Snacking Rationally

Have you ever wondered what’s really in your favorite snack?

Introduction

How do you know if you're getting the right nutrients or just eating a lot of sugar? Math isn’t just for the classroom—it can help you break down food labels, balance meals, and even plan a diet that keeps you healthy and energized! This cycle, you’ll become a Mathematical Nutritionist, using math to analyze what you eat and create a meal plan that fuels your body the right way. Let’s crunch the numbers—literally!

Numbers can be really cool and useful, but when you put them together, the magic happens. We will take a look at how numbers interact to create new ones through addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and more. We’ll explore percents to read, example daily value % on nutrition labels, to understand how numbers compare and scale in real-world situations.

Essential Questions

• How can we use math to better understand what we eat and make smarter, healthier food choices?
• What does a balanced, math-supported meal plan look like?
• What are some real scenarios where rational numbers are applied?
• How do negative and positive numbers interact in different operations?
• How can the rules of operations with rational numbers be applied to real-life situations?
• How is the percent increase or decrease calculated?
• What is the percent error, and how is it calculated?

Learning Objectives

• Compare various positive and negative numbers.
• Perform operations on positive and negative numbers (add, subtract, multiply, and divide).
• Represent rational numbers on a number line.
• Perform operations on decimals, fractions, and mixed numbers.
• Find the percent of a number and determine what percent one number is of another.
• Calculate the percent increase or decrease and the percent error.