"The true mathematician is always a good deal of an artist, an architect, yes, a poet." -- (Alfred Pringsheim, 1850-1941)

Math History Tidbit:

Numbers have interesting historical backgrounds, and there are many interesting stories behind just about any counting number. Here are just a few very brief tidbits relating to numbers. (Some research will yield many interesting stories.)

5: A potentially suitable number to serve as a base for a counting system (five fingers), it is used for this purpose only in the language Saraveca (South America). It is the sum of 3 (considered masculine by the Greeks) and 2 (feminine), making it a number that expresses the union of male and female. Research will show that 5 has considerable religious significance, and that it was often considered to be a somewhat unusual, even rebellious number.

6 The first perfect number (6 = 1 + 2 + 3: See Assignment #57), 6 is generally associated with good things. The Bible tells of six days of creation. Since a cube is composed of 6 squares, it has often been considered to be the ideal form for any closed construction.

7. Definitely worthy of research, the number 7 has fascinated humankind throughout history. It has countless religious and mystic associations. It is a calendar number, associated with the number of days in a week and the number of days in a lunar month (28 = 4x7).

 

Herkimer's Corner

Why did Herkimer think it was OK to give a gun to a bear in Yellowstone Park?

Answer: Someone told him the Constitution gives citizens the right to arm bears.

Herky's friends:

MEL O. DEE...this guy could really carry a tune.

DALE E. PAPER...he always kept up on current events by reading the news.

ASSIGNMENT #59

Reading: Review Chapter 9, as necessary.

Exercises: Test 9B (handout in class).

Items for reflection:

You are working with concepts from Chapter9.

Key review thoughts: In a normaldistribution,

The numbers 1.96(often rounded to 2) and 2.58 are important instatistical analysis.

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A sample mean is an unbiased estimator of thepopulation mean.

A sample standard deviation is not an unbiased estimator of apopulation standard deviation.

 

LINK TO SECTIONSUMMARIES

LINK TO STATISTICS HOMEPAGE

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Text:
The Practice of Statistics, by Yates, Moore, McCabe. New York,W.H. Freeman and Company, 1999. (ISBN 0-7167-3370-6)

Supplemental books:
The Cartoon Guide to Statistics, by Gonick and Smith. NewYork, HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. (ISBN 0-06-273102-5)
How to Lie with Statistics, by Darrell Huff. New York, W.W.Norton & Company, 1982 (ISBN 0-393-09426-X)

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