Second Semester Final: Ninth Grade PUMP Algebra

This examination was developed according to the New Standards Type Grading Conference Model by the PUMP Algebra Working Group for the PUMP Algebra Project.

Instructions: Administering the Final Exam

Day One:

Pass out to each student a copy of Day One of the Cellular Phone Problem. Read the problem aloud to the class as they read it silently to themselves. Answer any questions they may have about the wording of the problems, the meaning of any of the words, or any questions about the context of the problem. Tell them that they may use any resources in the classroom including their notebooks and calculators to help them make their mathematical analysis, but they must work alone. Instruct them that they must turn in their work and the problem sheet at the end of class. Tell them that you will return their work and provide them with the other information necessary to complete the report on Day Two.

Day Two:

Pass out Day Two of the Problem and read it aloud to the class as they read it silently to themselves. Again answer any questions they may have about the context of the problem but not about the content of the problem. They must turn in at the end of the period their completed rough draft report and their mathematical analysis. This day's work is totally Individual. Inform them that they will be graded on the quality of their solution and analysis, and how well they used their mathematical analysis to support the solution in their report. They should turn in ALL their work from both days with their report first and their mathematical analysis second.

Day One

Cellular Phone Problem

You are told that tomorrow you are to order cellular phone service for all the officers in your company. Your boss tells you that she will be providing you with the necessary information about the amount of "airtime" (number of minutes of phone time) per month that each officer will need. She also informs you that she will have this information for you about an hour before you must present your report and decision to the President of the company. Furthermore, she makes it very clear that your future with the company will depend on how well you perform this duty.

Knowing that you will need at least an hour to just put your report together, you contact the local cellular phone company. They give you the following information about their three available services.

Economy Service: With this plan each person is charged $19.95 per month and $0.31 per minute of airtime.
Silver Service: With this plan each person is charged $40.95 per month and $0.16 per minute of airtime.
Gold Service: With this plan each person is charged $80.95 per month with no charge for airtime.

To prepare for tomorrow you must do a mathematical analysis of these three different plans. This analysis should include defining variables, writing equations, making tables, constructing graphs, finding slopes and intercepts, and finding points of intersection. Your boss suggests that you look at these plans over a range of airtime from 0 to 500 minutes per month, and how much airtime that you can get per month with each of these plans for a total cost of $100. She also makes it very clear that you must include the range of airtime for which each plan is the cheapest.

PRODUCE THIS ANALYSIS!

Any work you do today, will be collected at the end of the period and can be used tomorrow to produce your report.

Day Two

Cellular Phone Problem

One hour before the meeting where you will present your recommendation for cellular service, your boss provides the following data about the company's employees and their projected cellular phone airtime use.

President and Vice-President (2 people): Both of these officers project that they will need on average 600 minutes of airtime per month.
Other Executive Board Members (10 people): These employees project their average airtime to be about 180 minutes per month.
Managers (20 people): The managers project their airtime to be on average about 50 minutes per month.

Use this information and the analysis that you made yesterday to write a report recommending which of the three plans your company should use for their employees. You may recommend one plan or different plans for different employees, but you must support your recommendations with mathematical information from your analysis. Your boss has also directed you to include in your report reasons why you believe that the solution that you have recommended is the best for each group of employees and the company. (Your boss reminds you to make sure to include the range of airtime minutes per month when each of the plans would be cheapest!!)

PRODUCE THIS REPORT!

Maintainer: tutor-help@andrew.cmu.edu
(last updated September 17, 1996)