Mathematics

Posted: October 17th, 2013

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Mathematics

            1. According to the National Safety Council, in a recent year a death resulting from an accident occurred at the rate of 1 every 5 minutes. This means that, after every five minutes, one person died because of an accident. Using this value, the number of people dying because of accidents after an hour can be computed. The use of proportionality in mathematics is the most suitable method to use in the case of this problem (Tussy and Gustafson, 37). To solve these problems, one has to use the known values given in order to obtain the unknown values.

If 1 death = 5 minutes

? Deaths = 1 hour.

It has been noted that the values are of different parameters. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, one of them has to be converted into the other parameter in order to effectively calculate this sum (Tobey, 45). It will be simpler to convert hours to minutes to make the calculations simpler. It is a fact that one hour has 60 minutes, therefore,

If 1 death = 5 minutes

? Deaths = 60 minutes

Cross multiplication of the given values should take place as follows;

60 × 1/5 =?

To make the calculations easier, the operations will be conducted separately, multiplication first followed by the division.

60×1 = 60

60 /5 = 12

Therefore, 12 deaths will occur after every hour. This is the answer obtained from the calculation.

2. The next calculation is to determine the number of deaths occurring every day. Using the previous rate of one death every five minutes, this problem will be solved in the same way.

If 1 death = 5 minutes

? Deaths = I day.

However, from the previous question, it has been determined that, in one hour, twelve deaths occur. The use of this rate will make the calculations less tedious. This is the most appropriate rate to be used. Because of the difference in parameters, there is also a conversion. This is because the calculation cannot take place when two different units are in use. It is known that 1 day has 24 hours. The calculations will be as follows;

If 12 deaths = 1 hour

? Deaths = 24 hours

Cross multiplication of the figures follows;

24×12/1

The operations are done separately to make the calculation easier (Trivieri and Reich, 25). The first operation used is the multiplication of 24 and 12.

24×12 = 288

The operation that follows is a division of 288 and 1.

288 / 1 = 288

Therefore, 288 deaths will occur per day if the rate of death is one death after every five minutes.

3. The final problem is the computation of the number of deaths that occur in one year. The rate of one death in every five minutes is still the one to be used. The method of computation of this problem is similar to the other problems solved before.

If 1 death = 5 minutes

? Deaths = 1 year

Nevertheless, from the previous problems some new proportions have come up and the most suitable one is 288 deaths occur in 1 day. The difference in units of time presents a problem in the calculation and therefore, there has to be a conversion of one of the units. Years can be converted into days based on the knowledge that 1 year has 365 days.

Therefore, if 288 deaths = 1 day

? Deaths = 365 days

Cross multiplication takes place to yield;

365× 288 / 1

Separate calculation of the different operations, multiplication fist followed by division takes place.

365×288 = 105,120

105,120/ 1 = 105,120

Therefore, 105, 120 deaths occur every year if there is a consistent rate of death if one person after every five minutes. The use of proportions in mathematics is very important in approximating values based on a given rate (Aufmann et al, 56).

Works Cited

Aufmann, Richard N, Vernon C. Barker, and Joanne S. Lockwood. Basic College Mathematics. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co, 2006. Print

Tobey, John. Basic College Mathematics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. Print

Trivieri, A. Lawrence and Reich, Heidi. Basic Mathematics. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.

Tussy, Alan S, and R D. Gustafson. Basic Mathematics for College Students. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, 2006. Print.