In this issue of Math in the News we look at the Monarch Butterfly Migration with new data since our last investigation of it. For more math resources go to www.media4math.com.

1. Math in the News
In a recent issue we looked at
the Great Monarch Butterfly
Migration. See the 9/2/12 issue.
In this issue we look at new
data from migration maps to
calculate the average speed of
the butterflies in their migration.
Butterflies are tagged before
their journey and along the way
scientists note the locations of The Butterfly Migration: UPDATE
the tagged butterflies. Let’s look
at the data and calculate!

2. Math in the News
Watch this amazing
PBS video to learn
more about the
Monarch butterfly’s
migration from
Canada to Mexico.
http://video.pbs.org
/video/1063682334
/

3. Math in the News
Go to this Web site
to find the migration
maps.
http://www.learner.
org/jnorth/maps/mo
narch_peak_fall2012
.html

4. Math in the News
Click on the “Peak Migration” link and
zoom in on the map. Note the different
colored dots.

5. Math in the News
• Take different
measurements
between the
yellow dots (Aug
30 – Sept 5) and
the reddish dots
(Sept 13 – Sept
19).
• These dots
represent peak
appearances of
butterflies over a
20-day period.

6. Math in the News
Calculate the average speed of the
migration per day using this formula.

7. Math in the News
Calculate the
average daily speed
for all your
measurements. Find
the mean and
median of these
values.
Over the 2000-mile
trek the butterflies
average 50 mi/day.
How do your
calculations
compare?