Traditional calculus problem made simple. In the high school assessment task, learners determine the minimum surface area for a can of a given volume using algebraic and numerical methods to solve the problem. No calculus required.

Concepts

math modeling, surface area, surface area of cylinders, volume, volume of cylinders, minimums

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Learners may need scaffolding if they have not seen problems like this before

Classroom Considerations

• Provide pupils with graphing calculators to generate tables
• There is quite a bit of algebraic manipulation required to determine the answer

Pros

• Resource includes examples of student work
• Includes a rubric for easier scoring

Cons

• Task does not specify a level of precision expected in the answer

Common Core

HSG-GMD.A.3 MP2 MP3 MP6 MP7