IM 8.6.2 Lesson: Plotting Data
Lin surveyed 30 students about the longest time they had ever run. Andre asked them about their favorite color.
How could Lin and Andre represent their data sets?
Would they represent them in the same way? Why or why not?
Are older students always taller? Do taller students tend to have bigger hands? To investigate these questions, the class will gather data.
- A person’s arm span is the distance between the tips of their index fingers, when their arms are fully spread out.
- A person’s hand span is the distance from the tip of their thumb to the tip of their little finger, when their fingers are fully spread out.
Record your partner’s measurements and age (in months) in this table. Then, record this data from your table in a table of data for the entire class.
What types of graphical representations could be used to show the class’s height measurements?
Make a graphical representation of the class’s height measurements using these directions for the applet:
- Enter the class height data in column A. Note: enter only one value in each cell, just the height of each student.
- Click on the column header to highlight it.
- Select the One-Variable Analysis tool (the one that looks like a histogram), and a new frame will appear.
- Drag the window open and you will see a histogram of the data.
- Change the type of graph by choosing from the drop-down menu.
Make a scatter plot of the heights and hand spans of each student in your class. Enter the class height data into one column and the corresponding hand span data into the other column. The points will appear on the graph as you type them in.
To see more of the graph after you have entered in the data, you can use:
Based on your scatter plot, answer these questions:
Do taller students in your class tend to have bigger hands? Explain how you know.
Is hand span a linear function of height? Explain how you know.
Although the data may be accurate, displaying the data incorrectly can tell the wrong story. What is wrong with each of these graphic representations of the data?
