Experimental Design B/C

[lifeasweknowofit]

Just got thrown into this event by our coach... and competition is this Monday.... any helpful tips?

[unnik9]

Just got thrown into this event by our coach... and competition is this Monday.... any helpful tips?

Its my first year doing this event too and i have no clue what to do. Whats the best thing to do to prepare for this event?

[zyzzyva980]

The first thing you should do is read the Experimental Design Wiki. It's loaded with tips and tricks as well as the general basics for this event.

[zorbsthekitty]

Just got thrown into this event by our coach... and competition is this Monday.... any helpful tips?

Its my first year doing this event too and i have no clue what to do. Whats the best thing to do to prepare for this event?

try doing the easier things like graphs and statistics. and the harder things ask your partners for help or let them do it. best idea is to watch your partners do it, i was watching trajectoryroxs do her section of the experiment and it helped a lot. find out a method so you can be really be efficient.

[jayadh]

So what experiments have you guys gotten? (C division) Cause I got something stupid during states last year and I wanna be prepared for the worst this year~

[butter side up]

So what experiments have you guys gotten? (C division) Cause I got something stupid during states last year and I wanna be prepared for the worst this year~

Well, at invites this year we've been given:
1. flubber, a styrofoam board, different roughnesses of sandpaper, aluminum foil, olive oil and paper towels and made a ramp with different materials and timed the flubber's flow (the flubber was a glue/ borax thick white mixture?) that experimant was very messy and gross, but in the instructions they gave us the practical applications (glaciation) or we probably would have been stumped.
2. nails, a battery, wire, paper clips, styrofoam packing peanuts, sandpaper. They apparently wanted us to make an electromagnet- we made a pendulum and timed the period
3. paper and a compass (the kind that draws circles) we changed the angle the compass was open and measured the diameter of the circles it drew
4. paper clips, a square of cardboard, a bouncy ball, ruler, paper, and they told us to make a springboard of some type

[jayadh]

So what experiments have you guys gotten? (C division) Cause I got something stupid during states last year and I wanna be prepared for the worst this year~

Well, at invites this year we've been given:
1. flubber, a styrofoam board, different roughnesses of sandpaper, aluminum foil, olive oil and paper towels and made a ramp with different materials and timed the flubber's flow (the flubber was a glue/ borax thick white mixture?) that experimant was very messy and gross, but in the instructions they gave us the practical applications (glaciation) or we probably would have been stumped.
2. nails, a battery, wire, paper clips, styrofoam packing peanuts, sandpaper. They apparently wanted us to make an electromagnet- we made a pendulum and timed the period
3. paper and a compass (the kind that draws circles) we changed the angle the compass was open and measured the diameter of the circles it drew
4. paper clips, a square of cardboard, a bouncy ball, ruler, paper, and they told us to make a springboard of some type

Thanks for the information~ the first one seems ehh... but other than that -crosses fingers-

[amerikestrel]

I was put into this event recently and I have a few questions:

The rules say you can only use a non-programmable calculator. Does anyone know of a non-programmable calculator that has regression analysis?

Also, apart from mean, median, range, mode, standard deviation and regressions, what other statistics should I take?

[quizbowl]

I was put into this event recently and I have a few questions:

The rules say you can only use a non-programmable calculator. Does anyone know of a non-programmable calculator that has regression analysis?

Also, apart from mean, median, range, mode, standard deviation and regressions, what other statistics should I take?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I know the TI-30 IIXS and TI-34 both can use stat and calculate it for you

[AlphaTauri]

Yep, TI-30XIIS has a Stat mode, although it's a little awkward to use. It also gives you stuff related to your data under Statvar (once you're in Stat mode), although I haven't the faintest clue what any of the variables stand for, since I can't find the instruction manual that came with the calculator.