Bar Graphs with Cupcakes

Check out this video that I recently made.  I hope you like it!  Tell me what you think.

Music - Mindy Gledhill, Crazy Love

Dots in a Graph

We have been learning a lot about graphs lately...and I find scatter plots very interesting!  Scatter plots represent the relationship between two sets of data.  Instead of bars and lines, scatter plots use dots to show the data points.  Within the scatter plot, there can be a trend line.  A trend line is a line that can closely fit the majority of the data.

This scatter plot is an example of a positive trend line. 

As you can see, the dots look like they are getting higher.  They are traveling upward and increasing.  This is why it is considered a positive correlation scatter plot.

In addition to the positive scatter plot, we also have a negative scatter plot.

This is considered a negative correlation scatter plot.  If we look at the direction of the line, you can see that it is heading downward.  The numbers are decreasing as you follow the line.  The trend line for this graph would follow the dots and be considered a negative trend line.

Positive and negative correlation are not the only type of scatter plots, there is also no correlation.

In this particular scatter plot, the dots are not in any order.  We couldn't use a trend line (like we were talking about earlier) because we couldn't create a line for the majority of the data.  This scatter plot doesn't look like it is positive or negative.  That is why scatter plots, such as the one above, have no correlation.

Here is a site that gives examples about each type of scatter plot.  I found it very helpful and interesting!

Have a great day!

Scatter Plot pictures found here.

The 3 M's

I just finished some math homework, and it was all about the "3 M's".  When I say the "3 M's", I am talking about the mean, median, and mode.  Sometimes it is hard to remember which definition goes to what term.  It is always good to give yourself a reminder on what each word means.  Reminders are never a bad thing, especially when you are doing a problem with lots of numbers, you're going to want to do it right the first time.

The mean, is the average of all of the data.  When asked to give the mean, you need to find the sum by adding all of the numbers together.  Once you have the sum, divide it by the number of values used.  The median, is in the middle of the data.  Organizing the data from "least to greatest" is the most crucial component about the median. The answer will not be correct if the data is not from least to greatest.  If there is an even amount of data, there will be two numbers left in the middle.  In order the find the median when you have two numbers left, you take the average of the two numbers.  The answer that you will get is the median.  The mode is simply the number that occurs the most often in the data.  Sometimes, there is no mode because each number only occurs once.

I found a video that I thought was so fun.  Here is a class singing about the mean, median, and mode.  The song helps reinforce what each term means.  It is also a very catching tune!  Happy listening!!!

Here is the link to the youtube page

Klassen, Rosanne. Class lecture. Mathematics for Elementary Education Teachers II. Mesa Community College, Mesa, AZ.