Purpose To create a plan that will provide a meal for 30 people within a given budget.
In spring 2003, the Nation’s Restaurant News reported on the food sold in baseball
stadiums. Many major league stadiums are inviting local restaurants to
sell food inside the stadium. For example, Quaker
Steak and Lube in Pittsburgh and the Kowloon
Restaurant in Boston sell food during the games. These local
restaurants now sell their food inside the stadiums. Some ballparks
have restaurants that are known nationwide, like McDonalds. As new
stadiums are being designed, they are looking at how to provide the
space for different restaurants. They are finding many ways to offer
food choices for the fans. You are a volunteer coach for your local Babe Ruth League softball team. The team is going to have their awards banquet at the nearby major-league stadium. They will watch a baseball game and have the banquet after the game. You need to plan enough food for 30 people for all of the players, coaches, and parents. Since stadiums are now offering so many choices, you will need to plan a menu for the banquet.
In addition, the ballpark has
informed you that there is a soon-to-come price increase. Because of
this, the league wants you to include expressions that represent your
food selections in your plan. The expressions will allow the totals to
be changed easily. Be sure to identify the variables used in the
expressions. Then evaluate the expressions using the current prices. Procedure To get an idea of the many ways you could develop your menu, let’s look at a simpler problem. First, think of the number of different ways you could purchase $4.00 hot dogs, $3.00 French fries, and $2.00 sodas. You must spend no more than $10.00.
Were you surprised at
how many ways there were to spend the $10.00? Now, write an expression
that would represent the cost of food with h
for the cost of a hot dog, f
for the cost of French fries, and s
for the cost of a soda. Share your expression with your partner and
then with the class. Write an equation from
your expression that shows how to spend exactly $10.00. How many ways
are there to spend exactly $10.00? Now, look at the prices
on the “Ballpark Costs Information” worksheet. You need to create a
menu for 30 people. Your menu needs to provide variety because you do
not know all of the people so you do not know what they like. Your menu
will also need to feed everyone and costs less than $400. You may need
to purchase food for more than 30 people so that everyone will get what
they want. You do not want anyone to go away hungry or without the food
they want. On your own, create a menu and
determine its cost. Check with your partner and see if both of you feel
that the menu meets the needs of different people and is less than
$400. Conclusion You are to prepare a plan to
give to the league. Your plan must include the menu, and the total cost
(less than $400). Also include in your plan the expression for
your menu with all variables identified and all of your calculations
for the cost of the menu. (This can be done within the plan or on a
separate sheet of paper.) A very good plan will also This activity was developed by the Event-Based Science Institute with generous support from the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation. A teacher version of this and all other baseball/math activities is available free from the Institute. This Time to Celebrate activity was written by Edward C. Nolan, mathematics teacher at Julius West Middle School, Rockville, MD.. Copyright © 2004 Event-Based Science Institute |
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