Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Is this graph misleading?

If you didn't come here from this page, please go there first!
The answer is below this graph.Click on image to make graph larger.


The first thing you should notice is that the number for 1980 is 153, and the number for 2010 is 51.6, which is a 66% drop (as stated in the text above the graph). You know that 66% is a little more than 50%, so the bar for 2010 should be a little more than 50% shorter than the bar for 1980.

If you literally measure on the screen, you actually get about a 95% drop by only looking at the bars. The image does not match up with the data.

But how did this happen? I will put the answer underneath this in white text. Highlight it if you want to see the answer or some hints first!
Hint: Look at the numbers going vertically on the left hand side. Could they have been spaced differently?
Hint: Look at the starting number.
Hint: What would make the two bars closer to the 66% difference?
Answer: The number in the corner starts at 40, and then it jumps by 20 each time. Imagine if that number were 50 instead. It would look like SIDS rates were 0 in 2010, wouldn't it? What number should be in the corner?

If you want to try different ideas to see how they affect a graph's appearance, here is a great page!
Just take some of the stats off this graph, or even just the largest and smallest and see what you can change to affect the bars and make them match the data.

Keep this in mind if you should ever need to create your own graph for a project!


Statistics Should Be Required

The most useful college class I took was statistics, and I still find it useful. Here is a great exercise for your kids! Is this graph misleading in any way? See what they think. I'll just leave this here and if someone has questions, just ask! This skill is SO important given that almost all information is often presented in graph form (often to mislead). I'm sure you've seen this repeatedly in regards to politics. Click on image to see larger.



If you can't figure out how this graph is misleading, or you want to know if it even is, here is the answer!

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Spend Time With Your Kids

It's been over two years since I've posted to this blog. As a single mom doing 100% of this parenting thing on my own, I've gotten a little too busy at times, and my kids have grown up right before my eyes! They are now almost 15 and 16 years old, and I've only got a few years left to spend with them as "children." The reason I'm posting today is because of the people who don't appreciate that importance.

I have been *triggered.*

Today in a facebook group which may as well be called "Selfish Leftist Single Moms" because I think there might be three conservatives in it, a woman posted asking how she can find rides for her children after school to her boyfriend's house because she and her boyfriend have been talking about how they can spend more time together.

Facepalm.

As if it's not bad enough that marriages are falling apart, we have parents who are too busy pursuing their own relationships to even drive their own kids to be stuck at the dude's house! How about figuring out how you can spend more quality time with the kids? How about figuring out what activities they might want to do after school, or do those activities with them? If you aren't seeing your kids all day because they are in school, WHAT are you doing as a parent?

It is one thing if you have to work two jobs to pay the bills. It is completely another to take time away from your own kids for some random dude, or to put your relationship before your kids. I don't even care if they like him. Chances are, the relationship won't last. It will be another man who came in and out of their lives, all the while they have been raised by the schools and the internet, because they have no bond with their primary parent. Kids have gone from spending the majority of their days with family, to the majority of their days being away from their family, or ignored because of technological advances such as iPhones, internet, and Netflix.

I've seen parents lost in their own phones at restaurants. If you want to know what's wrong with kids today, use that phone to look it up! They are being pushed aside, ignored, replaced, and expected to suck it up when they are neglected because Mom or Dad wants to put themselves first (which seems to happen a lot these days). Of course on the other end of the spectrum there are kids who rule the roost at their homes and are given everything their little hearts' desire, and that's another post for another day.

Spend time with your kids.