list of numerical data. A "graph" or "scatter plot" is what you get when
you plot bivariate data on a set of x-y axes. We refer to other visual
representations of data by name: "stem-and-leaf plot", "histogram", "bar
graph", and so on.
Many thanks,
Dave Wang
<><><><><><><><><><>
Dave Wang
Mathematics teacher
The Bay School of San Francisco
www.bayschoolsf.org
415-561-5800 x 119
=20
I have not failed. I have merely found 10,000 ways which do not work.
- Thomas Edison
=20
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change
something, build a new model which makes the existing model obsolete.
- Buckminster Fuller
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Keith E Gatling
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 3:39 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Chart vs Graph
Question for you math types.
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.
--=20
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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[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
