Key statistics about the star of Maths with a Mouse - me!
intelligence (IQ): 165 - genius!
cuteness: 100
average mass of marshmallows eaten (per day):750g - I love traditional pink and white marshmallows! Mmmmm!
age: TOP SECRET!
Embedded Files
There is more than one type of average in maths. As for me, everyone knows that I am anything but average!
Brie-Anna de Mouse, star of Maths with a Mouse
Brie-Anna's Guide to Satsy Statistics
Definitions from a mathematical mouse
mode: the most common piece of data
range: the difference between the highest and lowest pieces of data
median: The middle value in a set of data when they have been ordered.
mean: Another word to describe a person who is a stinky potato!
or
mean: the arithmetic average of all the data if it were distributed equally (I like to think of it as levelling out: see my great explanation below)
Mathematical mice, such as yours truly, often love to collect rubber duckies! If these four mice equally shared their duckies, they would have 5 each, which can be seen in the second diagram.
The mean can be calculated by finding the total number of ducks and then sharing them equally by dividing by the number of mice.
What to be even more clever? Lets work backwards!
In the following question/puzzle, we don't know how many rubber duckies the pink mouse .
BUT we do know the mean. If we know the mean, we know the total number of duckies. See my brilliant diagram below - I love a diagram! As there are 4 mice, each with 3 ducks, there must be a total of 12 duckies.
With that information, we can simply use addition and subtraction to discover that the pink mouse had 5 rubber duckies. Quack, quack, quack quack quack!
Next up, it's pie charts. I don't really like pie and I don’t see why they should get their own charts. The only time that I like pies is when they are custard pies, especially when we get to throw them at teachers who have been naughty!
Did you know that the mathematicans who write Satsy McSatsface questions often use factors of 360 deliberately to make the calculation easier if you know what to do.
Factors of 360:
1 x 360
2 x 180
3 x 120
4 x 90
5 x 72
6 x 60
8 x 45
9 x 40
10 x 36
12 x 30
15 x 24
18 x 20
Wow...that is a lot of factors!
Activity time
Activity time
Thanks to PhET, there is now an activity Mean: Share and Balance, which demonstrates how to understand mean, using really clear diagrams. In this activity, you can change the number of containers, adjust the amount of liquid in each of those containers, add markings to the containers and estimate the mean before checking. As I write this and add this wonderful tool to my website, please be aware that this is still a prototype, although I think it’s pretty impressive so far!
Enjoy reading and enjoying these bar charts. I once made a bar chart of my favourite foods to eat - every column had marshmallows! Mmmmm...I love marshmallows!
I don't really like pie but I do like pie charts!
Top tip: recognise what the whole pie chart is worth. It is not always the same.
Oh....I just remembered: I love custard pies, especially if I get to throw them at people!
Reading graphs and charts can be tricky but I believe that with the right attitude, a few top tips and a little practise, anyone can become an expert!
Understanding how to calculate the mean (the arithmetic average) can be confusing, especially when an extra piece of data is added which causes the mean to change. No worries, however, as with this Mean Machine you will be able to see how the mean changes!
TELE TIME!
Kick Sum Maths: Pie and Pie Again
Oh no...we've run out of activities. Don't worry, there are plenty of other places to find great games and challenges. Hit the button below for more fun!
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse