Monthly Archives: October 2014

Say it with a graph

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Say it with a graph                                                                                                             (A copy of this post is available for download in Microsoft Word format: Click Here)

Posted on October 10, 2013 by SuzieHousley

NatureClimateProxy

Creating and interpreting  graphs of numerical relationships can be intimidating for students. While they may not be expected to create graphs in their every day life, they will certainly be expected to understand graphs they are presented with by advertisers or on the news.

This activity is intended to demystify the graph and help students gain an understanding of the underlying numerical relationships behind them.  We will achieve this by removing the “scary part” … the numbers.

Suggested Use: The activity presented below could be used as a 5-min. warm up in class or as a creative extra-credit task.

At their core, graphs are just pictures.

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Correlation VS Causation

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waterkillsYes, yes, we know

….Correlation DOES NOT equal causation, but deciphering all of the data we’re bombarded with everyday can be challenging.

Correlation VS Causation

Here are a few examples of correlation vs. causation I dug up, in order of absurdity. Some examples are so ridiculous that you should recognize them immediately  as miss-use of correlation vs. causation data, but others will make you think a little more about what data we need to make conclusions about what is really going on.

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Consumer Math

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Here are a few articles I’ve found that give us a glimpse into the (sad) state of consumer math in America, and what we can do about it.

funnysaleThis article on NBC News sums up a situation I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves in:

“Think about the last time you had lunch with four or more friends. What happened when the bill came?  Everyone pulled out calculators, there was a lot of murmuring and head scratching and still some of your friends just ended up throwing down a $20 bill and hoping for the best.  Now, imagine that crowd in a car dealership or with a mortgage broker. They wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Why are these situations always so difficult? This article from the Atlantic sums up some typical issues consumers have with math. The intro gives a great example:

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