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| Students followed directions for MS Excel to find the equation of the line-of-best-fit. |
To do this, the data was graphed as a scatter plot (C vs. D). Then, Excel was used to calculate the line-of-best-fit (it calls it a linear trendline) and to display the line's equation. In this activity, students were particularly interested in the line's slope because the ratio of C / D should be an experimental way to calculate π.
But, what if a student does not have access to Excel? What are some free tools that will calculate the line-of-best-fit and its slope for a set of data?
But, what if a student does not have access to Excel? What are some free tools that will calculate the line-of-best-fit and its slope for a set of data?
- Search online to some some possible solutions to the above question. Which do you like best?
- To test these solutions, calculate the slope of the line-of-best-fit for this data:
If a student does not have excel then they can still find the slope of the circle. First, I would change the diameter to it's radius, which is half of the measurement of the diameter. Once you have this you can set it up in slope intercept form which is y=mx+b, while using the circumference as y. Once you've did this, use your y intercept as 0 and find your slope by using the formula. Plug in a y subscript 2 - y(one) and the same with x's. Then graph it using the y axis as circumference and the x axis as the radius. Once you've plotted the points you can draw your line and test your slope. If you still can't get it a good website to try is http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/circleslope/relationships.html my slope was 6.484848484
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions, iloveweekends!
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