Introductory Mathematics
What do the weekly records tell us?
BOTIE
Examples, experiments and workspace controls
Connect a tool's inputs to see what it produces. You can try a branch before connecting it to Result.
Try your own inputs
Suppose one week had an unusually high number of recorded deaths. Change that week's count and predict how the mean will move. Does the new mean describe most of the weeks well?
Context for this challenge
How many deaths were recorded in an average week? Build the mean from the weekly counts. The same construction must work for records covering different numbers of weeks.
Botie has the city's invented weekly death counts. A total alone cannot compare reports covering different numbers of weeks.
Send the same weekly records to a total and a count, then use both to calculate deaths per week.
Examples and results
- Deaths recorded each week
- 036
- 142
- 238
- 344
- 440
- Required result
40
- Deaths recorded each week
- 030
- 134
- 238
- 342
- Required result
36
Try a fresh construction
This clears this draft, including its undo history. Earlier successful attempts stay recorded. Build again without opening hints to record an independent attempt.
Stuck? Inspect a worked construction
The tools below form one possible solution. You can assemble it, follow its signals, and undo that change to return to your own construction.
Assumptions and test precision
These are invented weekly counts. Comparing mortality risks would also require information such as the population size and who was included in the records. Numerical tests allow a difference of 0.001. Lists and structures must also have the right shape.
Weeks with no recorded deaths
This check uses the pieces from “Account for the weeks behind the total”.
BOTIE
- Deaths recorded each week
- 00
- 10
- 212
- 318
- 40
- 56
Use a number, text, or an array matching the requested result. For a matrix, put each row in brackets. Saving your prediction runs your current construction on these inputs and checks the earlier examples too.
Build a construction in the workspace above first. This case will test those pieces.
Why must changing the number of records change the denominator, and what variation between weeks does the mean hide?
Keep a total tied to the observations it summarises. Later averages of errors and predictions need the same care.
These are invented weekly counts. Comparing mortality risks would also require information such as the population size and who was included in the records.
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