Other Publications

Fence Your Equation

(source: https://blossoms.mit.edu/videos/lessons/fence_your_equation)

Instructors:

Hadi Faizal Bin Mohd Rosely
Mathematics Teacher, Seri Puteri Science Girls School, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Halim Abdullah, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dr. Mahani Mokhtar, & Dr. Norazrena Abu Samah
School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Prof Richard C. Larson
Mitsui Professor of Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Introduction:
The wonder of mathematics is that it can apply to so many different parts of our lives. A Malaysian farmer buys some sheep and needs to create a fenced-in pen, one side of which is a pre-existing wall. He also buys 25 meters of flexible fence. The father challenges his son, who likes math, to figure out how to design the fenced-in area for the sheep so that they will have maximum grass to eat, to stay healthy. This is a lesson in mathematical modeling, geometry, quadratic equations and optimization. Students will see how to formulate a mathematical model of a very real situation and how to optimize the design of the system they are modeling. They will see clearly how math helps the farmer and his sheep! Various geometrical shapes of the fenced-in pen are considered. The optimization methods range from trial and error, all the way to differential calculus (for advanced students). The compelling farm application of this problem should take away much of the students’ perceived mystery of quadratic equations.

Abu Samah, N. (2019, July 24). ERASMUS+ Meeting and Training Workshop Assemble Partner Universities from 5 Countries. UTM Newshub. https://news.utm.my/2019/07/erasmus-meeting-and-training-workshop-assemble-partner-universities-from-5-countries/