| Teacher
Resource Page |
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| Math
A |
Student
Activity
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Here's
a problem which may demonstrate the usefulness of exponents to
your students.
Pose
this problem to the class and give them 10 or 15 minutes to come
up with an answer they can prove is valid. Most of the
students will probably use a calculator and figure the answer by
continually multiplying by 2. If none of the students
comes up with the shorter way, you can show them how easy the
use of exponents makes the solution ! |
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Richie
Rich celebrates his birthday on June 1. This year, his
parents have given him his choice of gifts. He can choose
one
of the following options: |
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Option
1 |
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His
parents will give him $500,000 on June 1. |
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Option
2 |
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His
parents will deposit $2 in a savings account on June 1. Each
day they will double the amount in that account until the end of
the month. On June 30, Richie can have whatever money has
accumulated in the account. |
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Ask
the students which option they would choose. If they choose
option 1, they end up with $500,000, but option 2 yields $230
or $1,073,741,824. |
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Account
Balance |
|
Day
1
$2 |
Day
2
$4 |
Day
3
$8 |
Day
4
$16 |
Day
5
$32 |
|
Day
6
$64 |
Day
7
$128 |
Day
8
$256 |
Day
9
$512 |
Day
10
$1,024 |
|
Day
11
$2,048 |
Day
12
$4,096 |
Day
13
$8,192 |
Day
14
$16,384 |
Day
15
$32,768 |
|
Day
16
$65,536 |
Day
17
$131,072 |
Day
18
$262,144 |
Day
19
$524,288 |
Day
20
$1,048,576 |
|
Day
21
$2,097,152 |
Day
22
$4,194,304 |
Day
23
$8,388,608 |
Day
24
$16,777,216 |
Day
25
$33,554,432 |
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Day
26
$67,108,864 |
Day
27
$134,217,728 |
Day
28
$268,435,456 |
Day
29
$536,870,912 |
Day
30
$1,073,741,824 |
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