CHICKEN FENCE
Farmer McDonald wants to create an rectangle enclosure for his chickens.
Chicken FenceWhat is the greatest area by a given length of 10 meters?
Solve it:
The idea
The isoperimetric problem is a well-known problem in teaching.
You can find different "coverings" of it - none of them is really an authentically problem, just visualising the situation for students, such as the one in the picture above.
What is the biggest area when using the wall as one side when you have a fence of 10m length?
The potentiality of the task is that it is a good example for an optimization problem, which can be solved without calculus. And it can be solved with following different approaches supported by using different kinds of technology.
It can be solved in a: This is why we use this old task to introduce the different tools of Ti-Nspire™ and GeoGebra to colleagues and as well to students.
TI-Nspire™
Using TI-Nspire™

Using GeoGebra
Aims
  1. Solve an optimization problem following different approaches
  2. Get to know the different tools in TI-Nspire™ and GeoGebra
The task enables different approaches for the students, so that everyone can find his/her own way of learning. The presented solutions should reflect an impression of that.

Detailed explanation of the aims ...
Prerequisites

Worksheet
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
Here are some hints on how to organize the work in the classroom.
let´s solve the task
Here is a worksheet (, ) that can be used in class. And various approaches (and here the more detailed view (with worksheet also) ) ...:

Draw a sketch!
Solve the task geometrically
Solve the task graphically!
TInspire GG TInspire GG
Put several values in a table! Solve the task algebraically!
TInspire GG TInspire GG