Chandler-Gilbert Community College



Spider-Man Writing Project

The following group project is to be worked on by no more than four students. You may use any materials you think may be useful in solving the problems but you may not ask anyone for help other than the people you have chosen to work with. This means you may not ask a tutor or any person other than those in your immediate group for help.

You are to type a response to the problem presented backing up your conclusions with mathematical reasoning, formulas, and solutions. Your grade will depend on how well you communicate your response as well as the accuracy of the conclusions. This project will be scored using the rubric on the last page of this document.

Please sign and date here to indicate that you have read and agree to abide by the above mentioned stipulations.

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1245 E. 87th St.

Forest Hills, NY 10025

Chandler-Gilbert Community College

ATTN: Calculus Creators

2626 E. Pecos Rd.

Chandler, AZ 85225

Dear Calculus Creators:

It has been just a few days since being bit by that spider at Columbia University. I’m not exactly sure what I am going to do with my powers, but I know that I would want to make my Uncle Ben proud. In case you don’t know my story, let me give you a glimpse into how my life has radically changed.

My name is Peter Parker and I was an ordinary teenager. Well, ordinary might be pushing it. I love science and was considered a “nerd” by most of my classmates. Recently, on a field trip to Columbia University, I was bitten by a radioactive spider and given unspeakable powers. At first, I used my new found powers to earn some quick money as a wrestler. One night while at the arena, a burglar ran past me. The security guard yelled at me to stop him, but I did not. This one act changed my life forever. I came home that night to find that a burglar killed my Uncle Ben. I donned my spider costume one more time to find my Uncle's killer. I overheard from a police officer that he was held up in a warehouse. When I confronted my Uncle's killer, I realized that the killer was the burglar from the wrestling arena. To honor

my Uncle's memory, I became "The Amazing Spider-Man". I learned that “with great power comes great responsibility. “

I desperately want to use my superpowers – Spider Strength, Spider Agility, Wall Crawling, Web Slinging, and Spider Sense –to help people in need. It was my Spider Sense that brought me to you. Of course, I could solve my problem by myself, buy I am busy with other issues and could use your help! What I am unsure of in this early phase of my super-hero career is my web-slinging ability. It seems that I will be traveling quite rapidly through the streets of New York. This ability is what makes me unique as a superhero: Batman has an array of vehicles, and Superman can fly under his own steam, but my web-slinging motion relies on a lightening-quick understanding of everyday physics: attached to a building by a strand of web, I’m basically a big pendulum in a spandex suit.

So, what I would like from you is a complete mathematical analysis of my motion as I swing – I have included a video clip to help you gather the data. This would include a vector-valued function for each of my position, velocity, and acceleration. Furthermore, I would like to know when I would be traveling the fastest and what my speed would be at that time. Also, when is my acceleration the greatest? A computer* simulation of my motion would complete the project. One final thing – calculation and discussion of the curvature function would be useful to me. That is, where would my curvature value be greatest? Least?

Send your report to your instructor by June 30, 2003 and please don’t reveal my identity to anyone. I trust you!

Your friend, Spidey,

* The graphing calculator can be used to provide the computer simulation.

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