Education Technology


What is a Therm? Natural Gas Costs

Activity Overview

This activity relates mathematics to the real world - a utility bill. Students will use spreadsheets, make scatterplots, find a linear regression, find the sum and mean of data, and relate their results to the utility bill.

Before the Activity

The teacher will need to download both the instruction sheet and the student results sheet. The TE for the student result sheet is also included. Students need to be somewhat familiar with entering data in spreadsheets, typing formulas, and interpreting results.

During the Activity

The teacher should decide if students can work individually or as partners. Circulate through the room checking on student results. As students finish each step, the teacher may ask a student or group to share their results with the class. The teacher may want the student results TE as a guide to use.