The Applied Maths Pack

The Applied Maths Pack was produced by the Spode Group at a time when teachers were coming to terms with coursework as a compulsory element of the GCSE mathematics course. The new national criteria for GCSE called for a greater emphasis on investigation, discussion, practical work and problem solving.

The Applied Maths Pack has two sections:

Applied coursework contains ten tasks. Each task contains a number of problems relating to a mathematical theme. Themes covered are:

*calculating lengths and areas when wallpapering a room;

*listing all the matches in a sports event;

*using trigonometry to calculate lengths and areas when wrapping parcels;

*using ratio to calculate odds when horse-racing;

*drawing cumulative frequency graphs and probability to investigate birthdays;

*finding the gradient and equation of straight lines to predict world records;

*comparing the surface area of cylinders when designing a tin can;

*using equations to calculate shoe sizes;

*nets, surface area and volume to design a box;

*investigating planar network.

Extended projects contains thirty tasks. Each task explains the background to the problem, the problem itself and suggests possible extensions. Mathematical topics covered include:

*designing a questionnaire, collecting data, displaying and interpreting the results;

*calculating averages;

*exploring symmetry;

*using formulae to plot graphs;

*percentage interest rates;

*using formulae to calculate braking distances and reading ages;

*direct proportionality;

*investigating codes;

*reading information from tables.

The book contains teacher's notes, solutions and marking schemes.