Mary Barton

July 23, 2019

Math1040 Summer2019

Over the course of this semester, we have been working on a class project in Math1040

which has helped us to understand the topics and ideas that have been taught throughout the

semester. Our projects grew increasingly difficult as we learned more difficult concepts. I liked

the concept of going out and learning something and then being able to come back and apply

them to a problem that I was already familiar with and that I understood. As the semester

continued, I continued to understand why those first basic principles were so essential. Without

that information, we would not have been able to answer questions that were asked in the last

couple of projects. Something really key in these projects was making sure you participated and

understood the work that your classmates had done.

Our first project was mostly reporting data, which is the principle step in any experiment

or observation. We each bought a bag of skittles and counted out each color in order to find

out the proportions of each individual color, reporting individually and as a class. After we had

gathered the needed information, we were taught in section 2 the different types of data and

what graphs are appropriate to use according to the experiment that was done and the desired

results. After the things we had learned, our second project we were assigned was to compile

our information into a graph and statistics that made sense for that particular problem. With

this particular date, we found it appropriate to use a pie chart and a Pareto chart to display our

data. Now that we knew how to graph the data, it was time to be able to analyze and explain

these charts. Chapter 3 taught us the different shapes of graphs and different components that

go in to making an accurate statement based on the graph and information given. As a group,
we were instructed to find the mean, standard deviation, and Inter Quartile Range of the data

set which helped us show the shape and spread of the data. Last of all, in Section 4, we talked

about how accurate all of our information was as we formed a confidence interval. We learned

about possible errors made during the study and stated the level of confidence and the margin

of error that our problem consisted of.

As we look back on Project 1 from where we are now, it is easy to see that we were

taught everything in this order because that it is how the course was able to build upon itself.

Each section we studied could not have been understood without fully comprehending the

previous chapter. And as for our projects, each piece could not have been completed without

having previously done the part that came before. Every section seemed to tie into the next

very well.

I have learned so much this semester in Statistics. I now feel confident in saying that I

understand how to read and interpret a graph, and even how to come to statistical conclusions

on my own. I feel like one of the biggest things I have learned throughout the semester is how

to use all of the different tools and settings on my TI-84 calculator. Learning these helped me to

be able to do the problems quickly and accurately.