Statistics & the Olympic Games

Finite Mathematics & Modeling (MATH 125)is a general education course designed to assist students in the development of critical life skills. One of the goals of this assignment is to assess students' competence for each of these objectives:

I.Written and Oral Communication Skills- examine the mathematical contributions made by people from diverse cultures throughout history, and their social, and cultural significance (CCO15),II.Critical Analysis and Reasoning- evaluate cultural and social applications and approaches to statistical analysis(CCO16),III.TechnologicalCompetence-applytechnologytothesolutionofmathematicalproblems(CCO9),IV.Information Literacy- find, evaluate, use, and cite academic resources for conducting research in mathematics(CCO17),V.Scientific and Quantitative or Logical Reasoning- describe, numerically and graphically, various forms and presentations of statistical data(CCO13).

In addition to the above general education objectives, this assignment assesses students' understanding and application of the following skills and knowledge specific toFinite Mathematics & Modeling (MATH 125).

Elementary Statistics:

DescriptivestatisticsStatistical displays ofdataAnalyzing and interpreting statistics in a globalcommunity

ASSIGNMENT: In this assignment, students will evaluate data from the10,000 meterrace of the 2019 World Championships. Students will calculate descriptive statistics, evaluate possibleimplications for faulty timing equipment, and compute relative placements for 2020 Olympic runners. Additionally, students willlogically apply statistical reasoning to discuss code breaking strategies.

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment isfor studentsto demonstrate the ability to analyze and compare two sets of data using the statistical methods discussed in this course. Audience: In general, assume the person reading your report has little background knowledge of historical racing times, but enough background knowledge in statistics to be able to understand your analysis.

Directions: See detailed instructions below. Students shouldrespond to all questions using complete sentences, linkingtheirmathematical statements with proper exposition. Be sure to satisfy the length requirement for questions that indicate one.

ASSIGNMENT SPECIFICATIONS:

Thisassignmentistobecompletedindividuallyasatake-homeproject.Thelengthofyourreportshouldbe adequate to have fully answered eachquestion.Yourprojectshouldbetyped;however,mathematicalcalculationsmaybesubmitted as photo within the document.Your facts must be properly cited with in-text parenthetical citations and a Works Citedpage.

For citation, use the Modern Language Association (MLA) format and use parenthetical citation with a Works Cited list as the final page (non-content page).

Both CCBC andPurdue University offer very good online references at:

https://libraryguides.ccbcmd.edu/Citations

http://www.ccbcmd.edu/Resources-for-Students/Tutoring-and-Academic-Coaching/Writing-Center- and-Online-Writing-Lab/Documenting-and-Citing-Sources.aspx

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

GRADING:

This assignment will account for15% of your totalcourse grade.See attached rubric for details about how your project will begraded.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Your file should be a SINGLE .pdf file.

Statistics & the Olympic Games

The 10,000 meters is a standard trackeventand it is a part of both the Olympic Games and World

Championships.A sample from the top 17 finishers of the men'sand women's races from the 2019World Championships are listed in the attached data tables.

1.Calculate the mean, median, range, andfive numbersummaryforeachdataset.You are expected to use at least two (2) technology tools to make your calculations (such as a calculator, Microsoft Excel, etc.).State specifically what technology you used. If you choose to use Microsoft Excel, instructions for these calculations can be found here:

http://researchbasics.education.uconn.edu/calculatingmeanstandarddev

2.Suppose the timing device used in themen'srace failed to activate at the start of the race and instead began to record the timesxseconds into therace.Consider how the competitors' times would be affected.Would thexseconds be added to or subtracted from the times recorded to find the true times? Would the median you calculated in question #1 be affected? If yes, how? If no, why not?

3.Determine who placed9^thin the men's and in the women's10,000meterraces at the 2020Summer Olympics(which occurred in 2021)inTokyo. Record the names, nationalities, and times.Be sure to properly cite at least two (2) sources on a Works Cited page.UnderAssignment Specificationsabove, there are some guidelines to help you with citing your sources.

4.If both of those9^thplace finishers from question #3, had competed in the 2019World Championships with their2020Olympic time(which occurred in 2021), where would they haveplaced? Which one would have done relatively better than the other at the 2019World Championships?Justify your answer mathematically.Consider using more than one method to justify your answer. For assistance converting minutes into seconds, view this video:https://www.khanacademy.org/math/4th-engage-ny/engage-4th-module-7/4th-module-7- topic-a/v/time-unit-conversion

5.One of the first recorded uses of statistics was in the 9th century by an Arab Muslim philosopher, Al-Kindi. He was studying cryptanalysis, or codebreaking, and realized that the most frequently occurring letters in a cypher should correspond to the most frequently occurring letters in the alphabet.

Inthree to five sentences, with source(s) cited,determineand explainwhat the most frequently occurring letters are in the English alphabet (and what their frequencies are). Once you have that, use that informationto explain how you would use it to try to break this code(you do not have toactually breakit, but you can if you want).

qnswtljruljynse!vnrftnocjmcqndc.

Men's 2019World Championship - Final Results (top 17 finishers)

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (seconds)
1	JoshuaCheptegei	Uganda (UGA)	1608.36
2	YomifKejelcha	Ethiopia (ETH)	1609.34
3	RhonexKipruto	Kenya (KEN)	1610.32
4	Rodgers Kwemoi	Kenya (KEN)	1615.36
5	AndamlakBelihu	Ethiopia (ETH)	1616.71
6	Mohammed Ahmed	Canada (CAN)	1619.35
7	LopezLomong	United States (USA)	1624.72
8	YemaneberhanCrippa	Italy (ITA)	1630.76
9	Hagos Gebrhiwet	Ethiopia (ETH)	1631.37
10	Shadrack Kipchirchir	United States (USA)	1644.74
11	Sondre Nordstad Moen	Norway (NOR)	1682.18
12	Leonard Korir	United States (USA)	1685.73
13	Soufiane Bouchikhi	Belgium (BEL)	1695.43
14	Aron Kifle	Eritrea (ERI)	1696.74
15	Rodrigue Kwizera	Burundi (BDI)	1701.92
16	Abdallah Kibet Mande	Uganda (UGA)	1710.49
17	OnesphoreNzikwinkunda	Burundi (BDI)	1751.50

Women's 2019World Championship - Final Results (top 17 finishers)

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (seconds)
1	Sifan Hassan	Netherlands (NED)	1817.62
2	LetesenbetGidey	Ethiopia (ETH)	1821.23
3	Agnes Jebet Tirop	Kenya (KEN)	1825.20
4	Rosemary Monica Wanjiru	Kenya (KEN)	1835.75
5	Hellen Obiri	Kenya (KEN)	1835.82
6	SenbereTeferi	Ethiopia (ETH)	1844.23
7	Susan Krumins	Netherlands (NED)	1865.40
8	Marielle Hall	United States (USA)	1865.71
9	Molly Huddle	United States (USA)	1867.24
10	Emily Sisson	United States (USA)	1872.56
11	HitomiNiiya	Japan (JPN)	1872.99
12	CamilleBuscomb	New Zealand (NZL)	1873.21
13	Ellie Pashley	Australia (AUS)	1878.89
14	Sinead Diver	Australia (AUS)	1885.49
15	StephanieTwell	Great Britain (GBR)	1904.79
16	Stella Chesang	Uganda (UGA)	1935.20
17	NatashaWodak	Canada (CAN)	1951.19

Revised 09/2022