The Neanderthal Problem
10 reasons why I LOVE this problem:
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It’s a real problem.
It’s motivated by contemporary science.
It’s accessible to students.
It takes a while for students to solve.
The initial problem naturally motivates other explorations.
It provides a good example of a non-linear relationship. (One
percent contamination does not correspond to one percent
error in age estimate.)
It surprises students.
It plants seeds of understanding of some calculus principles,
including limiting asymptotic behavior, and local linearity.
It makes students ask you for logarithms.
It requires students to figure some things out without explicit
instructions.