Circles in Namibia

Hello students, 

Welcome to Namib-Naukluft Park in Nambia. We've traveled across the Atlantic because this national park has something that we need to investigate. That thing is a circle. It actually has a lot of circles. You may be wondering what this has to do with math. Circles contain an elusive number that will be crucial to your study of mathematics for the rest of your lives so, we traveled here to find it.

Our task for this field trip is to investigate the mysterious natural formations known as "fairy cirlce". Fairy circles are patches where grass does not grow and it forms a circle formation. Scientists still don't know why these areas are lacking grass and why its always in a circle shape. We are going to be measuring these circles and comparing their sizes together. Through doing this you will begin to find the special number that we are looking for.

Discovery

1. Research fairy circles and find out what you can about them. Write 1 paragraph with your group describing what they are and their features. 
2. With your group find a definition for circle and write it down
3. Take your measuring tools and pick 5 fairy circles. Measure their 3 features: 
   1. Circumference: The perimeter or distance around a circle
   2. Diameter: The distance from one point on the circle through the center to the other end.
   3. Radius: The distance from the center a point on the circle

Results

1. Determine the relationship, if any, between the various features of a circle by completing the following by hand up to 4 decimal places:
   1. Circumference x radius
   2. Circumference x diameter
   3. Circumference/radius
   4. Circumference/diameter

2. Calculations

   	C x r	C x d	C/r	C/d
   Circle 1
   Circle 2
   Circle 3
   Circle 4
   Circle 5
   Circle 6
   Circle 7
   Circle 8
   Circle 9
   Circle 10

    

3. Compare and contrast your results. Did any patterns emerge? Were your answers whole numbers or decimals? 
4. Repeat step 4 and see if the answers ever end.
5. Research the mathematical constant pi and write a paragraph on it.

Total Points ____/15

Through completing this assignment, we have gotten some insight into one derivation for pi, a constant that is crucial to every aspect of mathematics. Pi is a transcendental number that never ends. Pi will help us in our study of circles in the coming weeks determining their perimeter and area. I hope that you benefited from this assignment and learned a lot about pi and special numbers that are not our basic integers or rational numbers.

Young, L. J. (2018, October 18). The mystery of the namibian fairy circles. Science Friday. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-mystery-of-the-namibian-fair….

Answers to Calculations Table