by Thomas Price, Delaware Valley High School
Introduction
“How do you find the maximum or minimum values possible in a given situation?”
Too often, students ask math teachers, “When am I ever going to use this?” You have asked it yourself. Unfortunately math does not often provide instant gratification on the skills learned.
This WebQuest allows the student to use skills learned in Differential Calculus to answer the above question, and in doing so, solve three problems while embarking on a trip into the world of fantasy. While there you will delve into the world of pirate ships and treasure hunters. Click on the Task bar to seek your fame and fortune.
Remember that while you are salvaging treasure, this is still Calculus. The following is a glossary of terms in Calculus that you will need to know.
- critical value--a point or points on a closed interval where the derivative is 0
- derivative--the slope of the tangent line to a curve
- differentiation--the process of finding a derivative
- extrema--the generic term for maximum or minimum values
- maximum--the largest value on a closed interval
- minimum--the smallest value on a closed interval
- optimization--the process of finding the extrema on a closed interval