Question

A botanist is a person who studies plants. Mr. Moss is a botanist who is studying a type of bamboo that can grow 1.2 to 3.9 inches every twenty-four hours. Mr. Moss has two pots with a stem of bamboo in each pot. Each stem of bamboo is four feet in height. Mr. Moss wants to measure the height of each stem every twenty-four hours for a week as accurately as he can. Mr. Moss records the growth of each stem. Mr. Moss lists his data:

Stem in pot one—2.878 inches on day one, 1.623 inches on day two, 2.999 inches on day three, 3.319 inches on day four, 1.537 inches on day five, 3.745 inches on day six, 2.153 inches on day seven. Stem in pot two—1.585 inches on day one, 2.307 inches on day two, 1.296 inches on day three, 4.121 inches on day four, 1.742 inches on day five, 2.418 inches on day six, 3.639 inches on day seven.

Mr. Moss organizes his bamboo growth data and then uses the greater than, less than, equal symbols to make four observations. Show how Mr. Moss could represent his data. What four observations could Mr. Moss make about his data using the greater than, less than, equal symbols? Show all your mathematical thinking.

Answer 1

You said "Mr. Moss wants to measure the height of each stem every twenty-four hours." Care to change the wording?

how do those plants get shorter on some days, and taller on others?
very strange.

This is math, so you have to say what you mean.