: Putting the ‘N’ back in STEM ASP Annual Meeting August 3, 2011 Dr. Sten Odenwald (NASA / ADNET) (NASA / ADNET)

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: "We live in a mathematical world. In such a world, those who understand and can do mathematics will have opportunities that others do not. Mathematical competence opens doors to productive futures. A lack of mathematical competence closes those doors."

Mathematics in the News

Scale = 10 km / centimeter Smallest crater = 1 mm or 1 kilometer! Dawn Spacecraft and Asteroid Vesta

Distance traveled = 2.8 billion km Time = 4 years 2.8 billion km Speed = = 700 million km / year 4 years

Distance traveled = 2.8 billion km Time = 4 years 2.8 billion km Speed = = 700 million km / year 4 years Unit Conversion to km/hour 700 million km 1 yr 1 day x x = 79,900 km/hr 1 year 365 days 24 hours

Bizarro solar system with cubical star and planet!

Bizarro solar system with cubical star and planet! From Earth, the transiting planet dims the starlight during its transit. The fraction of starlight dimming is just given by the ratio of their projected cross- sections: Star = 16 Planet = 4 Ap = A* 16

From Earth, the transiting planet dims the starlight during its transit. The fraction of starlight dimming is just given by the ratio of their projected cross-sections:

The star HAT-P-7 Distance 320 parsecs Mass 1.5 suns Temperature 6350 K Radius 1.2 million km The graph shows that the star dimmed to from an initial brightness of What is the radius of the transiting planet?

Initial brightness Final brightness Dimming = Rs = 1.2 million km

Our answer = 100,000 km. Jupiter R = 71,000 km So we got : 1.4 times Jupiter.

NASA Research finds 2010 Tied for Warmest Year on Record (January 12, 2011) 'The analysis found 2010 approximately 1.13° F warmer than the average global surface temperature from 1951 to To measure climate change, scientists look at long-term trends. The temperature trend, including data from 2010, shows the climate has warmed by approximately 0.36 °F per decade since the late 1970s. 'If the warming trend continues, as is expected, and if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for long,' said James Hansen, the director of the NASA, Goddard Institute for Space Studies."

Slope = so rate = C / decade 4 decades F = 9/5 C + 32 so rate = 9/5 (+0.19) = F/decade NASA Research finds 2010 Tied for Warmest Year on Record (January 12, 2011) 'The analysis found 2010 approximately 1.13° F warmer than the average global surface temperature from 1951 to To measure climate change, scientists look at long-term trends. The temperature trend, including data from 2010, shows the climate has warmed by approximately 0.36 °F per decade since the late 1970s. 'If the warming trend continues, as is expected, and if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for long,' said James Hansen, the director of the NASA, Goddard Institute for Space Studies." P1 (1970,-0.15 C) P2 ((2010,+0.61 C)

C Manual forecasting with a ruler

y2 – y1 Y – y1 = (X – x1) so y = X – x2 – x1 For x = 2050 we have y = (2050) – = C ( +1.6 F) Forecasting with algebra

Space NASA Hundreds of problems for grades 3-12 New ones added every week as new press releases appear and my medication starts working Dr. Sten Odenwald