Year 9 Mathematics Investigation: Crunching the Numbers

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts of measurement, statistics, and probability for the Year 9 'Crunching the Numbers' investigation.

Absolute error

A measure of the precision of a measurement, determined as the difference between the measured value and the true value.

Percentage error

The absolute error of a measurement expressed as a percentage of the measured value.

Scientific notation

A method used to express, order, and convert numbers of any magnitude to facilitate estimation and calculation.

Standard deviation

A numerical statistic used to measure and compare the spread of a dataset.

$5$-number summary

A collection of statistics (minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile, and maximum) used to display data and construct box plots.

Interquartile range (IQR)

A measure of statistical spread representing the difference between the upper and lower quartiles.

Box plots

A graphical representation used to display the $5$-number summary of a dataset.

Parallel box plots

A method of displaying multiple datasets side-by-side to compare their numerical statistics.

Skewness

The measure of the asymmetry of a distribution, which can be identified in histograms, dot plots, and box plots.

Independent events

Events in a multistage experiment where the outcome of one does not affect the probability of the other; calculated using the formula $P(A \text{ and } B) = P(A) \times P(B)$.

Dependent events

Events where the outcome of one stage affects the probability of outcomes in subsequent stages, often due to lack of replacement.

Complementary events

The set of all outcomes in the sample space that are not part of the specific event being considered.

Venn diagrams and $2$-way tables

Graphic tools used to represent, interpret, and convert data between different formats to calculate probabilities.

Intersection

A set notation term used to describe the outcomes that are common to two or more events.

Union

A set notation term representing the total set of all outcomes contained within the specified events.

Mutually exclusive events

Events that cannot occur at the same time.

Conditional probability

The probability of an event occurring given that another event has already occurred, often identified by the language 'if…then' or 'given'.

Compound events

Events described using logical connectors such as 'and', 'or', 'at least', 'at most', and 'not'.