Real-Life Math -- Solution
Use the chart to find the average of her tests.
Resting
Average = (51 + 49 + 47 + 52) / 4
Average = 199 / 4
Average = 49.75
Standard
= 46
Deviation percentage = (49.75 - 46) / 46 x 100
Deviation percentage
= 3.75 / 46 x 100
Deviation percentage = 8.2
Sleeping
Average
= (45 + 44 + 48 + 49) / 4
Average = 186 / 4
Average = 46.5
Standard
= 41
Deviation percentage = (46.5 - 41) / 41 x 100
Deviation percentage
= 5.5 / 41 x 100
Deviation percentage = 13
Exercise
Average
= (65 + 71 + 72 + 70) / 4
Average = 278 / 4
Average = 69.5
Standard:
62
Deviation percentage = (69.5 - 62) / 62 x 100
Deviation percentage
= 7.5 / 62 x 100
Deviation percentage = 12
Because
the deviation is more than 10 per cent in 2 cases, you should order additional
tests.
"The most math you're going to do here is sort of the basic
stuff you get in elementary school," says pediatric cardiologist Dr. Cheryl
Cammock. "A little bit of algebraic concepts.
"For me, though, because
I deal mostly in cardiac imaging, I use a little bit of geometry in a way,"
says Dr. Cammock. "Not the concepts per se, but you sort of have to pull some
of that into it by the way you visualize things. Some of the new technologies
in imaging involve a lot of spatial changes and how to manipulate images,
so in a way you're pulling in some of that (geometry)."
Dr. Cammock
says physics also comes into play.
"You're not doing physics per
se, but there are some basic physics concepts involved in pediatric cardiology
-- actually quite a bit of it, involved in both the cardiac invasive parts
of it and the non-invasive imaging," says Dr. Cammock. "So you draw into it
the applied mathematics more than anything, and then on a daily basis you
will definitely use all of that basic math that you get in elementary (school)."
Another example of how pediatric cardiologists use math is with drug
amounts.
"We're [often] giving drugs and all our drugs
are based on weight per kilogram, so we're always converting," says Dr. Cammock.
"You do a lot of conversions between American standard weights -- pounds --
to metric, because everything we do is in metric in medicine."