Cluster 2: Model periodic phenomena with trigonometric functions. (Algebra 2 - Additional Cluster)Archived

This lesson is intended to help you assess how well students are able to:

• Model a periodic situation, the height of a person on a Ferris wheel, using trigonometric functions.
• Interpret the constants a, b, c in the formula h = a + b cos ct in terms of the physical situation, where h is the height of the person above the ground and t is the elapsed time.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is intended to show students how to use the equations and graphs of sine and cosine to model real-world applications particularly using amplitude, period, and midline.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is an activity in which students find their personal biorhythms using sine functions. Biorhythms are 3 cycles (physical, emotional, and intellectual) thought to affect our behavior and performance. The biorhythms have 3 different period lengths. Students need to compute the number of days they have lived to find where they are in these cycles. Students find the equations of the functions and then graph on a graphing calculator.

Type: Lesson Plan

Every school child learns that the earth-sun distance is 93 million miles. Yet, determining this distance was a formidable challenge to the best scientists and mathematicians of the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this lesson is to use the 2012 Transit of Venus as an opportunity to work through the mathematics to calculate the earth-sun distance. The only tools needed are basic knowledge of geometry, algebra, and trigonometry. The lesson is self-contained in that it includes all the data needed to work through the exercise.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will work with temperature data from San Antonio, Texas and Buenos Aires, Argentina. They will view the periodicity of the city temperatures and build cosine functions to fit the data. The function equation results are then used to find temperatures for a given day, or certain days for a given temperature.

Type: Lesson Plan

The tide is high! How can we statistically prove there is a relationship between the tides on the Gulf Coast and in a fresh water spring 20 miles from each other?

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

The director of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory describes electromagnetic waves.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

This problem solving task challenges students to use trigonometric functions to model the number of rabbits and foxes as a function of time.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This problem solving task challenges students to trigonometric functions to model the populations of rabbits and foxes over time, and then graph the functions.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

In this task, students use trigonometric functions to model the movement of a point around a wheel and, through space. Students also interpret features of graphs in terms of the given real-world context.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This resource is intended to serve as a concise introduction to vector and scalar quantities for teachers of secondary math and science. It provides definitions of vectors and scalars as well as physical examples of each type of quantity, and also illustrates the differences between these two types of quantities in both one and two dimensions, through determinations of both distance (scalar) and displacement (vector).

Type: Tutorial

In this online tool, students input a function to create a graph where the constants, coefficients, and exponents can be adjusted by slider bars. This tool allows students to explore graphs of functions and how adjusting the numbers in the function affect the graph. Using tabs at the top of the page you can also access supplemental materials, including background information about the topics covered, a description of how to use the application, and exploration questions for use with the java applet.

Type: Virtual Manipulative