Here is a video to help with GCSE revision. The questions come from the second half of a non calculator Foundation paper. These questions were also at the beginning of the Higher paper. They cover important topics you need to be confident with to be sure of getting a Grade C. I strongly recommend you attempt the paper yourself first and then watch the video to see if you got them right and to learn from your mistakes.
This video is quite long so you might want to watch it in two sittings, but it does explain clearly what higher GCSE students need to know about transformation of graphs. Thank you Ukmathsteacher!
Maths is fun has a good explanation of this with some nice interactive activities and questions. Bitesize activities are here.
Thanks to Ron Barrow for this helpful example of how to use probability tree diagrams. 158,411 views is impressive! You need to know this if you are taking the GCSE Higher paper.
This video by Luke Redding is also very clear and takes the topic a bit further because it includes experiments where the item is not replaced.
Maths is fun also explains this well and includes some interactive questions. GCSE Bitesize is another good site to test yourself on this.
Here is a crossword to help you with some of the important vocabulary you need for statistics at GCSE level. You can do the interactive version or print off a paper copy and check you answers later on the interactive version. There are a few non-mathematical clues!
GCSE students need to be able to work out the equation of a graph from what it looks like.
If it’s a straight line graph you just need to look for two things.
1. The Intercept. This is where the line crosses the y axis.
2. The gradient. This is the steepness of the line. If the line goes up from left to right it will be positive. If the line goes down from left to right it will be negative. The larger the number the steeper the line.
This example shows the line y=2x-4. The line goes up two units for each unit it goes across. The gradient is 2÷1=2. It crosses the y axis at -4, so the intercept is -4.
Mathematicians use y=mx+c as the general formula for any straight line. The gradient is m and the intercept is c.
Try this exercise to see if you can match the graphs with their equations.
Try this exercise to see if you can match the equations with the correct gradient and intercept.
The news today is concentrating on UK students performance in maths, and how the students in countries like China, Korea and Japan seem to be doing much better.
Why not have a go at some of the test questions and see how you can do?
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/test/
This is what the Guardian has to say about it. The OECD believe their results show that boys are better at maths than girls. Do you think this is true? Over the many years I have taught maths I have not found a great difference between the sexes, but I do acknowledge that the boys generally find shape and space activities such as working with nets of three dimensional shapes easier.
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A shocking maths exercise looking at the changing ratio of boy to girl births in Asia.
In these days of austerity, benefits are being cut and prices continue to rise. It has never been more important to be careful with your money, as getting into debt can spiral out of control and have dire consequences. A first step in taking control of your finances is to understand what you spend your money on. This sheet will help you work this out. To do it accurately you will need to record your spending carefully for several weeks but you may be able to estimate figures until you have got more accurate information.
Fill the figures in for an average month. So for example if you pay an MOT fee of £54.85 each year this would be recorded as 54.85/12 = £4.57 a month. If you spend £10 at the pub once a week that would be recorded as 4 x £10 = £40.
There is also an on-line version which does the sums for you here.
In May 2013 global levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passed the milestone of 400 parts per million. This exercise will challenge your maths and help you understand why this is so important.
To play this 2 player game from Transum you need to be able to calculate mean, median and range.
To do this quiz you need to understand the mean, mode, median and range.
Here are some probability questions from Transum. If you get one wrong use your back button on your browser and try again.
Here is a Roulette Simulator. It’s just as much fun as being in a casino, but it is completely free so you are not throwing away your money! Have a few goes and see how quickly you lose your money!
http://roulette-simulator.info/simulator/index.php?mode=simple&lang=en&sess=1354491584KU4ALN9E
Why does the bank always win? Probability shows us that the odds are stacked against the gambler.
Let me explain. Say we place a bet of £1 on Number 24. Assuming the roulette wheel is fair, there is one chance in 37 of this happening, because there are 37 different numbers on the roulette wheel. If you win, the bank pays you 35 times your bet. So if we do this 37 times we would expect to win once. We would lose £37 in bets and win back £36, so overall we lose £1!
A similar thing happens if you bet on pair (even) or impair (odd). Zero does not count as odd or even. So the probability of getting an even number is 18/37. The probability of an odd number is also 18/37. If you win the bank pays you the same amount as your bet. So if we play 37 times, each time betting £1, we would only expect to win 18 times. We would bet £37 and win £18 x 2 =£36, losing £1 overall.
Casinos make massive profits as they are always bound to win in the long run. True, very occasionally someone strikes lucky and has a big win, but the casino knows the odds are stacked in their favour.
Here is an interesting info-graphic that shows which languages are spoken most throughout the world.
Can you design a bar chart or a pie chart to show this information?
How about carrying out a survey to find out which languages are spoken in your class/course or college? You will need to plan it carefully first, working out how to collect the data. Then analyse your data, putting it into tables. Finally present your data using graphs and charts in a format that will make people want to read it.
Download the pdf, print it and cut out the dominoes. Work with a friend to put them together correctly or play dominoes by sharing the dominoes and taking it in turns to place the next domino. If you can’t go the other player has another turn. The winner is the first to place all their dominoes correctly.
Download, print and cut out the triangles. Work with a friend to try and match all the questions with the correct answers and make a shape.
Download, print and cut out the triangles. Work with a friend to try and match all the questions with the correct answers and make a shape.
Interesting news today that the NHS want to introduce standardised health charts to monitor patients pulse, temperature, blood pressure, breathing rate, level of consciousness, and oxygen saturation. Apparently each hospital currently has its own chart, leading to confusion when staff move between hospitals.
Here is some of the coverage.
If ever there was a good example of “Functional Maths”, this is it! Everyone should have a basic understanding of these charts.
Maths with Graham would like to be able to access the video on the learning portal which explains how to use this chart, but searches haven’t yet managed to find it. Please let me know if you have the link.
Here is an excellent video that shows how statistics have shaped our world. How they have been used to show smoking causes causes lung cancer, to translate languages and even to understand our feelings.
The Joy of Stats
According to Vimeo
“Documentary which takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride through the wonderful world of statistics to explore the remarkable power they have to change our understanding of the world, presented by superstar boffin Professor Hans Rosling, whose eye-opening, mind-expanding and funny online lectures have made him an international internet legend.”
