Formula 1
Lets start this maths lesson with a game. Play the formula 1 game a few times and see how fast you can go. Good luck! If you would like, more of a challenge, change the track in the pause menu. The old version of this game can be found here.
Note: This lesson is designed as a whole class activity.
Your Best Lap
To start with your best times are listed in seconds. You may notice that your best time is the same as one of your friends. If you both have a best lap of 13 seconds, for example, how can you tell who is faster?
Press "1" key on your computer during the game to see more detail on your lap scores. The added decimal shows how many tenths you are toward the next whole number. Press "2" to get even more detail - how many hundredths you are toward the next number. Pressing "3" breaks each second into 1000 pieces. Sometimes, this is still not enough (watch the video).
Class Competition
List your best time on the board to 2 decimal places and compare it to others in the class. Remember, just do your best and don't stress - it's all a bit of fun (and learning).
Who has the best time? Write the times down in order from fastest to slowest. How much faster is the quickest time than the 10th quickest? Are the two decimals accurate enough or do we need to write each time to three decimal places?
Top Speed - What's Going On?
The game also records the fastest your car has gone during your session and displays it at the bottom of the screen.
You may notice that when you change the number of decimals in game, the best lap times change differently to the top speed numbers. Why is this? (Hint, they are rounded in different ways. How are they rounded and why?)
Extension: The 107% Rule
In real-world formula one races, each car has to record a lap within 107% of the quickest car's time in order to start the race. This is to stop cars who are too slow posing a danger on the circuit.
Did the slowest few cars in the class manage to come within 107% of the fastest car's time? How could you work this out?