The Airplane Problem

This article presents data that describe some characteristics of airplanes presently flying in the United States. Students can investigate these data using principles and techniques from Algebra 1 through Precalculus and Statistics.

Many open-ended questions focusing on interpretation and communication of the information extracted from the data can be posed to students at both introductory and advanced algebra levels. All of the data are average values, since different airlines use different configurations for their airplanes.