Applying Mathematics Through Floor Plan Design

Architectural design allows a landscape (literally) for students to learn and apply mathematics. Through floor plan design, students showcase their understanding of an array of topics such as unit conversion, area and volume calculations, and transformations on various curves. This article describes two particular floor plan activities appropriate to two different levels (Geometry and Precalculus) that utilize two free technologies: Google Sketchup and Mac Grapher software. Readers are invited to explore both of these technologies in their own classroom instruction