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Calculations Without Calculators

Learn strategies to excel without calculators on AP Environmental Science exams through tips on exponents, dimensional analysis, conversions, and more. Practice problems included.

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Calculations Without Calculators

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  1. Calculations Without Calculators

  2. The Problem: How do we achieve success on AP Environmental Science Exams when we cannot use calculators!?

  3. Solutions: • Use exponents whenever numbers are especially large or small. Scientific notation is a way to express, numbers the form of exponents as the product of a number (between 1 and 10) and raised to a power of 10. 650,000  ________________ 0.000543  _______________

  4. 2. Practice math manipulations with exponents • When adding or subtracting numbers with exponents the exponents of each number must be the same before you can do the operation. Example: (1.9 x 10-3) – (1.5 x 10-4 )

  5. When multiplyingnumbers with base 10 exponents, multiply the first factors, and then add the exponents. Example, (3 x 105) (4 x 103) = __________________ When dividing numbers, divide the first factors, then subtract the exponents. Example: 9 x 10 5 = __________ 3 x 10 3

  6. 3. Use Dimensional Analysisor factor/label method for calculations The following formula based on the cancellation of units is useful: Given Value x Conversion factor =Answer 1 OR old unit x new unit = new unit 1 old unit Example: 25 ft x 1 yd x 1.094 m = 9.117 meters 3 ft 1 yd

  7. Dimensional Analysis Practice • Calculate how many gallons of water are wasted in 1 month by a toilet tank that leaks 2 drops of water per second. (1 L = 3,500 drops and 1 L = 0.265 gallons)

  8. Dimensional Analysis Practice • Assuming the average shower is 10 minutes: • How many gallons of water do you use for each shower (assuming regular shower head of 3.8 gallons per minute)? • How many gallons of water are used if you switch to low flow (2.3 gallons per minute)

  9. 4. Be sure to know how to convert numbers to percentages and percent change. Example: If 200 households in a town of 10000 have solar power, what percent does this represent? 200/10000 x 100%= ? • In 2010 I had 28 AP Environmental Science students and now in 2017 I have 102 APES students. What percentage did the population of APES students grow by? Final-Original x 100% Original

  10. 5. Keep it simple. They don’t expect you to do calculus! Try reducing the fraction from the previous problem 200/1000 to 2/10= 1/5 Then solve: 1/5 x 100%= 20%

  11. 6. Remember that the numbers will likely be simple to manipulate. • The APES folks know you only have limited time to do 100 multiple choice and 4 essays • If you are getting answers like 1.365, then it is likely wrong

  12. 7. Show ALL of your work and steps of calculations, even if they are too simple.

  13. 8. Show all of your units, too! Numbers given without units are often not counted even if correct.

  14. 9. Answers should make sense! LOOK them over before you finish Example: No one is going to spend 1 billion dollars per gallon of water! No one is going to pay $1,000,000 per month on electricity.

  15. 10. Know some basic metric prefixes for simple conversions

  16. Giga G 10 9 = 1 000 000 000 Mega M 10 6 = 1 000 000 Kilo k 10 3 = 1 000 Base 10 0 =1 (m, l, g) Milli m 10 -3 = .001 Micro μ 10 -6 = .000 001 Nano n 10 -9 = .000 000 01 Centi c 10 -2 = .01

  17. Conversions from US to metric will probably be given and do not need to be memorized. They should be practiced, however. Gallons to Liters 1 gal= 3.8 L Liters to Gallons 1 L, l= .264 gal Meters to Yards 1 m= 1.094 yd Yards to Meters 1 yd= .914 m Grams to Ounces 1 g= .035 oz Ounces to Grams 1 oz= 28.35 g Kilograms to Pounds 1 kg= 2.2 lb Pounds to Kilograms 1 lb= 454 g Miles to Kilometers 1 mi= 1.609km Kilometers to Miles 1 km= .621 mi

  18. 11. Know some simple energy calculations 2004 Exam: West Freemont is a community consisting of 3000 homes. The capacity of the power plant is 12 megawatts (MW) and the average household consumes 8,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electrical energy each year. The price paid for this energy is $0.10 per kWh. (a) Assuming that the existing power plant can operate at full capacity for 8,000 hours per year, how many kWh of electricity can be produced by the plant in one year? (b) How many kWh of electricity does the community use in one year?

  19. 12. Remember some other common formulas like the Rule of 70 Number of years to double= 70 / annual percentage growth rate Ex: If the growth rate of a population is 2%, how many years will it take the population to double?

  20. 13. Be able to calculate half life • AMOUNT REMAINING = (ORIGINAL AMOUNT)(0.5)x • where x = number of half-lives #half-lives = time / half-life Example: • The half-life of carbon-14 is 5700 years. If a 10 gram sample undergoes decay for 17,100 years, how many half-lives have the sample undergone? A. 10 B. 5 C. 3 D. 1

  21. Another half life problem Strontium-90 is one of many radioactive wastes from nuclear weapons. Sr-90 has a half-life of 30 years. If our sample of Sr-90 now has a mass of 1500 grams, what was the mass of our Strontium-90 90 years ago. A. 1500g B. 4500g C. 9000g D. 12000g

  22. 14. Know how to graph data • Title the graph • Set up the independent variable along the X axis • Set up the dependent variable along the Y axis • Label each axis and give the appropriate units • Make proportional increments along each axis so the graph is spread out over the entire graph area • Plot points and sketch a curve if needed. Use a straight edge to connect points unless told to extrapolate a line. • Label EACH curve if more than one is plotted.

  23. 15. Know what is meant by “per capita” (per person) when solving a problem or interpreting a graph

  24. 16. Be able to interpolate and extrapolate data

  25. Practice from a real FRQ 2005 Exam Between 1950 and 2000, global meat production increased from 52 billion kg to 240 billion kg. During this period, global human population increased from 2.6 billion to 6.0 billion. Calculate the per capita meat production in 1950 and 2000.

  26. Practice from an FRQ A hectare is a measure of land area, abbreviated “ha” that represents an area that is 100 meters by 100 meters. In the US we measure in ACRES, but everywhere else uses hectares. 1 ha = 2.47 acres OR 1 acre= 0.4 ha An environmental organization gives 2 estimates of the amount of deforestation that has occurred worldwide. Estimate 1: 32,000 ha per day Estimate 2: 80,000 acres per day 1. Convert both estimates to HECTARES per year

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