Our Calculus Application Technology (CAT) group from left to right: Jacob, Gaiane, Angela, and Tony.

CAT was tasked to learn the mathematics of the St. Louis Arch.

In this picture (thanks to searsportraits.com) you can see the actual Gateway Arch as well as the Old Courthouse. We saw both on a field trip with Mr. Thayer. The calculations for the Arch can be completely derived from second semester calculus knowledge.

In the library of the Old Courthouse we had the opportunity to look at some of the actual blueprints used for the Arch. We built a mathematical chart in our group similar to what the builders of the Arch would have used. That chart included data like centroid x and y coordinates, centriod elevation, area of the equalatiral triangles the Arch can be broken up into, area, height, angle, etc.

What took us a few days to do with current technology would have taken the real designers months. We think its safe to say that our group learned to respect the work that went into the design of the Arch while still gaining an understanding through modern technology.