POW #8 - Plenty of Platforms

Marisol Silva

Problem Statement
Create two formulas; one that calculates height and another that calculates length.

Process
The first thing I did was draw out several platforms and noted down the distance and height
between each. I continued doing this by making a table and following the pattern I found. If there
was only one platform, you would just need the height of it. If there was two, it would be the
height and the distance. My table ended up looking like this:

Number of Equation
platforms

1 p

2 p+d

3 p+d*2

4 p+d*3

5 p+d*4

6 p+d*5
(this continues)
I tried arranging this pattern that I had found into an equation.

Solution
Ex. (1+7) 4/2 (p+(p+nd)) n/2
Ex. n(7+2)/2 = 7(9)/6

This works because you can plug in any number that you need and it will get you to the height
of the platforms. The second equation gives you the length of the material that you will need.

Evaluation
This POW was challenging because you had to create formulas that work. This consumed a lot
of time and it took a lot of trial and error. It is a little similar to what we are doing in class
because we have been using formulas to solve for problems.

Self-Assessment
I think understood the this problem pretty well and I did work hard. I didn’t understand a few
things at first so I asked my peers for help.