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The Up Up and Away Project

up-movie_orig.jpeg

Project Description

The Disney Pixar movie UP featured a wilderness scout named Russell and a reluctant elderly adventurer named Carl.  One of the iconic scenes is seeing an innumerable throng of balloons erupt out of Carl's house as it began floating away. 

Our project aimed to see how feasible
levitating a house with balloons was using math (systems of equations) and computer programming.  We followed the steps below. 

Student Work

Once students calculated their own mathematical system of equations for their balloons, they designed a computer program.   

The program below asks the user if they want to use balloons to
levitate:

  • a house

  • a person

  • a piano

  • a car


The user interacts and chooses an option.  The program also takes into consideration costs and the user's budget.  (NOTE:  The first part of the video showcases the code students wrote)

Similar to the previous computer program, this program asks for user input.  In this case, the user can choose the types of balloons as well as the item to levitate.  It also shows the cost of the endeavor.  (NOTE:  The first part of the video showcases the code students wrote)

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