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The Teaching Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences website has not been significantly updated since 2011. We are preserving the web pages here because they still contain useful ideas and content. But be aware that the site may have out of date information.
You can find more recent and extensive resources on the Teach the Earth website.

Examples

Initial Publication Date: October 29, 2009
The following examples are provided to illustrate the variety of study questions one can devise around a single newspaper article. Because of copyright issues, none of the articles can be reproduced in their entirety on this website. However, ample excerpts are provided in order to clarify the quantitative concepts under consideration. One should consider these examples not necessarily as student activities that can be quickly brought into class, but rather as models for instructors to create their own case studies of current, relevant, and thought provoking news articles.
How Big is a Trillion? There is no shortage of examples of newspaper articles which use extremely large numbers. This example illustrates ways to make sense of these large quantities.

Calculating and Comparing Tax Rates Letters to the Editor illustrate a multitude of ways of describing income tax rates. Which are correct? Who can do the math?

Cost Effectiveness of Increased Fuel Efficiency Should one spend some extra money to increase the fuel efficiency of their automobile? When will high efficiency vehicles pay for themselves?

Credit Card Analysis How long will it take to pay off that new flat screen television you just had to have?

A Short Selection of Advertisements Even short one page or one sentence advertisements can make for great discussions.