Does anyone have an idea for a math project?

Question

I need to do a math project on comparing two numbers from the real world (for example, comparing the GDP of two countries) and then write a report on why the numbers relate the way they do. Anyone have any two statistics that would make a good math project, or know of a website that has random, reliable statistics?

Answer 1

I suggest you look at the GDP of China During the Reform period (recently):

Sharp increase in GDP during the reform period
GDP has risen from Rmb362.4 billion in 1978, at the start of the reform period, to Rmb13.7 trillion in 2004 (both figures at current prices).
Individuals have also become richer, with annual GDP per head rising during that time from Rmb379 to Rmb10,502.


http://www.chinability.com/GDP.htm

Then look at the effect it has had on the migrationof the populace from the rural areas to the coastal econmic zones:
The open-door policy implemented over the past seventeen years has made China, since the early 1990s, one of the world’s largest exporters and the second largest recipient country of foreign direct investment (FDI). Both export expansion and FDI have concentrated heavily on the labour-intensive sectors, thus helping to employ large numbers of unskilled workers. At the same time, the open-door policy’s success is so far largely restricted to the coastal regions, in particular a handful of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). This unbalanced development pattern has induced internal migration flows of considerable size.

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/paper/china.htm