Download Tower of Cups - MELT-Institute

Tower of Cups
What you need… What to do… and questions to answer…
Materials needed:
o Handout
o Ruler
o 11 Cups
o Calculator
o Pencil and paper
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All measurements should be done in cm (centimeters)
Place a cup on the desk and measure its height. (*Remember that the ruler should be
perpendicular to the desk to get an accurate measurement)
You will be keeping track of how the height of the tower changes based on how many cups are
stacked on top of the original.
Always use complete sentences (that are grammatically correct!) when answering discussion
questions. These questions are marked by **
1. Fill in the chart with the number of cups stacked on the original and the height of the cup
tower.
# of cups stacked on the
original
Height of the tower
(cm)
0
1
2
3
4
2. Sketch the scatter plot.
(use a pencil)
3. Choose and define appropriate variables for the data.
5
6
7
8
9
10
4. Using the regression capabilities of your calculator, develop a mathematical model that relates
the height of the tower and the number of cups that are stacked on the original cup. Indicate
which line of best fit model you chose. Graph the line of best fit on your scatter plot in #2 (use a
blue pen).
5. Interpret the slope and vertical intercept of the model in the context of the problem.
6. Determine whether a tower of 100 cups will fit under the desk you are working on. Write a few
sentences describing how you determined this. Tell what you did to figure out the answer.
7. Determine the maximum number of cups that can be put in a stack under your desk. Write a
few sentences describing how you determined this. Tell what you did to figure out the answer.
8. If you have 10 stacks of cups, each stack about 3 feet long, about how many cups do you have?
Explain how you figured this out.