The Algebra of the Arches

Abstract

Several years ago, i read an item in Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School from an author who used information from her summer vacation to design lessons for a middle school mathematics class (fisher 1999). on one summer vacation while hiking through arches national park in moab, utah, i thought that surely there was mathematics in the science and geology of the sandstone rock formations around me. The park office and souvenir store sold books containing information that would help me discover some of the mathematics of the arches (Baars 1993; Johnson 1985).While reading these books and having taught middle school mathematics for many years, it occurred to me that lessons could be written about large numbers. The sandstone cliffs, from which the arches were formed, date back 140 million years; in addition, they are on the colorado plateau, which dates back 200 million years. The erosion that formed currentday arches began 2 million years ago. a lesson on geometry and measurement could also be written, since the area was part of the paradox Basin, a 10,000 squaremile depression. however, could some relevant algebra be found in the data about the history and geology of arches national park?