MATH IN SCIENCE Using Math in Science Whenever you are conducting a science experiment or investigation, in Science, Math will most always be involved. Whether you are measuring, calculating, creating graphs and charts, or using numbers in any way…that’s using your math skills. Where Do You Use Math in a Science Investigation? When you are measuring: • During many science investigations you may have to measure the length, width, height, or weight of different objects. • You may need to compare measurements of different objects, use such measurements to justify a hypothesis, or use the measurements to help you figure out other various scientific problems. • You also may need to measure the temperature of the air or different liquids when completing a scientific investigation as well. All this measuring is Math at work! When you are adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing: There are many times during an investigation that you will need to add, subtract, multiply and divide in order to solve a scientific problem or to help justify your hypothesis. ADDING… You might be figuring out how many centimeters your plant has grown in one month. Weekly NEW Growth in Plant Height of Plants Measured Weekly week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 Plant A 2 cm 4 cm 5 cm 7 cm To solve this problem, you would add 2 cm + 4 cm + 5 cm + 7 cm = 18 cm © Copyright NewPath Learning. All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted for the purchaser to print copies for non-commercial educational purposes only. Visit us at www.NewPathLearning.com.
SUBTRACTING… You many need to find out a difference in temperature. At Sherman Elementary School it was 26° C at 11:00 AM in the morning but dropped down to 20° C by 2:00 PM in the afternoon. How much did the temperature decrease from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM? To solve this problem, you would subtract 26° C - 20° C = 6° C MULTIPLYING… You could be figuring out how many times your heart beats in an hour. Your heart beats on average 70 times per minute. How many times will your heart beat in an hour? To figure this out, you would have to multiply 70 X 60 = 4200 DIVIDING… You may need to also divide when dealing with science. Let’s say there were 20 oak trees growing in the forest before construction began. One quarter (¼) of them were cut down during the building of the new road. How many trees were cut down during the building of the new road? ¼ of 20 = 20 ÷ 4 = 5 (so 5 trees were cut down during construction) Creating graphs and charts during your science investigations involves Math too! Graphs and charts help organize your information so that you can clearly show your data results which will help you justify your hypothesis! © Copyright NewPath Learning. All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted for the purchaser to print copies for non-commercial educational purposes only. Visit us at www.NewPathLearning.com.