Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2016 May 13

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May 13[edit]

Hello Wikipedia:Reference desk/Mathematics folks,
Article WP:PRODed and then un-PROD-ed
I realio, trulio have only the faintest clue what this article about.
Your thoughts about this?
Pete "Math class is tough - let's go shopping!" AU aka --Shirt58 (talk) 12:24, 13 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I also have only the faintest clue what the article about. That is not because the topic is difficult; it's the kind of topic I enjoy. It's because the article is very poorly written, probably by some who already knows what a mazarae is and can't appreciate that most readers don't know. Maproom (talk) 22:08, 15 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with Maproom. It seems to me like Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Mathematics might be a better venue, though. --JBL (talk) 01:12, 16 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I have made the article shorter, and, I hope, more comprehensible. What it was trying to say was really quite simple. Maproom (talk) 14:30, 16 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
One problem is that the English article omits the explanatory diagrams that are found in the German version. -- SGBailey (talk) 15:46, 17 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I have rewritten the English article: improved the grammar, rearranged material somewhat, cut a few sentences that seemed redundant, and added an example from the German page. --JBL (talk) 21:31, 19 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

predicting grade distributions?[edit]

Hey,

I was wondering how accurately one could predict the grade distributions for a class of n students if you know what the lower and upper quartiles and the median are after 60% of the points have been awarded. (The last 40% being a final which is assumed to be of equal difficulty as the other exams).

Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.233.174.42 (talk) 18:30, 13 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

See https://www.academia.edu/25108263/Statistical_Induction_and_Prediction Bo Jacoby (talk) 22:02, 13 May 2016 (UTC).[reply]

Thanks Bo, but I honestly don't understand most of that. Im sorry — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.233.174.42 (talk) 12:42, 14 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You have, say, 100 students. You know about 60%, that is 60 students, that 15 students have grades below the lower quartile, and 15 students have grades between the lower quartile and the median, and 15 students have grades between the median and the upper quartile, and 15 students have grades above the upper quartile. What do you know about the remaining 40 students? The formula gives 10±3.5 students in each of the 4 classes.
   15 15 15 15 predict 40
    10     10     10     10
3.4641 3.4641 3.4641 3.4641

Bo Jacoby (talk) 17:50, 16 May 2016 (UTC).[reply]