The True Cost Of the 12 Days Of Christmas

 

Every year, one of the songs you hear during the Christmas season is the 12 days of Christmas with it's golden rings, drummers drumming, and all the other pieces.  Every year, someone figures out the cost of what these gifts might set someone back.  Every year since 1984, PNC Financial group has published the current cost of obtaining these gifts and compares it with the previous year.

Due to the pandemic, PNC was unable to calculate the cost of nine ladies dancing, ten lords a leaping, eleven pipers piping, and twelve drummers drumming.  PNC uses prices from performances to calculate these items but with performances being cancelled, they are unable to get the current cost.k. Consequently, the cost for this dropped by about 38% since last year.

The list breaks down the cost of each item and explains whether it went up, stayed the same, or went down and why.  For instance, it tells us that it will cost $58.00 to hire the maids-a-milking since the federal minimum wage has not changed since last year but the cost for two turtle doves is running $450 this year, an increase of about 50% since last year.  

In addition, it lists the cost of the 12 days since 1984 when they first started doing it.  This means students can take the data with 1984 being the base year or 0 and they can create a line of best fit via linear or quadratic regression and come up with the equation.  A practical application of data in a fun manner.  Furthermore, at the bottom of the page, they have a graph showing the total cost of the gifts over the years but they also allow you to look at the changing cost of each individual item.

This is wonderful information because students have to read and interpret data.  The information also allows students to calculate the percent change from year to year for individual items, find the best fit equation using regression and a few allow students to use piecewise functions to mathematically explain the line.

Another activity this particular graph allows is for students to take a specific year and use the data to break down what percent of the whole cost each item represents both now and historically.  The information could be used to create bar graphs for each year to show how the individual items have changed or remained constant.  IF you look at the historical cost of the eight maids a milking, it is based on the Federal minimum wage and thus remains fairly constant.  The graph itself looks like steps, so students can see there are situations where step graphs appear in real life. 

This one page offers students a chance to practice mathematical modeling, graph interpretation, data use and interpretation that are all real life.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.