Superlesson
Project 7-3
Advanced Algebra
Chapter 7, Investigating Roots and Powers
Some factors such as temperature and humidity affect the weather daily. Others factors affect the weather rarely (e.g., volcanic eruptions) or intermittently, like the phenomenon you'll investigate now.
Part A, Operations with Functions;
Part B, Composite Functions
1. Some meteorologists believe that a disturbance known as "El Niño" may have upset normal weather patterns in 1998.
a. Find and record the median monthly precipitation (1961-1990) for your city or for a city near you for each month January through December.
b. Graph the median monthly precipitation figures. Show months on the horizontal axis and precipitation amounts on the vertical axis. Draw a curve connecting the points.
c. Find the monthly precipitation figures for 1998. To do this, choose your local National Weather Service office ("NWS Offices"). Then select "Climate Data" or "Climatological Data," and finally "Monthly Summaries." Graph the figures on the same axis you used to graph the median figures. Label the two curves.
d. For each month, plot a third point on the graph such that the sum of the y-value of the point and the y-value of the "median" point equals the y-value of the "1998" point. Draw a curve connecting the points and label it "El Niño." Graphs will vary.
e. Let f represent the median precipitation function for your town and let g represent the El Niño function. Describe the 1998 precipitation function h in terms of f and g.
Part C, Inverse Relations and Functions;
Part D, Making Connections
2a. Meteorologists have collected enormous amounts of data about factors that influence the weather. Find the contour-map database with this data.
b. This Web site draws weather maps for any region and any date in the past century, displaying data relating to 16 different weather factors. Begin by choosing to display
, contour plots, then press
. Under "Data Entry for Contour Plot," choose a date you're interested in, such as your birth date.
c. Under "Select Parameter," find two weather factors which may be related for the date you've chosen. For example, "Daily Percent of Possible Sunshine" might be affected by "Daily Precipitation." Select one of these parameters. Then under "Select Region," select your state. Choose
.
d. Describe the maps and tell what you learned about your two chosen parameters for the date you chose.
e. How, if at all, do the maps show how one parameter may be a function of the other?