everyone
Anyone in the class can edit this page.
Group Projects: Ideas
- Amount of sleep
- How many people like broomball
- How many are good at broomball
- how satisfied are people being at Marlboro
- numnber of jobs people are working now: number of hours?
- jobs on graduation?
- how people spend their weekends
- mosy popular homework deadlines/days; when is the work done?
- most popular study places
- how much do people like the food
- distribution of credits between fields
- how broadly do we really study
- number of people that use the coffee shop---Prop of $50 really used?
- income vs. grades
- states that people come from (according to the college!)
- electricity use -> energy
- water use
- waste (recycled, composted?)
- parking tickets per year
Topics and Groups
- Student Profing: James, Dane, Ariel, Alex
- Food: Noah, Peter, Leslie, Alison, Ryan
- Academic: Jay, Chester, Elias, Allen
Graphs for Thu 9th February
Alex
Matt
Chester
Noah
Leslie
Ok. here's a scatterplot I don't like. The reasons I don't like it are not obvious. I think there might be a better KIND of graph out there to represent this information. ok- for instance, the cost of a speeding ticket is higher at eighty then it is a ninety, according to this chart. I might ask, however, if that includes highway driving...you know, what KINDS of driving are included here... dunno, what do you think?
OK, and here's one that is relatively simplistic. I like its non-3D-ness, and the fact that it sets up one kind of data against another in a way that clearly shows the relationship between them.
Alison
- So here is a nice bar graph. Someone took the time to analyse the "rate of ingestion" for certain types of food in competitive eating contests. It is clear that there are certain foods that can be eaten quickly, and others such as the beef tongue and butter (yuck!) that have a much more slower rate. Also, he added the total weight of the food eaten; this helps viewers get a bigger picture of how the rate for some of the foods may be affected or not affected. Also the pictures are nice!
James
This is an unbinned, unnumbered chart of a vaguely defined aesthetic. It is of little consequence to most of the population and mostly useless to the rest. But it is kinda funny. In a 'hey, that's me' sorta way.
http://imgur.com/gallery/OsL30
This chart is both numbered and well-defined. There are actually multiple graphs incorporated that narrate the location, relative frequency, and change over time of a relevant, poorly understood phenomenon.
http://www.diegovalle.net/drug-war-map.html
Jay
This is a fairly nice chart. Simple, but that's why its nice. All the information is presented very clearly.

Alright, so I'll concede this isn't the worst graph ever. However, in terms of visually comparing sizes of circles, without the labels, it is fairly ineffective.
Dane
I'm not sure how I feel about
this one. It is totally overwhelming, but also really impressive. I'm not sure of a better way to convey this data, but making it into a chart just feels self congratulatory. I almost feel bad for including it.
Ryan
Fox news moves the last point up to make unemployment look worse.
This is a nice clear simple graph. From the NY Times website.
Allen
- This map shows regions in the world with the highest number of people between 15 to 49 with HIV. Though I find this example aesthetically pleasing, I feel that it doesn't clearly convey its data and the artistic quality of its presentation detracts from the intended effect.
- This chart from the Republican party website tracks how many jobs were lost since Democratic Party took control of Congress in 2007. The presentation of the material is clearly meant to serve an agenda rather than present facts.
Elias
Ariel
Fun Stuff
Put fun stuff here.
Leslie
I don't know if this is fun, but it certainly was helpful. I was confused with books explanation of variance.
Here's another explanation I found;
How do I find the variance of these numbers?
40; 56; 59; 60; 60; 62; 65; 69; 75; 84
ANSWER;
Number of cases 10
To find the mean, add all of the observations and divide by 10
Mean 63
Squared deviations
(40-63)^2 = (-23)^2 = 529
(56-63)^2 = (-7)^2 = 49
(59-63)^2 = (-4)^2 = 16
(60-63)^2 = (-3)^2 = 9
(60-63)^2 = (-3)^2 = 9
(62-63)^2 = (-1)^2 = 1
(65-63)^2 = (2)^2 = 4
(69-63)^2 = (6)^2 = 36
(75-63)^2 = (12)^2 = 144
(84-63)^2 = (21)^2 = 441
Add the squared deviations and divide by 10
Variance = 1238/10
Variance 123.8
Lies, Damned Lies, and Quotations
- "Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics." Fletcher Knebel (Matt)
- "When you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of the meagre and unsatisfactory kind." Lord Kelvin (Matt)
- "A knowledge of statistics is like a knowledge of foreign languages or of algebra; it may prove of use at any time under any circumstances." A. L. Bowley (Matt)
- "Statistics means never having to say you're certain." Myles Hollander (Matt)
- "Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable." Mark Twain (Matt)
- "[Three statisticians are out duck-hunting.] The first fired and his shot sailed six inches over the duck. Then the second fired and his shot flew six inches below the duck. At this the third statistician excitedly exclaimed: 'We got it!'" John Allen Paulos (Matt)