Math and the Newspaper

Following are suggestions on using the various parts of the daily newspaper.

Front page:

How many words are in a front page news story? Have each student count one paragraph and add the totals.

Highlight, count and categorize the numbers found on front page.

What is the average number of words in the headlines?

According to your classroom thermometer, has the day's high/low been reached?

Page A2:

Count and record the number of marriage licenses issued. Which day is the most popular for obtaining marraige licenses?

What is the average age of the brides-to-be?

How much older is the oldest groom than the youngest groom?

What is the average amount of indebtedness for persons filing bankruptcy?

What percentage of births were boys?

Advertisements:

Circle all of the numbers divisible by 5.

Round off the numbers to the nearest 100.

Find the total cost of 7 listed items at the sale price. How much would be saved?

Measure the perimeter of the ad in inches/centimeters.

How far would you have to travel from your school to the advertised store?

Choose and cut out five display advertisements. What percentage included both the address and the phone number of the establishment?

Sports pages:

Estimate the number of sports mentioned in the sports section. What percentage of the sports require the use of a ball? Are team sports?

What is the largest point spread in a reported team game?

What percentage of the photos are of high school/women's/amateur sports?

What percentage of reported teams have animal names?

Which professional game had the largest audience?

How far did three "away" teams have to travel to participate? What was the average distance traveled?

Graph the point spread for the home team for one month.

Weather map:

Graph the high and low temperatures for your city for a month. Do you see any pattern?

Connect any three cities found on the weather map. What is the mean temperature.

In the list of cities found on the weather page, find the average high temperature of the cities that begin with the letter "B."

How far off of the record high and low temperatures are we today?

How far off of the yearly average of precipitation are we today?

Classified Ads:

If ads cost $1.00 per line, which ad would be the most expensive?

Which ad category has the largest number of ads?

List the five most expensive properties for sale from most expensive to least expensive.

Which jobs listed in the Help Wanted category require use of math?

What percentage of the jobs listed in the Help Wanted category require the use of math?

Many skilled workers must have their own tools. Using both classified and display ads, what would the minimum tool box full of tools cost?

In the listing for pets, what percentage of listed pets are cats?

In the cars for sale category, what percentage is at least five years old?

TV/Entertainment:

What percentage of the listed programs at 6:00 p.m. are news related?

What percentage of listed programs at 5:00 p.m. are reruns?

How many channels are listed in today's listings?

How many different programs are listed for 8:00 p.m. today?

What percentage of the listed programs available for viewing from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. are game shows?

You and your siblings are treating your parents to a movie and pizza. Where will you go? How much will this night out cost? How much more would it cost if the entire immediate family went?

Of the movies listed, how many are listed PG? How many have an R rating?

Using information from the above question, what is the ratio of PG to R rated movies?

What percentage of your classmates have seen at least one of the listed movies?

Poll your classmates as to which one of the listed movies they would like to see. Graph your results.

Poll the teachers and office staff of your school. How many have seen at least one of the movies listed?