Monday, August 30, 2010

Measurements of position

Hmmm. Z values. Percentile ranks. Proportions between two x-values.
How are these connected for Normal distributions?

The percentile for a particular z-value is the value in the body of the Z table that represents the "sum" of the column and row titles. For Negative z-values, just append (attach) the hundredths place digit. For instance. . .
row 1.3, column 0.4 ==> 1.34 = z. This is the 90.99th percentile.
for row -2.3, column 0.4 ==> -2.34 = z. With a table value if 0.0096, this is just a hair under the 1st percentile.

The percentile is the proportion of data that lies to the left of the x value or is equal to it. If you took a test and scored at the 99th percentile, 99% of all other test scores should be equal to your score or below it.

Another way to find the percentile is to use the NormalCDF function on the calculator. Use NormalCDF(lower bound, upper bound) where the boundary values are z scores. To find the percentile for a Normally-distributed z value, we use the lower bound of negative infinity and the upper bound of the z under consideration.

We can use -999999 for negative infinity. NormalCDF(-999999,1) = the proportion of the population of Normally distributed z values that fall equal to or below 1.

To find the Z value for a particular percentile, use the inverse of the NormalCDF function-- INVNorm. To find the 95th percentile, enter InvNorm(.95). Approximately 95% of all z-values in a Normal distribution will fall below this value.

To find the X value that corresponds to the desired Z value, take the mean and add Z standard deviations.

Practice converting X values into z values adn percentiles into X values. Do the problems on page 147.

Friday, August 20, 2010

New data!!!! Haircut costs

As we learn to represent and interpret our data, we collected the following data:
boys' haircut prices
12, 18, 22, 0, 0 ,0, 15, 0, 17, 16, 17.95, 10, 12
girls' haircut prices
35, 55, 50, 30, 18, 25, 0, 50, 40, 45, 45, 140, 40, 8, 25, 30, 22, 28

Represent each of these as a boxplot on the same axes AND
using the information starting on page 42 in the text, represent it also as a back to back stemplot.

We will interpret your results on Tuesday.

Be safe.
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8/20
We've used histograms, boxplots, and stemplots to represent univariate (one-dimensional) data. We've worked many problems from previous AP exams.

You're probably ready to close out this chapter (1). Let's focus on the parts we haven't covered so far and test on Thursday, 8/26.

We will start the CiCi's Sundays on August 29, unless you do not need help yet.

Be safe. Play hard. Go Trojans.