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"The Problem with Angels" by Cyndy Dowling
Although this problem is wholly mine,
The catalyst came from the magazine, Time.On the magazine cover I did find
The realm of angels tickling my mind.
Inside, 69% I found to be
In angels, Americans do believe.
Then, it was time to rise to the task,
Ninety-five high school and college students I did ask.Viewing all as one group,
Random sampling to get the scoop.
So, I asked each to be true,
"Do you believe in angels?" Tell me, do!
Hypothesizing at the start,
Totally believing in my heartThat the proportion who said yes
Would be equal on this test.
Lo and behold, seventy-three did arrive,
Out of the sample of ninety-five.Now your job has just begun,
Solve this problem and have some fun. "Blowing Bubbles" by Sondra Prull
Studying stats just made me tense,
I had to find some sane defense.Some light and lifting simple play
To float my math anxiety away.
Blowing bubbles lifts me high
Takes my troubles to the sky.POIK! They're gone, with all my stress
Bubble therapy is the best.
The label said each time I blew
The average number of bubbles would be at least 22.I blew and blew and this I found
From 64 blows, they all are round!
But the number of bubbles in 64 blowsVaried widely, this I know.
20 per blow became the meanThey deviated by 6, and not 16.
From counting bubbles, I sure did relax
But now I give to you your task.Was 22 a reasonable guess?
Find the answer and pass this test! 21. "Dalmatian Darnation" by Kathy Sparling
A greedy dog breeder named Spreckles
Bred puppies with numerous frecklesThe Dalmatians he sought
Possessed spot upon spotThe more spots, he thought, the more shekels.
His competitors did not agree
That freckles would increase the fee.They said, “Spots are quite nice
But they don't affect price;One should breed for improved pedigree.”
The breeders decided to prove
This strategy was a wrong move.Breeding only for spots
Would wreak havoc, they thought.His theory they want to disprove.
They proposed a contest to Spreckles
Comparing dog prices to freckles.In records they looked up
One hundred one pups:Dalmatians that fetched the most shekels.
They asked Mr. Spreckles to name
An average spot count he'd claimTo bring in big bucks.
Said Spreckles, “Well, shucks,It's for one hundred one that I aim.”
Said an amateur statistician
Who wanted to help with this mission.“Twenty-one for the sample
Standard deviation's ample:
They examined one hundred and one
Dalmatians that fetched a good sum.They counted each spot,
Mark, freckle and dotAnd tallied up every one.
Instead of one hundred one spots
They averaged ninety six dotsCan they muzzle Spreckles’
Obsession with frecklesBased on all the dog data they've got? "Macaroni and Cheese, please!!" by Nedda Misherghi and Rachelle Hall
As a poor starving student I don't have much money to spend for even the bare necessities. So my favorite and main staple food is macaroni and cheese. It's high in taste and low in cost and nutritional value.
One day, as I sat down to determine the meaning of life, I got a serious craving for this, oh, so important, food of my life. So I went down the street to Greatway to get a box of macaroni and cheese, but it was SO expensive! $2.02 !!! Can you believe it? It made me stop and think. The world is changing fast. I had thought that the mean cost of a box (the normal size, not some super-gigantic-family-value-pack) was at most $1, but now I wasn't so sure. However, I was determined to find out. I went to 53 of the closest grocery stores and surveyed the prices of macaroni and cheese. Here are the data I wrote in my notebook:
I could see that the costs varied but I had to sit down to figure out whether or not I was right. If it does turn out that this mouth-watering dish is at most $1, then I'll throw a big cheesy party in our next statistics lab, with enough macaroni and cheese for just me. (After all, as a poor starving student I can't be expected to feed our class of animals!)
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