Table of Contents

Math in Science

Graphs

Brainpop-

Measuring Matter

Precision & Accuracy

Practicing Science

What Math Skills Do Scientist Use? Pg. 33

Scientist use math skills for:

collect data include estimation

accuracy and precision

significant figures.

An estimate is an approximation of a number based on reasonable assumption. (It is not a guess.)

Scientists often rely on estimates when they cannot obtain exact numbers. They may base an estimate on indirect measurements, calculations, models, or a sample.

Vocabulary

Estimate

Accuracy

Precision

Significant figures

Percent error

Mean

Median

Mode

Range

Anomalous data

What Math Skills Do Scientist Use? Pg. 34

In science, the words accuracy and precision have different meanings.

Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true or accepted value.

Precision refers to how close a group of measurements are to each other. A reliable measurement is both accurate and precise.

Math in Science

American Crocodile Nest Data

Researchers have been tracking the number of crocodile nests in the Everglades for years. The table shows approximate nest data from 1996 to 2000. What variable ( could have affected the number of nests?

Graphs

Going WirelessHow has cell phone use in the United States grown over the years? Take a look at the numbers in the chart.

What Math Skills Do Scientist Use? Pg. 34

Significant figures demonstrate how precise measurements are.

The significant figures in a measurement include all digits measured exactly, plus one estimated digit. When you add or subtract measurements, your answer can only have as many places after the decimal as the measurement with the fewest places after the decimal. When you multiply measurements, the answers should only have the same number of significant figures as the measurement with the fewest significant figures.

What Math Skills Do Scientist Use? Pg. 34

Scientists use math tools to analyze data.

These tools include:

•calculating percent error

•finding the mean

•median,

• mode

•Range

•reasonableness of data.

What Math Skills Do Scientist Use? Pg. 37

•The mean is the numerical average of a set of data.

•The median is the middle number in a set of data.

•The mode is the number that appears most often in a list of numbers.

•The range of a set of data is the difference between the greatest value and the least value in the set.

Questions to ask when analyzing any set of data:

“Are these data reasonable? Do they make sense?”

Data that do not fit with the rest of a data set are anomalous data.

Graphs

Analyzing Line GraphsThe line graph shows the results of an experiment that tested the amount of sugar that could dissolve in water as temperature was increased. What happens to the amount of sugar that can be dissolved in water when the temperature decreases?

Graphs

Trends and PredictionsThese graphs are fit from data. We can use these graphs to make predictions or identify trends.

Graphs

U.S. Cell Phone SubscribersUse the data in the table to describe a line graph.

Doing Experiments

Developing a Hypothesis

A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work. Most of the time a hypothesis is written like this: "If _____[I do this] _____, then _____[this]_____ will happen." (Fill in the blanks with the appropriate information from your own experiment.)

What are the two hypotheses that might answer this question: Why does it take the school bus longer to get to school on a Monday compared to a Friday?

Doing Experiments

Data TablesA data table helps you organize the information collected in an experiment. Graphing the data may reveal whether there are patterns to your data. Do the data support the hypothesis that hummngbirds prefer red feeders?

Doing Experiments

Drawing ConclusionsSometimes the same experiment can produce very different data. If the data in this table were yours, what might you do next?