Traffic flow model
This activity is part of the Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
HideSummary
This assignment relates to a traffic flow model. Each problem involves graphing in two and three dimensions and interpreting those graphs.
CollapseLearning Goals
This activity is meant to be practice toward reading and interpreting three-dimensional graphs. They should be synthesizing their graphical understanding with their experience in traffic.
Context for Use
This is an individual assignment to be completed after class instruction on graphing in two and three dimensions using MATLAB. This can be used in an entry level class but could be modified by requiring students to develop the density function from a differential equation or to model the density in some other way.
Description and Teaching Materials
Class instructions on matrices/graphing (Acrobat (PDF) 122kB Jul30 18)
Water level matrix file (Comma Separated Values 91kB Jul30 18)
Exercise data from FitBit ( 12kB Jul30 18)
Traffic flow activity (Acrobat (PDF) 29kB Jul30 18)
Teaching Notes and Tips
Our students struggled more to interpret their graphs rather than creating them.
Assessment
We inspect the graphs they've created and their answers to our traffic flow problems.