About a month ago, this newspaper printed a letter to the editor from a professor at Quest University soliciting problems from the local community.
Since the publication of that letter, we received multiple problems from the community that were used in a modeling class. Each provided an intriguing challenge for us to unpack and explore.
Two of these problems ended up being the source for two groups’ final projects.
One of these proposed problems was the cost of reusing plastic grocery bags. Do you actually use less energy to wash and reuse plastic bags compared to just buying new ones? Turns out yes, but only if you are rinsing bags for anywhere under 48 seconds each.
Once you pass this 48-second mark, however, you are actually wasting energy and would use less energy just buying a newly produced bag.
Another problem presented by someone in the community was the cost associated with placing portable toilet facilities in high-demand areas in Squamish.
This concern was raised primarily to address the needs of vehicle residents within Squamish and to tackle improper human waste disposal.
One student in our class investigated the cost of either renting or purchasing these facilities for a five-year period and found that the cost for the District of Squamish to purchase and maintain 10 portable toilet facilities is about $143,000.
It is important to consider these options as it allows Squamish to prioritize the beautiful environment we cherish and look out for our fellow residents in movable homes.
Overall, this course has taught us to question the confidence we have in the models we create and encounter. The world is so magnificently complicated that it is absolutely impossible to account for every idiosyncrasy.
Thus, the course became a practice in manipulating the scope of our problem, the assumptions we made, and the variables we considered.
While we did not end up modeling all of the problems, we deeply appreciate the time you took to send these interesting questions our way.
They were the inspiration for many hours of prodding our brains and watching interesting stuff come out. This was also our first stab at mathematically modeling complex problems and we are grateful to have been provided the opportunity to connect with the community of this wonderful town in which we are each lucky to live, learn, work, and play.
If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact Dr. Matthews at asia.matthews@questu.ca.
Asia Matthews, Umayeer Milky, Aubrey Crowder, and Florence Mensah on behalf of the Quest University December 2020 Modelling Class
Squamish
