by Alex Harvey
1/24/2012
The Neoga High School Advanced Math class is always busy with new projects. One of their most recent was the ‘Linear Regression Project’. Linear Regression is a way of analyzing the relationship between any two ‘x’ and ‘y’ variables, and determining the best line for data. This method is used most often for obtaining statistics.
For this project, the students found the length of various body lengths (arm span, height, wrist width, and neck widths) in order to see if there was a correlation between any two lengths. For the measurements concerning height and arm span, there was- while it varies, on average your arm span is close to or equal to your height. Arm span is the most reliable body parameter for predicting the height of an individual, as well as being a simple measure that's important in the profiling of athletes in many sports in which reach is important, such as basketball.
In general, student results tended toward a correlation in proportions for arm span and height; however, the opposite was true for wrist width and neck width. Students enjoyed the project, and hope to do similar projects soon. “This project was a great experience because we got to use the graphing calculators, which helps us in the future on other projects and in our everyday life.” says Advanced Math student Jessica Warner, “Everyday in math is fun” says classmate Bailey Dow, “…when we don’t have homework!”
