Module 8: Statistics (Chapter 8)
Section outline
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Before the 2021 WNBA season, professional basketball player Candace Parker signed a contract with the Chicago Sky, which entitled her to a salary of $190,000. This amount was the 23rd highest in the league at the time. How did the team’s management decide on her salary? They likely considered some intangible qualities, like her leadership skills. However, much of their deliberations probably took into account her performance on the court. For example, Parker led the league in rebounds in the 2020 season (214 of them) and scored 14.7 points per game (which ranked her 18th among all WNBA players). Further, Parker brought 13 seasons of experience to the team. All of these factors played a role in deciding the terms of her contract.Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:Estimating the value of one variable (like salary) based on other, measurable variables (points per game, experience, rebounds, etc.) is among the most important applications of statistics, which is the mathematical field devoted to gathering, organizing, summarizing, and making decisions based on data.
Image Caption: Statistics can be used to decide on a fair salary for sports stars. (credit: “Jasmine Powell goes up for a shot in a game against Jacksonville” by Lorie Shaull/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
(Content & Image Source: Chapter 8 Introduction, Contemporary Mathematics, Donna Kirk, OpenStax, CC BY 4.0 License)
8.1 Gathering and Organizing Data
- Distinguish among sampling techniques.
- Organize data using an appropriate method.
- Create frequency distributions.
8.2 Visualizing Data8.3 Mean, Median, and Mode- Create charts and graphs to appropriately represent data.
- Interpret visual representations of data.
- Determine misleading components in data displayed visually.
- Calculate the mode of a dataset.
- Calculate the median of a dataset.
- Calculate the mean of a dataset.
- Contrast measures of central tendency to identify the most representative average.
- Solve application problems involving mean, median, and mode.
8.4 Range and Standard Deviation- Calculate the range of a dataset
- Calculate the standard deviation of a dataset
8.5 Percentiles- Compute percentiles.
- Solve application problems involving percentiles.
8.6 The Normal Distribution
- Describe the characteristics of the normal distribution.
- Apply the 68-95-99.7 percent groups to normal distribution datasets.
- Use the normal distribution to calculate a z-score
- Find and interpret percentiles and quartiles
8.7 Scatter Plots, Correlation, and Regression Lines- Construct a scatter plot for a dataset.
- Interpret a scatter plot.
- Distinguish among positive, negative and no correlation.
- Compute the correlation coefficient.
- Estimate and interpret regression lines.
To achieve these objectives:- Read the Module 8 Introduction (see above)
- Read Sections 8.1 - 8.7 of Chapter 8: Statistics in Finite Mathematics (links to each Section provided below)
- Watch the Videos provided in the Video Lessons pages for each Section (links provided below)
- Complete the MyOpenMath Homework Assignments for each Section (links provided below) - These are graded!
- Complete the MyOpenMath Quiz for Chapter 8 (link provided below) - This is graded!
- Once you complete the Quiz, upload your work in the Quiz Work Upload Assignment using the submission link below.
- Post in the Chapter 8 Q&A Discussion Forum - link provided below.
Note the check boxes to the right that help you track your progress: some are automatic, and some are manual.Module Pressbooks Resources and Activities
You will find the following resources and activities in this module at the Pressbooks website. Click on the links below to access or complete each item.
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