Name: ______________________________________ Date: ___________________ M.

Riling Precalculus: Log Project

VIRAL VIDEOS: JUST HOW VIRAL ARE THEY?

In class, we watched an OK Go video, This Too Shall Pass, which some of you had seen before, and some hadnt. It is generally considered to be a viral video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w But what IS a viral video?! Is it infectious? Should I wash my hands after watching one? And how similar is the spread of a viral videos popularity to the spread of a disease-causing virus? Hmm. Poking around the internet, I found data that gave us the total number of views for the first 10 days that the OK Go video was posted on Youtube.

FIGURE ONE

FIGURE TWO

Views each day for 10 days:

Cumulative views for 10 days:

DAY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 TOTAL VIEWS 100,000 1,100,000 2,700,000 3,660,000 4,860,000 5,800,000 6,270,000 6,610,000 6,930,000 7,220,000

source: http://www.viralblog.com/research/viral-video-statistics-ok-go/

8 9 10

EQUATION

This equation fits the data from Figure Two: y 1000 618 .13 3405 ln x

Throughout the rest of this packet, you will be answering questions about this data, in order to examine exactly what the term viral video means, and to see how closely our mathematical ideals match up to real life. 1. Make sure that neither Ms. Riling nor her calculator made a mistake.

DAY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

TOTAL VIEWS (the actual data) 100,000 1,100,000 2,700,000 3,660,000 4,860,000 5,800,000 6,270,000 6,610,000 6,930,000 7,220,000

TOTAL VIEWS

y 1000 618 .13 3405 ln x

using the equation:

2. On the graph, you must:

a) plot the points from Figure 2. b) sketch the equation above. (Be accurate!)

c) Using your graph, make a prediction about how the total number of views will change as time goes on.

3. On the graph, you must:

a) plot the points from Figure 2.

b) sketch the equation.

c) Think about your prediction from Question 2. Does this new graph make you think differently about how the total number of views will change as time goes on?

4. How many views are there today? (Note: Day 0 was March 1, 2010. How many days have passed since then?) a) Approximate the number of views using the equation.

b) Find the actual number of views by going to the website and checking.

c) How did the answers from (a) and (b) compare? Why? What does this mean about the equation we found?

6. Lets think about what you just did

a) Logarithmic functions shoot up very quickly at first. As time goes on, they continue to increase, but at a slower and slower rate. Why do you think that model fits the viewing rates of the OK Go video?

b) Do you think we can assume that all videos total views over time can be modeled by a logarithmic function? If so, why? If not, which ones cannot be, and why?

c) These are models of the spread of viruses. Which of our data sets should we compare it to: FIGURE ONE or FIGURE TWO (on the first page)? Explain your choice.

source: http://plus.maths.org/issue14/features/diseases/

d) How is the viral video spread similar to the spread of a virus?

e) How is the viral video spread different from the spread of a virus?