MaMath Wise was on the back half of AIT's "Secondary School Television Project" (The other being of course "On the Level"). The series was released in September 1981 an was the first consortia series recorded on videotape, rather than film. Stephanie Edwards, a Los Angeles TV personailitym was the host.
Each episode opened with Edwards explaining a mathmatical concept and showing its use in the 'real world'. The content quickly shifted to one of four scenes - a marina, a farm, a small town, or a city - for a (mostly) humourous dramatization. Characters from the four locales were as follows:
On the farm - Leona Noble, age 15; and brother Paul, age 10
At the Marina - Cynthia McMillian, a sailing instructor; rival Mike Cummings, expert sailor himself; and Myrna Mitchell, a wannabe.
Small Town - Blanca Ortiz, waitress at a Mexican resturant; amd her boyfriend Armondo Munoz, a car mechanic
City - Henry (Apollo) Jackson, backbone of an emerging rock band; and Micki Tenini, the lead singer and sister if an up-and-coming record producer; Myrna Mitchell is the secreteary at Tenini Recording Studios
The major characters frequently criss-crossed from one setting to another. Myrna was tops at this, with Leona and Appolo runners-up.
Some images:
EPISODE GUIDE:
1. Measuring: Measuring Instruments
A Dallas-type plot pits big-business baron Roy Singleton
with a young farm family, the Nobles. For quite a while, Singleton has tried
to take their property, and now he seems to have found the answer. The old deed
set the property line "five chains from the northernmost granite rock."
Singleton and his surveyors have measured, and decided that the property line
should be 100 meters south. Were this to be true, the Noble family would lose
their only access road.
In confidence, Mr. Noble decides that, if the property line is where Singleton
insists, maybe the solution would be to build another access road. Paul and
Leona, the youngest of the Nobles, get a trundle wheel to accurately measure
how long that road would be. But all along, Singleton is watching them–and
plotting.
(Concludes in next episode.)
2. Measuring: Formulas
gs: Roberto Martínez (Himself)
The proposed road for the Noble family is too expensive
to build. When Leona argues that the high price doesn't make sense, she is told
that a road has three dimensions. It would take 23 dump trucks to cart off the
dirt before any gravel could be laid down. None of that would prevent Roy Singleton
from taking over the farm property that he thinks is his.
Still, Mr. and Mrs. Noble want to see the original deed. They telephone Leona
with what appears to be bad news: It's true that the boundary line was five
chains south of "the northernmost granite rock." Given that information,
Leona sets out to calculate the area of the farm. But there's something that
doesn't add up–unless Roy Singleton measured from the wrong rock. Sure
enough, Leona and her brother Paul scout around and, in the presence of Roy
Singleton, find the northernmost granite rock.
3. Comparing: Numerical Comparisons
Armondo, a high-school-aged garage mechanic has just
received a $1,000 check for a job on which he had spent long hours. His girlfriend
wonders what such back-breaking effort is worth.
4. Comparing: Percent
Leona wants to spend a large chunk of money on a knockout
dress for the upcoming prom. The others in her family insist that she think
of a simpler solution, one that will fit her yearly budget. This leads to an
obvious question: what kind of dress can Leona afford to buy? Maybe Leona's
brother can muster an alternative.
5. Comparing: Finding a Common Unit
Cynthia is running a successful business as a sailing
instructor. But the business threatens to stop dead when a new student, Myrna
Mitchell, damages the hull of Cynthia's sailboat. Can she afford a new hull?
Can she afford to have someone look at it after a three-week layover? Or may
another sloution pop up from somewhere else?
6. Comparing: Ratios
Micki Tenini, the sister of an up-and-coming record producer,
is joining a band called the Marveltones. She clashes slightly with the bandleader,
Henry (Apollo) Jackson, who reminds her the proportion of fast songs to slow
songs. In time, Micki agrees to stay with that ratio, and she is delighted to
hear her brother is opening a recording studio.
7. Locating & Interpreting: Organizing Information
After a real-life scene in which health detectives break
down the cause of diseases, the story of a band and a recording studio picks
up from the previous episode. The new secretary can't keep track of things on
her cluttered desk; the band is frequently chased out of the studio because
someone else has booked it. But when the government calls for an examination
of the band's expenditures, not all the receipts are in the same place. Following
a search, the bandleader and lead singer arrange all the receipts by categories
and type it up for their meeting with the auditor. In the end, the band doesn't
owe any moey. What they're left with are some organizing lessons.
8. Locating & Interpreting: Graphs
A car accident has prompted the driver, Blanca Ortiz,
to take action. She is deeply upset for the boy who had to cross the busy street
to reach a playground. It was nobody's fault that the accident occurred–or
was it? Upon doing research, the driver draws up the graph to show the increase
in traffic on that street. She also learns that the local government turned
down earlier proposals to put a stoplight at the playground. It's just about
all the evidence she needs to make her case clear to the city council.
9. Locating & Interpreting: Maps, Charts and Tables
gs: Dan Henderson (Himself)
Cynthia accepts a sailing challenge from her old nemesis.
At the insistence of a sea captain, Cynthia charts out the proposed race route
and the tide tables. Thus she plots a few sailing smarts to win the race.
10. Predicting: Probability
gs: Doris Foster (Herself)
Micki and the Marveltones put a lot of money and effort
into recording a single, hoping that a radio station will play it. But the record
gets lost in a slew of submissions from local bands (this is Los Angeles, after
all). After an exhaustive study, the Marveltones' only clue turns out to be
the biggest arrow of all. It would be easier to get on radio if they record
a slow song, because it had a greater chance of being played.
11. Predicting: Choosing a Sample
The city council wants to pass a bill that would prohibit
commercial use of the marina. That would sacrifice Cynthia's sailing instructions.
But just who is in favor of restricting use of the marina, and why? It takes
a while for Cynthia and her friends to determine who to ask. As a result of
that sample, Cynthia and her friends discover that the real impetus for the
bill was that marina members were sick of an old sea dog's clunky boat. But
he wants to show a council member that his boat is getting cleaned up.
12. Predicting: Averages
Tony has bought a car from a local dealer. Thinking he
has got a bargain based on the average gas mileage on this model, Tony finds
himself at the gasoline pumps more often than he would like. At about the same
time, his daughter Blanca realizes that her boyfriend is still breaking his
back fixing cars. Both there are different kinds of averages.