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Content Area

System of Linear Equations

Time Frame

2 to 3 weeks with mini-lectures

Published

August 15, 2009

Keywords

System of Linear Equations, matrices, row echelon form, dependent system

Project Title

Arsenic Removal From Drinking Water

Author

David Graser, Yavapai College, Prescott, AZ (David_Graser@yc.edu)

Abstract

My Ford Ranger is no more and my students were getting wise to the Gas Prices Project, so I created a similar project using a bit of knowledge supplied by my hydrologist wife. This uses the same basic idea but incorporates blending of drinking water from several sources to result in a dependent system of equations.

Project Content

Project Letter - DOC | PDF

Scaffolding Resources

Link - What is Parts per Million or Parts per Billion? PDF
Technology Assignment - RTF | PDF
Row Echelon Form Handout - PDF
Dependent Systems Handout - PDF
Video - Row Operations on the TI-83

Notes

You can drop the number of wells down to 2 to make the problem a bit easier or increase the number of wells. Adding costs for pollution removal (and still blend) could make for an interesting linear programming problem.