Re: precision?

["Miguel A. Santos" <msantos@ETSE.URV.ES>]

Hi all,

let me try to answer you with a question. This topic is one
that is hardly seen at all by many students, or at least treated
in a clearly way. As an example one can take some of the many books
one can find on the library suposedly offering some clues on the
analysis of experimental data.
 Given this, could one use some concepts of this
topic to teach them to critize the uses of statistical results one
see in newspapers, at the tv,...
 It is easy to find statments like "unemployment dropped last month
5% more than the same month of the year before, thus confirming the
economical policy of the goverment..." Should we readly trust this
statement or may this drop be just part of natural fluctuation of
unemployment rates? Is really goverment's policy as effecient as they
try to convince us?
 And there are many more such statistics to analyze/critize...

 Critical reading, critical thinkig.

 Regards,
        Miguel A. Santos


On Wed, 1 Sep 1999, Ed Eckel wrote:

> At any rate, the original post to the thread asked if the concepts of
> precision and accuracy were essential to a HS introductory course.  The
> discussion quickly moved into a debate on what each word meant.  I still
> want to know, what is gained/lost by inclusion/elimination of the issues
> of precision and accuracy in an introductory course?
>
> Ed Eckel
> a pretty good physics teacher, until recently anyway
> Georgetown Day School