Honors Algebra II - Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools



Honors Algebra II Name______________________

2nd Quarter Project

Due Date: Friday December 10th

WebQuest Internet Project

Lessons in Home Buying and Selling

“Buying a home,” says Housing and Urban Development Secretary, “is the most expensive, most complicated and most intimidating financial transaction most Americans ever make.” We know that with today’s financial crisis, this decision will be even more important. In this project, you will be exploring how functions and equations relate to buying a home and your income.

A WebQuest is an online project in which you will do research on the internet, gather data, and make presentations using Word, TI Connect for graphing, and/or Power Point software. Using information we learned in Chapters 1-4, you will also answer specific questions for the lessons from those chapters. You will find these questions on the website/attached sheet. At the end, the project culminates with a presentation of your findings.

Completing the project:

Your final product may be presented to the class in one of two ways: Webpage or Power Point Presentation.

Your final product will contain the following:

1) Your research obtained in “The Task” and “The Process”

2) Additional questions and ideas (see “Guidance”) to supplement your project.

You will each be assigned one of the 8 questions here.

3) Answers to the questions for Lessons 1-3, 2-5, 3-2, and 4-6 (from

Webquest site or from the attached sheet. (Not in textbook.)

4) A final one-page summary stating what you have learned from

researching this topic.

5) Your amortization table for your mortgage loan.

6) Any and all information you obtain for this project that is not your own should be

included on a works cited page at the end of your Power Point or Webpage.

****PROJECTS are due Friday December 10th .

Please include a print out of your project with your one page summary and lesson questions.

To get started, log on to: webquest

Read the introduction and the 10 points listed. Use the copied information from the website below to help you as you navigate the other websites.

The Task

You have just finished college or technical school and have selected a city in which you would like live. You want to be sure that you can get a good-paying job and be able to afford to buy a house. In this project, you will prepare a portfolio containing your research regarding a job and housing in your new location. You want to show the portfolio to some friends and relatives so they can help you to decide whether you are making a wise decision. If you prefer, you can prepare a Web page with this information that others can view. Be sure that your portfolio or Web page contains the following information:

• the name of the career you have chosen and the salary range that you can expect for the job in the city of your choice;

• information on housing in the city, such as the range of prices of houses for sale;

• calculations showing what you can afford to borrow to buy a home;

• information about a loan for the amount you intend to borrow. This should include a table showing the amount of the loan, the interest rate, the number of years of the loan, and the payments.

How do I do this?

The Process

To successfully complete this project, you will need to complete the following items. Feel free to write information you find on this sheet to help you get organized.

• Select a career that interests you. Then select at least one city in which you would like to live. If you prefer, you can select several cities and compare the salaries and housing. Search for the expected salary for this career in the city of your choice. *Remember you will just be starting this job(lowest salary) and really think about what you want to do and where you want to live!

• Determine how much you can afford to spend on a home. Some lenders suggest that your monthly house payment should be no more then 25% of your gross monthly income. *I will be making sure that your mortgage payment meets these guidelines. Also remember you are JUST OUT OF COLLEGE or GRAD SCHOOL!!! Some of you medical people will have ENORMOUS loans to think about repaying. Be realistic in the house you choose.

• Search for homes in the location of your choice. Determine whether there are houses available in your price range. (Be sure to include some pictures of your house. We want to see what you like.)

• After you have determined how much money you will need to borrow for a home, choose several interest rates and lengths of time (20 yr versus 30 yr) for the repayment. Find your payment per month and obtain an amortization table. Please print out your amortization table and include it in what you turn in. Yes, it will be several pages.

• Be creative. Add some additional data, information, or even pictures to your portfolio or Web page.

Guidance Question

You will be assigned one of these 7 questions. Please write the question you are assigned here: _______.

Again, you’re answer to this question should be included in your Power Point or on your webpage. Be detailed and give good thought to these questions.

1. What additional costs are involved in owning a home?

2. What other expenses must you budget for each month from your paycheck?

3. How do salaries vary from area to area in the United States? Research and compare salaries for several areas.

4. How does the cost of homes vary from area to area in the United States? Research and compare home prices for several areas.

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of owning your own home?

6. How do various taxes affect your income? Consider federal income tax, state income tax, property tax, and sales taxes.

7. What type(s) of insurance must you purchase as a homeowner?

8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of longer—term versus shorter—term loans, for example, a 15 versus a 30—year loan?

Lesson Questions Name ___________________

(Taken from webquest and copied to make it easier for your use on this project.)

These need to be included when you turn in your project. You may come in for help on these questions but you are expected to do most of the work on your own. You may include these answers on your Power Point. It is also helpful to use TI Connect to make the scatter plots and include them in your work. You may also choose to use Excel.

Lesson 1—3

Ms. Martin was researching the costs of financing $125,000 for a home. She found that the monthly payment for a 6.875% loan for 30 years would be $821.16 per month. She found that the monthly payment for a 6.875% loan for 20 years would be $959.77 per month.

1) Write and solve an equation to find the amount of interest she would pay altogether for the 30-year loan.

2) Write and solve an equation to find the amount of interest she would pay altogether for the 20-year loan.

3) For which loan would she pay less interest? How much would she save with that loan?

4) A loan officer tells Ms. Martin that her payment should be no more than 25% of her gross monthly income (income before taxes). How much must Ms. Martin's gross yearly salary be in order to borrow $125,000 for each loan?

Lesson 2—5

Refer to the Exercise in Lesson 1—3. Ms. Martin receives the following amortization table showing her first twelve payments for the $125,000 20-year loan at 6.875%. Each payment is $959.77. Column three shows the amount of each payment that is interest, column four shows the amount of each payment that is principal, and column five shows the loan balance.

1) Make a scatter plot of the data where the x-values are the payment number (column 1) and the y-values are the balance of the loan (column 5).

2) Write the equation for a line of fit for the scatter plot in part a. What does the slope represent?

3) This table shows the balance due on Ms. Martin's loan at the end of each year for 20 years. Make a scatter plot of the data where the x-values are the year numbers and the y-values are the balances due at the end of each year.

4) Write the equation for a line of fit for the scatter plot in part c. What does the slope represent?

5) Why are the equations of the lines in part b and part d different?

6) Consider the two scatter plots. Do you think a linear equation is a good model for each set of data? Why or why not?

Lesson 3—2

Mr. Pearson was researching loans for $150,000. He chose a rate of 6.25% for 15 years. Each payment is $1286.13. The table shows the balance for his loan at the end of each year.

1) Make a scatter plot for the data where the x-values are the year numbers and the y-values are the balances due at the end of each year. Find an equation for a best—fit line for the data.

2) Refer to the Exercise in Lesson 2—5. Mr. Pearson wants to know if his loan balance and Ms. Martin's loan balance will ever be approximately equal at the same time before the final payment is made. An equation for Ms. Martin's loan where x represents the year number and y represents the loan balance is y = -6089.8x + 136,558. Determine when the balances will be the same, if ever.

Lesson 4—4

Two loan balances can be approximated by the equations given in the table. The time x is in years.

1) Use Matrices and the inverse matrix to find when the loan balances will be approximately the same for the two loans before the final payment is made.

2) What will the approximate balance of each loan be at that time?

3) Why might your estimate of the time when the loan balances will be the same be somewhat inaccurate?

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