Teacher shows how math can solve crimes
Real-world application of theories a surprise to some
MORIARTY — A bright yellow crime scene tape sectioned off a portion of Jaime Silva’s math classroom at Moriarty High School earlier this year, but the crime in question was totally theoretical.
To help students understand realworld applications of the formulas and calculation processes she was teaching in her pre-calculus and trigonometry classes, she decided to give her students a taste of how math is used in work they would all understand from popular culture.
“It came to me that they all are familiar with shows like ‘CSI’ and ‘Criminal Minds,’” Silva said.
The crime scenario she devised involved a shooting in a parking lot, which had blood splatters, fingerprints and tire tracks. Silva said students then had to learn about the vehicle and suspects from those clues, which requires applying such things as trigonometry ratios to estimate the height of the suspect from the angles of blood splatters.
Mathematical concepts such as amplitude and frequency came into play when the students got to analyze lie detector tests, she said, and geometric concepts were used in fingerprinting.
Caleb Edwards, 17, a junior, said he was surprised by how much math went into making sense out of a crime scene and detective work. For example, he previously had a simplistic idea about how a lie detector test worked — assuming they just looked for spikes in activity, such as increased heart rates. Sorting lies from truths in the test results involved much more graphing and comparative analysis than he anticipated.
Classmate Casey De Lora, 16, also a junior, said he was surprised by how using calculation involving square numbers could tell a lot about the size of a tire just from their tracks.
Both students said the exercise forced them to relearn concepts they had been taught earlier.
“My understanding of how we math every day was so limited,” Edwards said. “Now I know that, yes, you do need to use math in everything, almost.”
Silva said that is what she wanted to get across to the students.
“By putting what they’re taught into real-world applications, maybe it will stick in their minds a little longer,” Silva said.