ABSTRACT The typical trigonometry, precalculus, or calculus student might not agree that logarithms are hot stuff, but we drew motivation from chili peppers to help students get a better taste for logarithms. The Scoville scale, which ranges from 0 to 16,000,000, has been the sole quantitative metric to measure the pungency (spiciness) of peppers since its creation in 1912. With justification from the Weber–Fechner Law (perception is the logarithm of stimulus), students were challenged to create a more palatable rating scale for chili peppers. The first author devised a simple but effective 0–10 rating scale for peppers, calling this new rating system the “Ferven scale.” While the Weber–Fechner Law has been applied to the senses of touch, sight, and hearing, this paper presents the first known application of this law to the sense of taste.
展开▼
