"Six is a number perfect in itself, and not because God created the world in six days; rather the contrary is true. God created the world in six days because this number is perfect, and it would remain perfect, even if the work of the six days did not exist." - (St. Augustine, 354-430)

 

Math History Tidbit:

Ancient Egyptian Mathematics: Papyrus is a form of paper made from a reed that grows along the banks of the Nile River. Four very ancient documents provide us information about the amazing mathematics of the Egyptians. (Two will be mentioned here; the other two were referenced in Assignment #74.)

The Rollin Papyrus (ca 1350 B.C.): This document, now housed in the Louvre in Paris, supplies examples of Egyptian bread accounts.

The Harris Papyrus (ca 1167 B.C.): A document prepared by Rameses IV to document the accomplishments of his father, Rameses III.

These documents somehow managed to escape the ravages of time and human conquests. Other sources of knowledge about Egyptian mathematics comes from inscriptions on stone tombs and monuments.

 

Herkimer's Corner

When Herkimer was lazy, why did he want to work in a candle making factory?

Answer: He was told you only have to work on wick ends.

Herky wants to know:

If a dating agency for chickens goes bankrupt, it is because it couldn't make hens meet?

Is it fair if the guy who stole calendars only gets 12 months?

ASSIGNMENT #75

Reading: Section 12.1, pages 665-668.

Cartoon Guide to Statistics, pages 114-120.

Exercises: 12.6, 12.7, 12.8, 12.9 (page 668)

Items for reflection:

You are working in Section 12.1

Remember you have a link to section summaries.Don't fail to use them.

A confidence interval for a proportion pcalculated from a sample statistics p(hat) has the form

p(hat) plus/minus (z*)sqrt[p(hat)(1-p(hat))/n]

95% confidence intervals are common when dealingwith proportions. In this case, z* = 1.96. (Sometimes z* = 2 isused.)

When you see scientifically conducted polls innewspapers, magazines, etc., the margin of error that is reportedapproximately 2 times the standard error calculated from the samplestatistics p(hat). This allows you to produce a 95% confidenceinternal for the population parameter p.

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. (;l 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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