Exploring Corn Through Mathematics

Grades: Upper elementary through university.

Examine a sample one-square-meter of corn in your field away from a path. Count the number of ears of corn on a few stalks. Estimate the average number of ears of corn per stalk. Estimate the number of stalks in your square meter of corn. Examine a different square meter of corn and compare your estimates to that above. What differences did you find, and why? What factors influence how productive corn is? Compute the number of stalks and ears of corn in one square kilometer of corn. If a county had 1000 square kilometers of corn under cultivation, how many stalks and ears of corn would it harvest?