Resource Library

This lesson plan uses the Birthday Paradox to introduce basic concepts of probability. Students run a Monte Carlo simulation using the TI-83 graphing calculator to generate random dates, and then search for matching pairs. Students also perform a graphical analysis of the birthday-problem function. Key Words: Permutations; Explicit Function; Recursive Function; Modeling.

An independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion. Gives examples of recent polls, margins of error, questions asked, and sample sizes.

This Flash applet provides an introduction to simple linear regression for introductory statistics students. It combines a brief narrated animation with an interactive scatterplot function. Students are able to place points on the scatterplot by clicking with a mouse or typing X-Y coordinates. Students use these points to learn about the best fit line by placing a guess on the plot and comparing it with the least squares line. Students also learn about the value of the correlation coefficent and points that would be considered outliers. Students may also specify a value of x (within the range of the data) and obtain the resulting predicted value.

This is a virtual spinner applet, which allows you to change spinner regions and the number of spins. It records the results and displays the data in a histogram.

This is a virtual applet, which models repeaded coin tossing by a random number generator. It allows you to change the number of tosses as well as runs and records your results.

This virtual applet simulates randomly drawing numbers from a box. You can choose which numbers you would like to choose from and the number of draws. The applet has the option to show theoretical probability and displays the results in histogram form.

The Pew Research Center For The People & The Press data archive page contains links to downloadable versions of the Center's survey data which are currently available on the web. Survey data are released six months after the reports are issued and are posted on the web as quickly as possible.

This site is a collection of data that contains the results of the Olympic track and field events. It contains the times not only of the winners, but of all the contestants.

This page contains information about the mass, mean temperature, length of day, rotation period, etc. for the planets of our solar system.

This article describes an interactive activity illustrating sampling distributions for means, properties of confidence intervals, properties of hypothesis testing, confidence intervals for means, and hypothesis tests for means. Students generate and analyze data and through simulation explore these concepts. The activity is completed in three parts. The three parts of the activity can be used in sequence or they can be used individually as "stand alone" activities. This allows the educator flexibility in utilizing the activity. Part I illustrates the sampling distribution of the sample mean. Part II illustrates confidence intervals for the population mean. Part III illustrates hypothesis tests for the population mean. This activity is appropriate for use in an introductory college or high school AP statistics course. Key words: sampling distribution of a sample mean, confidence interval for a mean, hypothesis test on a mean, simulation, random rectangles