5.5+Predicting+Traffic+Jams+1011

A.A.G 17 Jan 2011

=Big Idea: Many important practical and mathematical applications involve comparing quantities of one kind or another; it is important to know which method to use and how we should use them. =

//** Essential question: **//

What methods are there for comparing things?
//** 5.5 Predicting Traffic Jams **//

A: The city of Ole has 450,237 registered vehicles for 3000 miles of road. What is the traffic density of Ole? Calculate the number of vehicles per miles of road and the number of feet of road per vehicle. It is about 150 cars per mile. It is about 35.18 feet per vehicle.

B: The city of Driftwood Bay has 396 registered vehicles for 10 miles of road. What is the traffic density of Driftwood Bay? Calculate the number of vehicles per mile of road and the number of feet of road per vehicle. It is about 40 cars per mile. 133.3 feet per car.

C: Which one of the three cities- Hong Kong, Ole, or Driftwood Bay- do you think is most likely to have traffic jams? Explain your answer. Hong Kong because it has a car density of 418 cars per mile of road, and that's the most so it has the highest traffic density. D: Which one of the three cities is least likely to have traffic jams? Explain your answer. Driftwood Bay is the least likely because it only has 40 cars per mile and that's the least so it has the lowest traffic density.

__//Follow Up: //__ 1: Other than traffic density, what factors might affect the likelihood of traffic jams: It could be rush hour, or some big events, or car accidents. 2: A typical four-passenger car is about 13 feet long. Compare this statistic to the amount of road per mile in Hong Kong. What does this say about the traffic in Hong Kong? What might Hogn Kong do if this situation gets worse? : It says that they have a lot of cars and little space and that the cars are bumping into each other. To make it a better situation they could carpool or have less cars or more roads.