Jessica Giles

Math 4161 B

Math at the Mall

This activity will introduce to students how mathematics is everywhere, even at the mall. Many students go to the mall and shop but they don’t think about the structure of the mall and the stores or how mathematics are involved. After this activity, hopefully students will look at their local shopping malls in a totally different way. The students will look at sizes of stores in the mall in different categories. They also will look at floor space and percentage of space for stores in each category or section of the mall.

This activity is appropriate for students in grades 5-8 and is not a difficult activity for students who are at the appropriate grade level. It is a fun activity that relates to somewhere most students have been before.

Landrie has visited her local mall many times but she had never thought about it from a mathematical perspective until today. Landrie is asking for your help in answering her questions about the Colonial Mall in Valdosta, Ga, where she loves to shop. She is wondering about how the size of the stores in each section match up to the total size of the mall. She is also wondering what the percentage of each section to the whole mall is. To start the activity let’s look at the different categories the stores have been placed in: Accessories, Beauty, Health & Personal Care, Cards/Gifts/Books, Departments Stores, Electronics, Entertainment, Jewelry, Men’s Apparel, Restaurants, Shoes, Specialty Stores and services, Sporting Goods, and Women’s Apparel. Also, the letter corresponding to the mall map has been placed beside each store. This will be used later in our activity.

Store Names / Map No. / Store Names / Map No.
Accessories / Restaurants/Eateries
Claire’s Boutique / D / A Latte Love / G
KK’s Sliver Secret / D / American Deli / D
Sassie, Etc. / F / Chick-fil-A / G
Beauty, Health & Personal Care / China Garden / G
Bath & Body Works / I / Great American Cookie Co. / C
General Nutrition Center / F / Great Steak and Potato / D
Master Cuts / H / Pretzel Time / G
Merle Norman / E / Ruby Tuesday / A
Nails 1st / F / Todino / I
Regis Hairstyles / A / Shoes
Cards/Gifts/Books / Journey’s / I
Briar Patch / C / Payless Shoes / F
Glamour Shots / B / The Shoe Department / D
Jan’s Hallmark / I / Specialty Stores & Services
Spencer Gifts / C / Belk Kids / B
Waldenbooks / D / Dollar Tree / B
Department Stores / Fashion Scents / I
Belk / BELK / Play by Play / C
JCPenney / JCPENNEY / Southeastern Wireless / H
Sears / SEARS / Tradewinds Airbush / A
Electronics/CDs/DVDs / Sporting Goods
FYE / G / Footlocker / C
Gamestop / H / Hibbett Sporting Goods / D
Radio Shack / H / Lady Footlocker / H
Entertainment / Sports Addition / H
Carousel / CENTER / Women’s Apparel
Fun Factory / G / Aeropostale / I
Jewelry / American Eagle / I
Friedman’s Jewelers / F / Body Shop / C
Kay Jewelers / G / Gadzooks / A
Zales Jewelers / D / Lane Bryant / I
Men’s Apparel / New York & Company / I
Aeropostale / I / PacSun / C
American Eagle / I / Rue 21 / F
Leader’s Men’s Wear / H / Victoria’s Secret / F
PacSun / C
Rue 21 / F

A. Now using the chart above, from the total number of businesses and shops in the mall, calculate the percentage of total businesses in each category. Remember even though one store may be in two categories, only count it once. Then add up all of the totals to see how close it is to 100%. If the answer is more, explain why.

Example: The Restaurant/Eateries category has 9 shops. From the total 71 shops, what is the percentage? 9/54=0.1667 0.1667 x 100% = 16.67 %

Do this exercise for each of the categories from the above table.

Accessories ______

· Claire's Boutique

· 229-242-3029

· D

· KK's Silver Secrets

· 229-249-0704

· D

· Sassie, Etc

· 229-257-0410

· F

Beauty, Health & Personal Care ______

Cards/Gifts/Books______

· Bath & Body Works

· 229-259-9705

· I

· General Nutrition Center

· 229-245-7502

· F

· Master Cuts

· 229-244-4696

· H

· Merle Norman

· 229-244-4330

· E

· Nails 1st

· 229-241-1888

· F

· Regis Hairstylist

· 229-242-3696

· A

· Briar Patch

· 229-247-0552

· C

· Glamour Shots

· 229-244-1284

· B

· Jan's Hallmark

· 229-257-0824

· I

· Spencer Gifts

· 229-253-8441

· C

· Things Remembered

· 229-244-3225

· H/I

· Waldenbooks

· 229-247-0332

· D

Department Stores ______

· Belk

· 229-244-6391

· BELK

· JC Penney

· 229-244-4150

· JCPenney

· Sears

· 229-249-7555

· Sears

Electronics/Records/Tapes ______

· FYE

· 229-247-3548

· G

· Gamestop

· 229-242-5577

· H

· Radio Shack

· 229-247-0710

· H

Entertainment ______

· Carousel

· 229-242-0457

· N/A

· Fun Factory

· 229-247-8322

· G

Jewelry ______

· Fashion Scents

· 229-293-9151

· H/I

· Friedman's Jewelers

· 229-247-7724

· F

· Gold Center

· 229-244-3900

· C/F

· Kay Jewelers

· 229-259-0577

· G

· Nijem's Too

· 229-293-0410

· C/D

· Velvet Railroad

· 229-219-0400

· F/I

· Zales Jewelers

· 229-247-0410

· D

Men's Apparel ______

· Aeropostale

· 229-249-9403

· I

· American Eagle

· 229-245-7414

· I

· Leader's Men's Wear

· 229-247-9272

· H

· PacSun

· 229-219-7339

· C

· Rue 21

· 229-242-0209

· F

Restaurants/Eateries ______

· A Latte Love

· 229-247-2060

· G

· American Deli

· 229-249-9001

· D

· Chick-Fil-A

· 229-247-2487

· G

· China Garden

· 229-244-9169

· G

· Great American Cookie Co.

· 229-242-9644

· C

· Great Steak & Potato

· 229-247-0071

· D

· Pretzel Time

· 229-293-0093

· G

· Ruby Tuesday

· 229-247-8947

· A

· Todino

· 229-245-7728

· I

Shoes ______

· Journey's

· 229-249-9923

· I

· Payless Shoes

· 229-247-7375

· F

· The Shoe Department

· 229-242-8031

· D

Specialty Stores & Services______

· Belk Kids

· 229-244-6391

· B

· Customer Service

· 229-242-0457

· D/G

· Dollar Tree

· 229-245-7522

· B

· Fashion Scents

· 229-293-9151

· I

· Play by Play

· 229-253-1962

· C

· PNC Bank ATM

· G/F

· Southeastern Wireless

· 229-247-5344

· H

· Sprint

· 229-244-5633

· C/F

· Sunglass Hut

· 229-333-9610

· H/I

· TradeWinds Airbrush

· 229-333-8800

· A

· Wireless Dimensions

· 229-219-1199

· C/F

Sporting Goods ______

· Footlocker

· 229-247-4761

· C

· Hibbett Sporting Goods

· 229-244-3111

· D

· Lady Footlocker

· 229-242-0034

· H

· Sports Addition

· 229-245-0377

· H

Women's Apparel ______

· Aeropostale

· 229-249-9403

· I

· American Eagle

· 229-245-7414

· I

· Body Shop

· 229-247-7914

· C

· Gadzooks

· 229-257-0096

· A

· Lane Bryant

· 229-244-0645

· I

· New York & Company

· 229-242-6269

· I

· PacSun

· 229-219-7339

· C

· Rue 21

· 229-242-0209

· F

· Victoria's Secret

· 229-245-0111

· F

B. Using the given circle above, create a circle graph for the mall, showing the

Percentages of each category. Use your imagination to make this graph fun. If you have colored pencils use them to color in each part of the graph.

C. After creating the graph, analyze the data, and write a statement describing the information that is presented by the graph. Does the information in this graph show who most of the stores in the mall are geared towards or who may shop more at the mall.

Next, you will be looking at the size of the mall and the scale that is used to create a map of the mall. Comparisons will be made between the actual mall and the scaled map to discover what the scale is. Below is a map of the Colonial Mall of Valdosta:

The following measurements were given for each section of the mall. As you see the mall is divided into sections from A-I, these sections are not the same as the categories that we used above. So listed below are the sections of the mall with the stores listed below:

Store Names / Store Names
Section A / Rue 21
Regis Hairstyles / Friedman’s Jewelers
Ruby Tuesday / Payless Shoes
Tradewinds Airbush. / Victoria’s Secret
Gadzooks / Section G
Section B / A Latte Love
Glamour Shots / Fun Factory
Belk Kids / Chick-fil-A
Dollar Tree / Kay Jewelers
Section C / China Garden
Briar Patch / Pretzel Time
Great American Cookie Co. / FYE
Play by Play / Todino
Spencer Gifts / Section H
Footlocker / MasterCuts
Body Shop / Southwestern Wireless
PacSun / Leader’s Men’s Wear
Section D / Lady Footlocker
Claire’s Boutique / Sports Addition
KK’s Sliver Secret / Gamestop
Great Steak and Potato / Radio Shack
American Deli / Section I
Hibbett Sporting Goods / Bath & Body Works
The Shoe Department / Todino
Zales Jewelers / Aeropostale
Waldenbooks / American Eagle
Section E / Lane Bryant
Merle Norman / New York & Company
Section F / Jan’s Hallmark
General Nutrition Center / Journey’s
Nails 1st / Fashion Scents
Sassie, Etc

The total square footage of the entire mall is 122,000sqft. Now let’s look at the map of the mall from above to get an idea of what the scale may be to create this map. Looking at the map we can see that some of the floor space isn’t used for stores but if you have ever been to the mall, you have seen that the space in the center is used for other things. Plants, vehicles from local dealerships, and kiosks of jewelry stores and specialty shops are all in this unused space. Each store except for the three major departments stores are the same size. Each store is 1,800 sqft. The department stores are 3,000 sqft each. The remaining 6,800 sqft is in the open space and storage space. Estimate what you think will be the scale for the mall map and explain why you think this is true.

D. Using the information given above, what is the percent of the size of each store to the malls total size? Now figure the percentage of each section of the mall to the total mall size. It looks on the map that section I is the largest. Is this true based on your calculations? Add up the totals, do they equal 100%? If not, why?

E. What is the percentage of unused space to the malls total size?

F. Create a bar graph showing the amount and percentage of floor space for each section.

Now after looking at all of these different views of a mall, look around next time you go shopping whether it is at Colonial Mall in Valdosta or another mall. Do you think all malls have the same percentages as the ones calculated in this activity? Do you think the scale is the same for other malls?

Answer Key for Math at the Mall

The total is 111%, this is because the percentages were rounded up.

Example: The Restaurant/Eateries category has 9 shops. From the total 71 shops, what is the percentage? 9/54=0.1667 0.1667 x 100% = 16.67 %

Do this exercise for each of the categories from the above table.

Accessories 5.56%

· Claire's Boutique

· 229-242-3029

· D

· KK's Silver Secrets

· 229-249-0704

· D

· Sassie, Etc

· 229-257-0410

· F

Beauty, Health & Personal Care 11.11%

Cards/Gifts/Books 7.4%

· Bath & Body Works

· 229-259-9705

· I

· General Nutrition Center

· 229-245-7502

· F

· Master Cuts

· 229-244-4696

· H

· Merle Norman

· 229-244-4330

· E

· Nails 1st

· 229-241-1888

· F

· Regis Hairstylist

· 229-242-3696

· A

· Briar Patch

· 229-247-0552

· C

· Glamour Shots

· 229-244-1284

· B

· Jan's Hallmark

· 229-257-0824

· I

· Spencer Gifts

· 229-253-8441

· C

· Things Remembered

· 229-244-3225

· H/I

· Waldenbooks

· 229-247-0332

· D

Department Stores 5.56%

· Belk

· 229-244-6391

· BELK

· JC Penney

· 229-244-4150

· JCPenney

· Sears

· 229-249-7555

· Sears

Electronics/Records/Tapes 5.56%

· FYE

· 229-247-3548

· G

· Gamestop

· 229-242-5577

· H

· Radio Shack

· 229-247-0710

· H

Entertainment 3.7%

· Carousel

· 229-242-0457

· N/A

· Fun Factory

· 229-247-8322

· G

Jewelry 5.56%

· Fashion Scents

· 229-293-9151

· H/I

· Friedman's Jewelers

· 229-247-7724

· F

· Gold Center

· 229-244-3900

· C/F

· Kay Jewelers