Chapter 3: Equations

#1010 Electricity From the Wind - The natural force of the wind is harnessed by mathematics and physics to generate clean electricity.

Tell students that you are going to show them a short video of a person who runs a successful business, and that after the movie you are going to ask them what kinds of information the person would have to have to make the business successful.  Then show Futures  Channel Movie #1010 Electricity From the Wind.  As you discuss students answers to the question after the movie, elicit or present the idea that you would have to know how much it costs to build a wind generator, and how much it costs to operate it daily.

Tell students to assume that the total cost in dollars, C, of operating a wind generator for d days is given by this equation:

C = 20000 + 150d

Ask them to work in teams to answer these two questions:

What would the total cost be after 50 days?

How many days would it take for the total cost to be $35,000?

Allow students to find answers by any means, including trial and error.  Once you have discussed the solution, tell students that in this chapter they will be learning more about solving equations such as this one.