Cady Bright

Math 3
10/16/17

P.O.W.3-PlanningthePlatforms

ProblemStatement
In a hypothetical situation, one person is responsible for deciding how many platforms will make up a
podium, and how tall the first platform is. Another person needs to know the height of the tallest platform for
legal purposes, as well as the length of every platform stacked upon each other so that they can buy material to
hang in front of each platform. The podium stairsteps to the highest platform in consistent increments, and
looks like stairs leading up to the highest platform instead of being symmetrical. The task given to the
students was to develop a formula that will find the height of the tallest platform, and the length of material
needed, using variables for the number of platforms, the height of the first platform, and the difference in
height between adjacent platforms.

VisualRepresentation

Process
I worked on this problem with Caeley, Ava, Nyana, and Amanda. The variables we used are as follows:
F = first platform height, D = difference between platforms, N = number of platforms , P = tallest platform
height, and L = length of fabric.

We found that coming up with the first formula was rather simple - you take the height of the first
platform and add to it the difference between platforms for every platform thereafter (n-1, so that you dont
include the first platform):
p = f + d(n 1)





The second equation was the problem child. We puzzled for the first period, and got nowhere. The
next time we attacked the problem, Caeley had spoken to Joe, who gave us the formula f n + ((n(p f ))/2) ,
which I then simplified. I also plugged in the above equation for P. because the less variables you have to keep
track of the meaning of, the easier the process is.
This equation worked, for a podium
where the platforms were one foot in width,
but we didnt know why it worked. Some of
my group members were inclined to stop at
finding the right solution, but this frustrated
me, so I spent the next several days drawing
platforms, triangles, and all manners of
equations on the whiteboard (left).

At this point, I was well and truly confuzzled, so with my
group, I talked to Hannah, and she steered us away from the
triangles a little bit. It was then that I decided to try and turn the
platforms into a rectangular figure, stacking the first platform on
top of the tallest, the next smallest on top of the next tallest, the
next smallest on top of the next tallest, and so forth, until there
was a rectangle. This worked with both even and odd numbers.
This process proved the formula to be correct, and we now
understood it to be essentially length *(n/2). The final formula is
as follows:
l = (n(2f + d(n 1)))/2

Solution
Our two equations are as follows:
Height of the tallest platform: f + d(n 1)
Length of material needed: (n(2f + d(n 1)))/2

The first equation makes logical sense - the tallest tower is going to be the height of the first tower
added to the number of differences added on to it. The number of differences added on to it is the number of
towers minus one, since the first tower does not have a difference on it.
The second equation also makes logical sense - as all of the platforms can be added up to one other
platform (or, in the case of the middle platform in odd numbers, which can be added to themselves) to
produce the same number, (2f + d(n 1)) , that number has to be multiplied by the number of tower stacks,
or n/2 to produce the total length needed. Furthermore, most of the time and energy spent on this POW was
in taking Joes formula and proving it, which is exactly what the visual representation shows.

Evaluation
I think I enjoyed this P.O.W. the most out of the ones we have done thus far, because it has a lovely,
perfect, equational solution. Furthermore, that solution didnt come easily, or at least the proof didnt. For
some reason, it was difficult for me to conceptualise and prove, which made it all the more satisfying when I
did. The only issue we encountered was needing to know the difference between towers, which the first
person wasnt supposed to decide, so we didnt know where we would get it from. We do in fact need all three
variables instead of just the two that we were supposedly to be given.

Self-Assessment
I think I deserve a high A on this P.O.W.. The equations I up with are realistic and well thought
through, and all of the work that I did on the board, of which a small fragment is shown in this write up, shows
a lot of effort and time invested.