Maths for Planet Earth: Climate Based Questions for students and teachers

A team of students, Madeleine Ratcliffe, Lucy Fellingham and John Allen, and academics at the Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, and Department of Physics, University of Oxford, developed the Maths for Planet Earth questions. They work on climate and energy issues and are passionate about inspiring young people to join the fight against climate change.

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The world needs brainy mathematicians to help tackle climate change.

The aim of these questions is to integrate climate change into the school curriculum beyond the usual suspects of geography and environmental science.

These questions closely follow example problems from GCSE and A level past exams and were developed using existing exam questions. The maths skills tested in the question remained unchanged, but the context of the question was adapted to a climate change theme.

Wiring Up A Net-Zero Home
A Level
Wiring up a Net-Zero Home
A homeowner decides to make their house carbon-neutral. They place solar panels on the roof, which then connect o their mains circuit via a
Mountainside Monitoring
A Level
Mountainside Monitoring
3 CO₂ monitors K, L and M are placed on a mountain side The vector (overrightarrow{text{KL}} = 3mathbf{i -}6mathbf{k}) and (overrightarrow{text{LM}} = 2mathbf{i} +
A Climate Aware Citizen
A Level
A Climate Aware Citizen
A person decides in 2020 that they want to completely eradicate their carbon footprint in 20 months. Following this decision, they begin to use
City Emission Levels
A Level
City Emission Levels
The emissions of a city from 2000 to 2012 are modelled by the equation (pleft( t right) = frac{1}{10}lnleft( t + 1 right) –
A Carbon Conscious Company
A Level
A Carbon Conscious Company
The curve [y = e^{-0.5x} + 4x – 0.1x^{2} + 2] Can be used to describe a company’s net emissions, in tons of CO2,
UK Carbon Dioxide Emissions
A Level
UK Carbon Dioxide Emissions
The rate of CO2 emissions for the UK was measured every 5 years, from 1990 to 2015. The results are given in the table
Storing Sequestrates
A Level
Storing Sequestrates
A manufacturer produces a tank for storing liquid CO2 underground. The tank is modelled in the shape of a hollow vertical circular cylinder closed
A Total Emissions Goal
A Level
A Total Emissions Goal
The warming caused by carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions over any given period is proportional to the total amount of CO₂ emitted over that period.
A Carbon negative company
A Level
A Carbon Negative Company
A small company’s carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions since 2000 can be modelled using the parametric equations [12x = t, y = 8t – 4.9t^{2}
A Quadratic Emissions Model
A Level
A Quadratic Emmisions Model
The graph shows the rate of CO2 emissions per year since 1800. A climate scientist thinks that a quadratic curve could be fitted to

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