. What are the candidates functions f derived from the data? (will use excel/metacalculator)

4. Validate/verify the best functions that model your problem – validation and prediction

(this is the main part of the report)

5. Find out the max/min of f

6. Any conclusions you can draw