Desktop Realities: Mathematical Modeling to Solve Real World Problems is a hands-on-videocassette kit that introduces students to mathematical modeling. This program is geared to grades 9-12, although middle school students taking first-year algebra could benefit from it. Students will relate favorably to Sam, the videotape's teenage narrator, as he takes them through four situations that offer opportunities for mathematical modeling and problem solving. The worksheets in the kit take students step-by-step through the solution process. The worksheets include practice in the prerequisites skills for each major problem and extension questions and problems.

The modeling of real-world problems, as presented in the videotape, is extended through the Changing Times, a newspaper that furnishes numerous supplementary problems. As students work through the problems presented in the videotape and newspaper, they explore the right triangle, the Pythagorean theorem, algebraic expressions, trigonometry, the distance formulas, probability, geometric probability, absolute-value inequalities, and linear programming. Most important, they gain an understanding of how mathematics can be used to model and solve real-world problems.

Each problem-solving situation presented in the videotape will take one or two class periods to complete. All the material needed to implement this program is included in the kit. Teachers looking for motivating problem solving activities that reflect the NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (Reston, Va.: The Council, 1989) will find this set of materials an excellent resource.

Larry Wantuck, Broward County Schools, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

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