Pre-Calculus...Week of 10/26/2009

Sections 2.5 and 2.6

We will have a work day on Thursday and then review Friday and Monday for a test Tuesday.

Statistics Homework for Week of 10/26/2009

5.1 pp. 224-228; 5-8,17-22,27,28,33,34,39,40,42,48-58 even
5.2 pp. 232-235; 1-8,13,14,21-24
5.3 pp. 242-244; 4-24x4's,32,34,39,40,48
Case Study p. 245;1-5 all

Thursday will be a workday for working on section 5.3 HW and project work.

Friday we will have a quiz over sections 1 thru 3 in Ch 5 and work on the case study.

Irrational Taxation?

Nope...not going where you think! I have a passing interest in politics, but this is more about psychology and knowledge of mathematics. I enjoy the looks at life from Freakonmics, named after a book by the same name. They look through the lense of economics at various aspects of life. There is much in the way of math in these observations, perhaps none more so than this idea on taxation.

A quick 2 or 3 sentence synopsis of this article will earn you 5 bonus points. The article can be found here. I will not mention this in class and you have until Monday of next week (11/2) to turn it in.

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Project Ideas

Follow the link below to see all (and more) of the project ideas we discussed in class. These might be ones you can actually do...or perhaps spark an idea. You have some basis for analyzing the data, but as I mentioned in class, we will continue to add to the repertoire of tools you have at your disposal.

Project Ideas

Today's Wrap-Up 10/20/09

• Algebra II...Test tomorrow. Nothing tricky. You have had ample time to prepare. Go in and do your best and don't let nerves get the best of you. Really no memorization necessary for this one. Make sure you check answers on systems of equations. You should know on each of these if you got them right or not because you can check your work by substituting back in. On linear programming questions, make sure you show work. There will be partial credit awarded. Don't leave anything blank.
• Pre-Calculus...Test Tomorrow...Focus on manipulation of complex numbers, graphing quadratics, and graphing other polynomials using the leading term tests, finding x and y intercepts, using symmetry, etc. Obviously know the basic formulas and equations like the quadratic formula and the equation for finding the axis of symmetry for a parabola in standard form (x = -b/2a). Show all your work and check work if you have time.
• Statistics...Took Ch 4 Test...Of tests completed, grades look great! Some silly mistakes...will go over tomorrow. Next on the agenda is some discussion tomorrow of projects. Be thinking of areas you would have some interest in doing statistical analysis...Ideas might include sports, occupations, etc. Will get into specifics tomorrow.
  

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Mann's Health Status

I feel like I got kicked in the head (and a few other places). I hope to be back Thursday.

I have done my best to update grades from home.

See you soon!
Mann

Stat Problems for 10/14/09

1. The average number of homes sold by the Acme Realty company is 2 homes per day. What is the probability that exactly 3 homes will be sold tomorrow?
2. Suppose the average number of lions seen on a 1-day safari is 5. What is the probability that tourists will see fewer than four lions on the next 1-day safari?
3. Find the probability of getting exactly 52 heads when flipping a fair coin 100 times.
4. Suppose a die is tossed 5 times. What is the probability of getting exactly 2 fours?
5. A baseball team is having a 10 game homestand. If the probability that they win a game at home is 0.6, find the probability that they win between 5 and 8 games on this homestand.
6. Assume oil tankers have a 99.9% success rate leaving the terminal at Valdez, Alaska. What is the probability of zero accidents in 5,000 trips? (A problem I gave to my students in Alaska many years ago!)
7. What is the probability of rolling a dice 6 ti

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   mes before getting a six (six-sided)?

Thursday Update (10/8/09)

• Pre-Calculus...Covered quadratic functions today. Will continue with lesson tomorrow and add to assignment. (Section 2.2)
• Algebra II...Covered beginning of 3.5 on solving systems of three equations in three unknowns.
• Statistics...Worked on Poisson and Geometric Probability problems today. Will review Ch 4 tomorrow and test on Monday.
  

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Motivational...

" Be grateful for everything you've got. Be brave to face all kind of challenges in life. Be Passionate about what you do. Life comes in different forms, ups and downs are the journey, but belief is the key to make us strong and move forward., Goals are the way to turn your dreams to realities."
Written in 2009 by Yann Yip --- Malaysia

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• The 2 Questions to Ask as You Pursue Your Dream (usnews.com)

Statistics Article

Here is a link to the article we discussed in statistics class today. Let me reiterate that I DO NOT assert that smart people in general make less money. However, I am asking you, in one paragraph, to provide a logical and plausible explanation for why there could be a negative correlation between intelligence and income for individuals with Bachelor Degrees and a positive correlation for those with other degrees (HS diplomas and advanced degrees like Masters or Doctoral degrees).

The link is http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/07/higher_intellig.html

Stat HW Week of 10/5/2009

• Monday...4.2 Notes and p. 1963-195;1-14,18-20
• Tuesday...Case Study p. 197;1-5 all
• Wednesday...4.3 Notes...pp. 202,203;1,2,5,6,9-16,19,20
• Th...Ch 4 Review...p. 167;1-6
• Friday...Ch 4 Test

Algebra II Week of 10/5/09

• Monday...Section 3.4 Notes
• Tuesday...pp. 132-135;16-56 even
• Wednesday...pp. 139-141;12-44 even
• Thursday...pp. 145-148; 12-28 even
• Friday...Chapter 3 Test

Where is Your Focus?

The scene: Washington D.C. Metro Station on a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about an hour. During that time, approximately two thousand (2,000) people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes: the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes: a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes: a 3-year-old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid looked at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time.

Several other children repeated this action.

Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes: the musician continues to play. Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while.

About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.

He collected $32.

After 1 hour, the musician finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed, no one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions rose:

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In a commonplace environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments… how many other things are we missing?

From MotivateUs.com

The Week Upcoming in Stats and Pre-Calculus

First, good luck to all the sports teams competing this weekend. My son will be at McNair Park running for Washington HS CC Team so I will be there for that.

The turnout was great for Thursday's review session and obviously it is my hope it will be of help to those who attended!

• In Pre-Calculus, as I am certain you are well aware, we will have a test on Monday. We have prepared well, in my opinion, and if you study some over the weekend, I believe you will do fine. Focus on the items emphasized in class during the review on Friday. The only items that come to mind for memorization, are the rate of change formula (really just like the slope formula), and the transformation rules and the order in which they must be performed. As always, you will have access to notes the final few minutes of the test, but you will not have enough time to do a lot in this time. While this will be the last first quarter test, I will get one quiz on the agenda prior to quarter's end. Remember there is a review session on Monday morning in Room 111 with Ms. L. Also, the answers to all the Chapter Review problems are in the back of the book.

• In statistics class, we will be testing sometime next week, tentatively on Thursday. This chapter has only three sections, the first we covered today. We will likely do a Case Study from Chapter 4, but we may do so after the test. After the Chapter 4 Test, we will begin to focus on getting our first project rolling.
  

• As we have a total of 11 chapters to cover, and we will have covered four of them a week prior to the end of first quarter, we will have some time to start applying what we have learned through projects. It is my feeling that this is where the material starts to become meaningful as it is applied in the projects.

What does this photo have to do with probability?

Image by wildphotons via Flickr