Project 1 MAT140
PROBLEM SITUATION:
In this project you will collect and analyze information about how the winning times in an
Olympic event change over time.
METHOD
▪ With your group, choose an Olympic event that is won on the basis of the fastest time. You
can use either summer (track and field or swimming events are good choices) or winter
Olympics (speed skating, bobsled, or luge are good choices).
▪ Search for winning times for your event on the Internet. Good sites are
http://www.hickoksports.com/history.shtml
From the main page, choose “Alpha Index”, choose “O’, choose “Olympic Games Index”,
then “Medalists” and choose your sport.
www.infoplease.com
From the left side of the main page, choose “Sports”, then “Olympics”, then scroll down and
choose either “Summer Olympics through the years” or “Winter Olympics through the
years”, choose “Event by Event”, then choose your event, choose either men or women, and
if necessary, choose a specific event.
▪ You will need a minimum of 10 pieces of data, so you may need to choose a different event
if the event is more recent.
▪ Create a “data table”. This table should have the year, the winner’s name, the winner’s
country, and the winner’s time. The table should have a title that reflects its contents.
▪ Create a new table. This will be your input-output table. The input will be t, the number of
years since the first year of your data table. That is, if the first year in your data table is 1924,
then t = 0 will represent 1924 and all other t-values will be the number of years since 1924..
The output will be W, the winning time for the event, given in decimal notation. You will
have to convert some of your times. For example, if the winning time is 1:53.43, this means 1
minute and 53.43 seconds. You must convert 53.43 seconds into decimal minutes by dividing
53.43 by 60. This gives .8905, so your output is 1.8905 minutes. If you choose a sport with
times over an hour, you may see 1:23:12.4, for example. In this case, you must first convert
12.4 seconds into decimal minutes: 12.4/60 = .2067. Then take 23.2067 minutes and convert
it into hours: 23.2067/60 = .3868. This is added to the 1 hour, giving 1.3868 hours. Round all
your decimals to four places. If you need help with the times, see your instructor.
