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2.1.1: Preparation M.1

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    Every year, U.S. News & World Report publishes a list of the best colleges in the United States. Colleges on the list are ranked based on many different factors. Below is an excerpt from an article introducing the 2022 U.S. News “Best Colleges” rankings.1

    Use the information in the following three paragraphs to help you answer the questions below.

    The host of intangibles that makes up the college experience can’t be measured by a series of data points. But for families concerned with finding the best academic value for their money, the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings provide an excellent starting point for the search.

    They allow you to compare at a glance the relative quality of institutions based on such widely accepted indicators of excellence as first-year student retention and graduation rates and the strength of the faculty. And as you check out the data for colleges already on your short list, you may discover unfamiliar schools with similar metrics, and thus broaden your options.

    Many factors other than those spotlighted here will figure in your decision, including location and the feel of campus life; the range of academic offerings, activities and sports; and cost and the availability of financial aid. But if you combine the information on usnews.com with college visits, interviews and your own intuition, the U.S. News rankings can be a powerful tool in your quest for the right college.

    (1) Why does U.S. News say that the rankings of colleges are important?

    (i) The rankings allow individuals to choose the best college for themselves because everything an individual would need to know is included in the ranking.

    (ii) The rankings allow the top colleges to charge more for tuition because the rankings show that they are the best.

    (iii) Although the rankings cannot capture everything, the rankings allow people to compare colleges based on some common measures.

    (2) Read the news article, “Severely Obese Are Fastest Growing Group of Overweight Americans, Study Finds,” from Science Daily, available online at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121001132146.htm.2 What measure did the study use to determine whether an individual was obese?

    (3) The Science Daily article defines Body Mass Index (BMI) as “weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters.” In order to use this definition, one must be able to convert pounds to kilograms and inches to meters.

    (a) If Andrew is 6 feet and 2 inches tall, what is his height in inches?

    (b) If one inch is 0.0254 meters, what is Andrews’s height in meters? Round to the nearest one hundredth of a meter.

    (c) Andrew weighs 205 pounds. If one pound is about 0.454 kilograms, what is his weight in kilograms? Round to the nearest one hundredth of a kilogram.

    (4) In dealing with geometric figures, we are often asked to compute the perimeter and the area of these figures. Recall that the perimeter of a figure is the distance around the figure and the area of the figure is the amount of surface the figure takes up.

    (a) Complete the table below by writing the formula for the perimeter and area of each indicated figure. If you are not familiar with these formulas, you may need to do a quick internet search.

    Figure Perimeter Area
    Rectangle    
    Triangle    
    Circle    

    (b) A rectangle has a length of 3.4 inches and a height of 4.5 inches. Using your formulas from Question 4(a), find the perimeter and area of the rectangle. Include units in your answer.

    (c) A triangle has a base of 8 feet and an area of 51 square feet. Using your formula from Question 4(a), find the height of the triangle. Include units in your answer.

    (d) The circumference of a circle is found to be 157 cm. Using your formula from Question 4(a), find the radius and the area of the circle. (Hint: Use the approximation pi = 3.14.)

    After Preparation M.1 (survey)

    You should be able to do the following things for the next collaboration. Rate how confident you are on a scale of 1–5 (1 = not confident and 5 = very confident).

    Before beginning Collaboration M.1, you should understand the concepts and demonstrate the skills listed below:

    Skill or Concept: I can … Rating from 1 to 5
    substitute values into an equation or formula and simplify the result.  
    perform basic arithmetic operations including understanding the order of operations in a complex equation.  
    make unit conversions, specifically from inches to meters and from pounds to kilograms.  
    read news articles with complex formulas.  

    ______________________________________________________

    1 http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings

    2 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121001132146.htm

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