AP Stat: Three problems from class.

Here are the three problems from the presentation that you are to complete by Friday.

3) How many states would you have to visit to have a z-score of 1.5? (Use the class mean and standard deviation from your class survey to answer this question.)

4)  Data on the weights of cocker spaniels has a mean weight of 21.2 pounds. A cocker spaniel weighing 18.3 pounds has a z-score of -1.1. What is the standard deviation for this data?

5) Data for one fifth grade class' long jumps has a standard deviation of 1.6 feet. One fifth grade girl who jumped 7.8 feet has a z-score of 1.3. What is the mean distance jumped for fifth graders in this class?

AP Stat: Comparing Data Distributions

When Comparing Centers
Use the same measure
    - means vs means
    - medians vs medians
Describe differences
    - which is bigger, smaller
    - how much difference is there

When Comparing Spreads
Use the same measure
    - std dev vs std dev
    - IQR vs IQR
Describe differences
    - which is broader or narrower
    - how much difference is there

When Comparing Shapes
Note symmetry differences, outliers, gaps, and unusual features

AP Stat: Online Tutorials and Exam Preparation

I came across Stat Trek and thought it could be a valuable resource as you progress through this year's course.

If you go to the tutorial, we have covered the first session under Exploring Data and are in the middle of the second session. This is just another presentation of the same material, so you may find it helpful to have a different presentation if you don't understand something from class.

AP Stat: Constructing an Ogive

We were a little rushed at  the end on the actual Ogive construction, so I put together a series of images to illustrate how to finish off the Ogive.

This first illustration shows the Cummulative Percentage Histogram, which is what we had in class. I am using the M&M data posted on the blog and looking at how many M&M's each color has in a bag.

Next, put a dot at the end value of each bin. You can place the dot at the position of the maximum value in each bin to be more precise.

Finally, erase the boxes and connect each dot with a line.

You now have a rough curve of the data distribution. This graph is your Ogive.

Please note that you can construct Ogive graphs using cummulative counts rather than cummulative percentages. It just depends on what you want to say about your distribution.

AP Stat: Podcast for Chapter 4 Posted

The Chapter 4 podcast is now available. You should listen to the podcast to be sure you understand all the important elements of the chapter.

AP Stat: Study Habits Article

I saw this article in the Denver Post a couple of days ago. Besides citing research studies (yes, another example of a statistics-based article), the article provides information on cognitive learning research and ways to maximize the effectiveness of your studying. I think it has some good suggestions to help you maximize your learning.

Forget what you know about study habits, Denver Post, 9/9/2010.

AP Stat: Summary of Writing Statistical Content

I thought you all might like to have the Wordle that I created from the comments on the statistics-based newspaper article. It really is a good summary of what you should be doing in any statistical writing.

AP Stat: Calculators in Class

Now that we are starting to look at graphs for quantitative data, you need to be sure to have your graphing calculator in class every day. We will also be working through more problems from the book, so you should bring your textbook to class as well.

AP Stat: Chapter 3 Podcast now available

The Chapter 3 podcast is now available. You can use this as a review vehicle to be sure you understand all of the important concepts in Chapter 3.