THE ORCHARD HIDEOUT

10/4/21 Portfolio
Prepared by Lucy Donnaway

UNIT PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION - Maddie and Clyde planted a circular orchard with a radius of 50. They
want to know how long it will take for their orchard to grow large enough so that when
they stand in the exact center of the orchard they will not be able to see out of the
orchard. Some important things to note are that the trees are planted when they have a
circumference of 2.5 inches, the tree trunks increase by 1.5 square inches per year, each
tree is placed 10 feet apart, and the last line of sight from the origin is to point (25,½).
Your task is to find how long Maddie and Clyde will have to grow their orchard to have a
true orchard hideout.

PROCESS - Beginning to attempt this problem may seem daunting, what helped me was
looking back on what assignments I have completed this unit building up to the unit
problem. This ment looking at my POWs and daily assignments. Looking back at all I
have learned throughout this unit, what stands out is how to find the area of a circle,
how to use pythagorean theorem to find distances, and how to use right angles to our
advantage. Then I applied what I had learned throughout the unit. I started by finding
the starting area of the trees by using the circle area formula I found in my daily work.
This formula is πR^2. Now we can use the formula to find the area of the trees, π1.5^2
of this equals 0.49 units. So we know each tree trunk starts at 0.49. Now we just need to
figure out how large the tree trunks have to be to block the final line of sight.

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The final line of sight is the blue line in this diagram so let's focus on the trees around
there. Imagine there is a tree placed on each intersection of the grid. This is a simplified
model but will help us visualize what is actually happening in the orchard. So to do the
math for a 50 radius orchard we need to find the distance from the orange points to the
blue line shown in the diagram.

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We can use the distance formula for pythagorean theorem to find this distance. In a
radius 50 orchard this distance turns out to be 18.088 inches. This means the tree trunks
will have to grow to be 18.088 inches until the orchard is a true hideout. Now we just
have to find out how long this will take. Knowing that the trees grow 1.5 square inches
per year we can figure out that it will take 11.7268 years.

SOLUTION - It will take 11.7268 years for Maddie and Clyde's Orchard to become a true
hideout.

SELECTION OF WORK

The Distance Formula:

The Sprinkler DIlema:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G6B9mz6YXMgRJIyK1rpfzsEiD1KVrHI3dYg2ie3GIdM/
edit#

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More Mini Orchards:

DISCUSSION

Coordinate Geometry:

During this project I had to learn about coordinate geometry and apply it. The idea that
sticks out is using pythagorean theorem to find distances between points. This stands out
because I can see the possible real world application. To use pythagorean theorem to find
the distance between two points simply make a right triangle using surrounding points.
Then use the two known side lengths to solve for the third, the distance between the
points you need to find.

Circles, π, and Triangles

I knew pie was a never ending never repeating number stating like 3.1415926 and so
on. I didn't know any application of pie or how it could ever be useful. After thai
unit I can see that pie is not only a useful number in fictional math problems but
can be useful in real world situations.

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Proof

From having to prove almost everything I have done in this unit to be correct I have
learned I often have the right answers or ideas but don't understand why they are right.
This has taught me to look deeper than just being right but understanding why i'm right.

REFLECTION

During this unit I have grown as a mathematician and student. Looking into my
improvement in the realm of math I now understand how geometry and algebra
connect. I thought geometry was just comparing different shapes and completely
useless. Seeing how we used geometry in a realistic situation to solve a problem
has completely shifted my view on the value of geometry. I now know how useful
geometry and algebra can be in the real world when used together. Before this
unit I had never thought about applying geometry and algebra to my everyday
life, recently I have started to apply what I have learned. One example of this is at
my job I have to record how many burritos are delivered. I used to count each
burrito, now I can use the volume of how many burritos fit in the burrito warmer
to count. I have seen how efficient using math in my everyday life can be.

As for my growth as a person during this project I am disappointed to say I have

not grown in my area of time management. Throughout the whole unit I have
struggled with my time management by procrastinating my work. Unfortunately I
have dont this again and am writing this the day it is due. I wish I could have
changed this habit during this unit, but I will continue to improve my work ethic
as the year progresses.