Mathematics in a Story (B3) Alex Babrak

Blog 3 - Mathematics in a Story

1) The Dragon Pack Snack Attack," by Joel E. Tanis and Jeff Grooters hilariously illustrates the tactics a few dragons used in order to satisfy their hunger. In the beginning, the story depicts several young dragons who are reeking havoc on Earth. They would hunt innocent knights for food and steal their gold. One day, a Dragon named Hobart got really bored of eating knights and snatching their gold. He came up with a brilliant idea: go on a vacation to the beach. As a result, he gathered all of his dragon friends and went to the beach on a remote island. After 200 years of vacationing, Hobart was bored again. Only this time, he was also hungry. They flew off to find something juicy to eat. The dragons roamed cities after cities in search for food. They did not want to eat grown up humans because they believed grown ups were hard to chew. They also did not wan to eat young children because young children are understood to be too sweet. Suddenly, in the middle of searching for food, Hobart smelled something delicious: it was a burger! Hobart strolled to the drive through window and demanded a thousand of everything. Hobart gave the owner of the store all of the gold he earned by terrorizing Knights several hundred years earlier. After Hobart and his friends ate all of the burgers, they wanted more. Unfortunately, the dragons did not have any money. They also did not have any source of income in order to buy more burgers. The owners suggested that they work for him in order to make money. After working several days at Hutburgers, the Dragons were able to make their own profit in order to buy burgers. The dragons were amazing workers. They cooked burgers faster than anyone else, resulting in a higher revenue for the business. Everyone lived happily ever after. 

2) The mathematical concept presented in this book is profit/revenue. The Dragons in this book needed to make a profit out of working in order to purchase hamburgers. They did so by getting a job at their favorite fast food restaurant. After working at Hutburgers, the business had an increase in revenue due to the dragons' hard work. I could also make the argument, that this book presents the concept of slope. There is a positive linear function between the time the dragons spent working and the number of burgers they would be able to purchase. 

3) Literature is an effective way to teach and learn a mathematical concept because it allows you to use imagination in order to understand difficult concepts. Instead of learning through a systems of equations out of a book, it helps people unravel concepts through fun imagination. Also, learning mathematical concepts are a difficult and intimidating thing to do. By adding literature, you are easing the intimidation levels. In essence, literature is a less intimidating and efficient way to learn mathematical concepts because it allows students to use their imaginations.