Download a set of instructions written in English about how to calculate the mean and standard deviation of a data set.

This has been set to a group of students as homework (old fashioned term, but that is what it was) and I will evaluate the success of the mission in 10 days or so it being half term next week. The numerical answers are mean 101.9 and standard deviation 6.5.

I decided to turn the calculation into an exercise in following instructions as the particular student group was familiar with lab protocols. I then follow up with some explanation. There is a spreadsheet formula reference card in production, and I will be evangelising on the merits of symbolic notation soon enough. I do NOT teach the alternative algorithm as it is numerically unstable with data sets that have low variation.

OpenOffice note: The maths code used to produce the standard deviation formula was

SD = sqrt{{sum{(x-bar{x})^2}}over{N-1}}

I much prefer the OpenOffice formula editor to the more mouse directed one provided with a well known commercial package…

Download a PDF file with 10 data sets that can be used to illustrate a variety of statistical techniques

Useful pages:

• Selected Data-sets from Publications by Martin Bland
• A stroop effect lap report with actual data
• One for the tree huggers – I always loved that picture of a road tunnel in the trunk of a Giant Redwood as a child
• Favourite Data sets from drugs research (Bradstreet)

A spreadsheet with all the data sets is on its way so I can demonstrate how to analyse the data once we have decided what methods are appropriate. I like having a dialogue and a spreadsheet instead of Yet Another PowerPoint!

Just 10 minutes on the five number summary. I’ve not produced a screencast for some time, and this topic presented itself as potentially useful to a range of students but not ‘mainstream’ on any of their courses.

I used the NCH screencam software. This YouTube is a ‘single take’ without script walking through the PowerPoint I usually use for this topic. You may notice that I ‘loose’ it in the middle slightly.

Download a two sided handout on finding the five number summary for a set of data

The five numbers are the maximum, the minimum, the median and the upper and lower quartiles. This set of numbers can tell you about the central tendency of your data, the spread, the extreme values, and provide low order information about the shape of the distribution. The blood pressure data sets came from Dr Bradstreet’s Favorite Datasets in Early and Late phases in Drug Research.

Box and whisker plot next, so I can explain how to interpret the five number summary. This series is part of a few sessions I’m planning for some degree students. The box and whisker illustration here was produced using the Gnumeric spreadsheet – it has a useful selection of statistical graphs and can export graphs as SVG or in a variety of bitmaps. Version 1.9.9 is in the Ubuntu 9.10 repositories.

Download a one side worksheet with some workshop questions on number. Some symbolic questions (equivalent fractions, multiplication) and some word problems (VAT increase).

The main phase of the lesson was about probability. Packs of playing cards, coin tossing, and a discussion about smoking cessation, the National Health, and individual behaviour versus averages. Good stuff, and I’ll post an evaluation here in a bit.

I’m using maps to plan lessons more and more. This one is getting a bit out of hand with the links between topics!

This will get people back into the groove after the holiday. I allow about 30 minutes for this kind of worksheet. I have back up activities for the more confident students.

Focus on equivalent fractions, rounding, and some questions embedding the four functions including with whole numbers and one or two decimal number questions in familiar contexts. No answers as yet but I might write a set out.

Download a one side pdf worksheet with 30 quick fire non calculator number questions and numerical answers.

Questions include the four functions with whole numbers and decimal numbers, a few fractions questions including adding related ‘family’ fractions, percentages and fraction conversion, some ratio and rounding and a few problem questions. Designed as a sort of ‘speed trial’.

The symbol palette in Microsoft PowerPoint has always included the quarter fractions. Now you get the thirds and the eighths. Handy for quick revision PowerPoint presentations.

You can download a PowerPoint file with 20 slides with quick revision questions for level 1 Maths students. Covers money calculation questions, area and perimeter questions, unit conversion questions, questions about finding fractions and percentages of quantities, and some directed number work.

You can also download a PDF file with the same 20 slides. The PDF version seems to be a lot smaller (200kb).