Cybermarketing

During the time I was working in cyberspace, I accomplished a lot of reflection, learning, and decision making. Cyberspace has surely motivated me into realizing the need for math in my life. My realization has definitely encouraged me to think carefully and to consider the "rip offs" in the marketplace that I could come by in my future.

While in the cyber-marketplace, I looked at homes that were for sale. I thought it was quite amusing at first. I could see the pictures of the houses for sale. This caught my attention and caused me to stay focused on my project, which was to do comparative shopping.

Since the homes were so very attractive, I wasn't thinking about prices (not at first), but when I began to graph the square footage of the homes (not the land), and the price ranges associated with the homes, I began to see that some of the asking prices were ridiculously high.

I constructed a graph to more clearly tie square footage to prices of homes. I suddenly realized that you actually seem to pay more per square foot for smaller homes that for larger homes. I had never even thought about such a connection before. Size matters when you talk about the cost of a home. I also learned the importance of math in making big decisions in life. To be honest, I had always thought that the only things I had to look for in a house were its beauty and its total cost.

Thanks to my cybermarketing experiences, when I get old enough to look for a home I'm going to very carefully compare that beautiful, small home's cost per square foot with the simple, big home's cost per square foot. I feel much better prepared now to go looking for my own home. Now I know what I'm looking for and what I'm not.

Learning about mathematics using cyberspace is much more encouraging and motivating than a teacher in my algebra classroom could ever be. My interest in math has been triggered by cyberspace; I think some students would understand the importance of math better. And I think it would help them learn better. I sure did.

Esther Malabed