Use Ratios to Help with Our Spaceport Census!

“Blasters, we walked into the Larva Den this morning and discovered a bunch of brand-new Larva pals that we had never seen before. As part of our annual Census, we like to keep track of just how many different kinds of larva we have on the ship at any given moment. With this information, we can use ratios to learn interesting facts about our space friends. So just what are ratios? Ratios are statements that tell us how sets of numbers compare. So if we had 3 green larvae and 9 pink larvae, which would give us a ratio of 3:9 larvae, or 1:3 if, we simplify it. That would mean for every green larva aboard our ship, we would have approximately 3 pink larvae!

LarvaRatios

Now we can put this handy knowledge into use as we conduct our annual Larva Spaceport Census! Using our high-resolution image of the Spaceport’s larva population, count the total number of our little friends. Then, let us break that number down by color. Can you tell us how many we have of each color?

With our scientific data of the ship’s larva population, we can create our very first ratio! Let’s start by making a ratio comparing all of the different colors! Once you have mastered that, make smaller ratios that compare each color with a different color.

Ratios not only help us compare numbers, but they can allow us to better predict outcomes in the future! Say that we returned back to the Larva Den tomorrow morning and discovered that the amount of green larvae had doubled! Using the power of ratios, we can find out approximately how many yellow larvae we might be able to expect to see in the Larva Den as well! To do this, multiply the number of pink larvae by 2.

Were you able to predict how many pink larvae there would be? Use this knowledge of rations to let us know the answer in the comments!

Speeding Through Galaxy Grand Prix

Our Blaster friend Sara CyberSatellite is practicing today for a BIG race this upcoming weekend. To help make sure she is ready to excel tomorrow, Sara needs to time herself and see how long it will take her to complete the race. Normally, Sara only races one lap when she goes on the Shooting Star Strip. For this huge Racer rally, however, she will have to go for a solid THREE laps!

Sara’s target time for this race is to reach the finish line in under 3:30. To see if she needs to practice looping through the course, let’s help Sara predict her estimated finish time tomorrow using speed, distance, and time.

The first thing we need to do is calculate how long it takes Sara to complete one lap of the Shooting Star Strip. Are you ready to start your timers? Ready… Set… Go!
mbgalaxySara sure is one speedy driver! She finished the course in a time of 1:20. First, let us convert her time to seconds so that it will be much easier for us to use. Since a minute is 60 seconds long, that means she came in at a total of 80 seconds.

Now we can calculate her rate! This is actually very easy. Think of rates as a type of ratio, where we have distance on the left side and time on the right side. This gives Sara a rate of 1 loop per every 80 seconds (or 1:80).

Next, let us find out her predicted time! To do this, we multiply both sides of the fraction by 3, which gives us 3 loops per every 240 seconds.

Now it is time for us to convert our 240 seconds into minutes, which we can do by using our long division skills. Take 240 and divide it by 60 to get our final answer.

So did Sara beat her target time of 3 minutes and 30 seconds? Comment below with the answer and tell us what her predicted time is!

Creating Crews with Max

“Greetings, Blasters! Did you know that today is Intergalactic Space Crew Day? This is a special day when all of the I.S.P.’s new recruits are encouraged to join their very first Crew! I think it is such an exciting time here in Math Blaster. All the new Cadets on board get to meet brand new friends and compete with other teams. Just so many memories to be had.
1This year, in particular, we had so many new Blasters that were eager to join the ranks of our Crews I am just having a little bit of trouble with crunching the numbers. I am going to need YOUR help finding out just how many new Crews must be formed. Since there are 522 Blasters looking to join a team, and only 20 empty spots on our existing Crews… Can you figure out how many new Crews we need to create? It is time to pull out your long division skills! Are you ready for this?

1. First we will need to do a bit of subtracting. Can you figure out what is 522 minus 2?

2. Now comes when we find out the answer. Just how many NEW Crews must be formed. We take the answer from our subtraction problem and then divide it by the amount of spots available for new Crews, which is 50 Cadets.

3. You might have noticed from your answer that there is a remainder. Do you know what this means? You will need to add one more Crew to the answer so all of those remaining Blasters have a team to compete with as well!

Have you found the answer? Let me know what it is in the comments so I can start helping these Cadets form their new Crews! Also, if you have not joined a Crew yet, make sure to do so today and show your Spaceport Spirit!”

Time Flies on the I.S.P.

“Greetings, Blasters! Max here, and I need your help calculating this tricky math question. This Blaster I have with me, Tom StellarJupiter, has a really busy day at Spaceport and needs to make sure he will be on time for his lunch with GC at 2:00pm International Spaceport Time (IST). Can you use your addition and elapsed time skills to see if he will make it on time if it is currently 11am? Let us take a look at his schedule for the day:

Caring for Mutt

1

Length of time: 45 minutes
Oh no! Tom got off to a late start today and still needs to care for his Mutt. Time to walk over to his Mutt Pod and give his loyal space friend some tasty food. Once his Mutt is full, Tom and Flurry Neptune spend some time playing around with some of the colorful and squeaky Mutt toys.

Walking to Fitness Training

2Length of time: 5 minutes
It may seem like you can reach Spaceport from your Pod in a flash, but there is actually a secret time delay. Every time you transport you end up losing five minutes from your day! Now that Tom is at Fitness Training, it is time to do some warm ups to keep his brain alert for his midday Math Academy adventure.

Fitness Training Exercise

3Length of time: 40 minutes
Tom’s usual exercise involves rock climbing, playing a bit of RollerBall Ralley, and hopping along some of the hovering platforms surrounding Fitness Training. This does not take a small amount of time and often lasts over an hour! Thankfully, he cut things a bit short since he has an important meeting with GC!

Hyperblast

4Length of time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Now it is time for one of the BIGGEST events in Tom’s day: his adventures in Hyperblast. As you might know, when you are blasting through a vortex at hyperspeed, it is very easy to lose track of time.

Head to Mutt Rescue and meet GC

5Length of time: 5 minutes
After all of that running around, Tom can finally head over to Mutt Rescue and meet up with GC… But did he make it in time? That is for YOU to find out by adding up each event and calculating how much time elapsed. Let us know what you think in the comments!”

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