Let's Talk About Math!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Homework

Homework trouble-

One of the problems on the homework took me a couple times to fully understand. This problem was one where you had to calculate a person's grade point average. I don't know why this was so difficult for me but the help me solve this problem option on our homework really helped me. I was very grateful for that option. In the end I was just making stupid little mistakes. I often miss problems cause I make little mistakes. I am learning that especially when working with children is is important to do all of the little things right so that I will be able to teach my students those same habits.

10-3

Mean-measures central tendency. The number commonly used to characterize a set of data is the arithmetic mean, frequently called the average.

Medians- The value exactly in the middle of an ordered set of numbers is the median.

Mode- The set of data sometimes reported as a measure of central tendency, but when it is reported in that form it is frequently being used. The mode is the data that appears most often.

Below is a link from Khan Academy that explains mean, median and mode again if anyone has any question on how to find any of these.

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/probability/descriptive-statistics/central_tendency/v/mean-median-and-mode

10-2 Continued..

Box and Whisker- I didn't understand what a box and whisker plot was at first. I didn't get why this type of plot was needed or what it was used for. Mainly I didn't understand what information you would use to make one. After the second class on learning how to make one of these I began to understand that this would be beneficial in the business world. Below I have put in a link to a video on Khan Academy that explain how to make a box and whisker plot to help anyone who was also struggling with this concept.

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/probability/descriptive-statistics/Box-and-whisker plots/v/reading-box-and-whisker-plots

10-2

Scatterplots- Used to show the relationship between two sets of data. Sometimes a relationship between variables cannot be easily depicted. Usually have a trend line which is a line that closely fits the data and can be used to describe it. These trend lines can be used to make predictions. (positive, negative, or no association trends)

Line Graphs- Shows a trend of a variable over time. Time is usually on the horizontal axis and the variable is on the vertical axis.

10-1

The graphs in this section were pretty easy to me. Most of them but the circle graph I remembered how to do and were simple to make. The circle graph was one of the harder graphs for me to learn. I didn't remember how you made one so it was like I was learning it all over again. Also, there were a lot more steps involved in creating a circle graph than the others so it was harder for me to remember each step.

Categorical Data- Data that represent characteristics of object or individuals in groups such as black and white, or inside and outside.

Numerical Data- Data collected on numerical variables such as difference in distances.

Dot Plots (line plot) provides quick and simple way of organizing data.

-Outlier: number on a dot plot that is far from the others

-Cluster: isolated group of points

-Gap: a large space between data points

-Mode- data value that occurs most often

Bar Graph- used to compare numbers of data in grouped categories. Order does not matter. Can be used to make comparisons.

Histogram- used to compare numbers of data items grouped in numerical intervals. Order matters

Stem and Leaf plot- number line is usually vertical and digits are used instead of x’s. Cant also be used to compare two sets of related data.

Circle Graph (pie chart)- categorical data is used: part of a whole. Use a central angle- to find take a percent of circle time 360 degrees.

Pictographs- used to represent tallies of categories. A symbol or an icon is used to represent a quantity of an item. Pictographs have a legend to explain what the symbol represents.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

All About Me

Hello everyone! My name is Katie Tomlinson. I am a born and raised Arizona kid. I come from a big family. My parents are still married and I have three siblings. My family is my world and I don't know what I would do without them. I am studying to be a elementary school teacher. In the fall I will be starting the NAU teaching program and I am very excited about it. I hope to one day teach 2nd, 3rd, or 5th grade.