Everyday Math

I've really tried to diversify the blogs I am reading. Most of the posts hitting my Google Reader are literacy or policy focused. I find that to be a little funny, as I have always been stronger mathematically than verbally (as much as I am strong verbal/linguistic person- I don't shut up!). Over the past two weeks I have been looking for good math blogs.

The one that got me thinking today was Exploring Mathematics Around, which reminded me a little bit of using Voicethreads in the way that it inspires conversation around images. At any rate, that got me thinking about math in my own life... (dy/dan is also really good!)

• You're at Costco and you want cereal. You'll eat either the Cheerios or the Honey Bunches of Oats. Both are tasty, but which is cheaper? Well Cheerios is $6.99 for 49 ounces, while H.B.O. is $6.95 for 48 ounces. Where do you get more bang for your buck?... How about comparing whether to get sugar at Costco versus at Fred Meyer (i.e. bulk vs non)? It can seem like splitting hairs, but we're in a recession!
• You've just run 15 miles in 1:28:30, and you are planning to run a 15K and a marathon (26.2 miles/42.2K) in the next 3 months. Assuming your fitness stays the same, and you ran the same pace for both of those runs, how would you finish? Would a 10 mile run in 54:00 yield the same results or different?

I use math everyday, and I am not sure I ever really considered that I would. It isn't just shapes but mental math and calculations we do on a daily basis.