General Directions for
Mathematics Experiments
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These experiments should be done collaboratively with approximately 3 class members working collaboratively. The grade for the project will be given to each member of the group. The experiment grade will be counted as a quiz grade.

Identify the members of the group, and who was the primary author of each section. (if this applies). Authorship should be shared fairly among the group members.

Your final report should:

1.Define the problem or object and the purposes of the experiment in your own words.

2.The introduction should be followed by a write-up of each activity – what you did, how you did it, and what conclusions you reached. Include tables and graphs and constructions as appropriate. Show your work and indicate your thought processes in an organized fashion.

a)Show your data in neat table format

b)Use color to highlight certain parts of constructions and drawings (for example, in this case of experiment #1, the triangles formed by the centroids of the equilateral triangles outside of the original triangle could be red, and the triangles formed by the centroids of the equilateral triangles inside of the original triangles could be blue)

3.Each report should end with a paragraph of summary, conclusions, and reflections. Justify any conclusions using mathematics if possible.

Producing, Gathering, and Using Genuine Data

Problem solving can be made more meaningful to students if they are given opportunities to produce, gather, and use data. Gathering and producing data and all of the related issues form an important area of statistics. One need not go into all of these issues in detail, however, to use such data throughout introductory college mathematics. It is best to use genuine data, that is, real data from real sources. Data can be gathered by students through computer and calculator gathering devices, library research, and surveys.
The Internet is another excellent way to obtain real data. Newspapers, magazines, and simple 15- to 20-item class surveys that include such variables as height, shoe size, and gender offer a rich source of authentic data for statistical analysis. Surveys can build a sense of class unity and identity.