Maths Provocation: Jimmy’s Ramp

The Challenge: Jimmy's Ramp

Jimmy is a young boy who loves to play with his toy cars. One day, he decides to build a ramp for his cars to race down. The ramp is made out of cardboard and is placed at a 45-degree angle. Jimmy is curious to know how fast his cars will go down the ramp and he asks his teacher for help.

As a teacher, this presents a great opportunity to introduce the concept of speed and velocity to your students. You can challenge them to use the ramp and a stopwatch to measure the speed of the cars and calculate the distance traveled.

Measuring Speed

To measure the speed of the cars, students will need to use a stopwatch and a ruler or tape measure. They will need to time how long it takes for the car to travel from the top of the ramp to the bottom, and then use the ruler or tape measure to measure the distance traveled.

To calculate the speed, students will need to divide the distance traveled by the time it took for the car to travel that distance. The formula for speed is:

Speed = Distance / Time

Calculating Distance

To calculate the distance traveled by the car, students will need to measure the length of the ramp and the height of the ramp. The ramp is at a 45-degree angle, so the distance traveled by the car is the hypotenuse of a right triangle. The formula for finding the hypotenuse of a right triangle is:

Hypotenuse = (length² + height²)^(1/2)

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Maths Provocation: Jimmy’s Ramp

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