Hello! Jordan and Annie here to report on our activities for Thursday, May 15th. Our first full day of Math and the Mouse has been nothing short of a whirlwind of adventures!
Learning Modules
After
our long day yesterday, beginning at 5:45 a.m. and ending around 11 p.m.,
everyone was ready for a good night’s sleep. So, we began our morning today
with continental breakfast in the hotel on our own individual schedules and convened
as a group at 9:00 a.m. in the common area of Dr. Harris and Dr. Hutson’s room
for our first learning module. Dr. Hutson introduced us to linear programming
modeling – a key concept for our analysis of Walt Disney World’s operations and
physical layout. Linear programming modeling allows us to optimize a function,
such as profit margin of a production company or travel time from one location
to another in a theme park, while imposing certain constraints, such as limited
materials or manpower. In other words, linear programming provides us with a
tool to represent a real-world situation mathematically, through a collection
of variables and equations, and allows us to find the “best” or most efficient
way to accomplish a certain task. Today, our focus was on creating the models,
but we will soon be exploring computer software capable of solving even the
more complex problems, such as those we will encounter in Disney World.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy Dr. Hutson’s lesson and the various real-world
examples we worked through together to aid our understanding.
Next,
Dr. Harris introduced us to Graph Theory. A graph is a set of vertices (dots)
connected by a set of edges (lines). Although this concept seems simple, graphs
can become complicated quite quickly, and even a simple question, such as
whether or not one can connect all the vertices of a graph without traversing
any vertex twice, can be very difficult to answer. However, graph theory will
be very important in modeling the different parts of Disney World, since each
park is essentially a set of attractions (vertices) joined by a set of walkways
(edges). A network model is a graph that represents this type of real-world
system and includes data such as travel time and distance. Our group was very
engaged during Dr. Harris’ graph theory presentation and is excited to apply
this knowledge to model the parks!
Hollywood Studios
After
the morning learning modules, we took a quick lunch break and then were off to
Hollywood Studios for the afternoon! The weather was a little dreary, but we
were prepared for the rain, and not-so-great weather means smaller crowds and
shorter lines. Because of this, Dr. Hutson led a small group to ride his
all-time favorite attraction, the Tower of Terror, three times in a row, ending
with a ride by the entire group. Our excited giggles and screams during the
freefalls really spotlighted the fun everyone was having. Afterwards, we were
lucky enough to walk onto the other crowd-pleaser, the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster,
without a wait. Though we discussed that we really
wanted to calculate the initial acceleration of the roller coaster (which
goes from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds), we decided to save that for a
later day and simply enjoyed the ride.
After
these two thrills, we went to Toy Story Mania, an interactive game-ride, which
brought out everyone’s competitive side. Dr. Bouzarth scored the most points,
but the verdict regarding whether or not she cheated is still out...
Towards
the end of our afternoon in the park, we were told we could split up into
smaller groups for the remainder of the visit, but, in reality, we twelve
students couldn’t help but stick together. Though we’re just two days in, it’s
clear that our group is bonding really quickly, which I’m sure will make both
classwork and projects that much more of
a positive experience for everyone!
We ended the day with a group dinner at Panera.
Earlier today, we were divided up into teams for a fun project we have
tomorrow, so, while there, we were able to take advantage of the WiFi and meet
with our teams to plan our strategies. It’s safe to say that we’re all looking
forward to facing off in what sounds like an intense day of competition
tomorrow!
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