I've been telling my students that the terms chart and graph are
interchangeable, based on the fact that in Excel you use the *Chart
Wizard*to make a pie, column, or line chart. However, one of my
colleagues in
Science tells her students that you have to put your data into a
*chart*before you can create a
*graph* from it. I countered that what she's talking about is a *table*.
I then realized that what's going on here is something akin to the whole
deal with how the word *theory* is being used in the creationist/evolution
debates. There are two different usages of the word, based on whether you're
in science or not. The common, non-scientific use of the word is an *unproven
idea*. However, in science that's the definition of a *hypothesis*, which,
once proven, becomes a *theory*. The confusion over the use of this one word
in two different disciplines is what's led to a raft of problems. When I
mentioned this to my colleague, she suggested that I find out what terms *
math* people use, and so I'm asking you:
1. Do you use *chart* and *graph* interchangeably?
2. If you do, do you also use *chart* and *table* interchangeably?
3. Do you not use *table* at all, but use *chart* for where the data
goes and *graph* for the pictorial representation of the data?
Thanks.
--
keg
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Keith E Gatling - Computer Instructor
Manlius Pebble Hill School
5300 Jamesville Rd
DeWitt, NY 13214
315.446.2452
http://www.gatling.us/keith
Some teachers teach subjects. Others teach students.
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