Seminar at University of Ulster, 21st February 2024.
https://alandix.com/academic/talks/Ulster-2024-QQ/
As academics we need to deal with numbers including project management spreadsheets and student marks. In addition, they are part of day-to-day life whether household budgeting or working out how many socks to pack for a journey. Perhaps most crucially, many national and global issues require an understanding of numeric information from climate change to tax rates, and of course the Covid-19 pandemic. If citizens are not able to make sense of this, democracy fails.
Of course, many are not only uncertain when dealing with numbers, but suffer more or less extreme maths anxiety. Indeed a recent UK survey found that, “over a third of adults (35%) say that doing maths makes them feel anxious, while one in five are so fearful it even makes them feel physically sick”.
Sometimes detailed calculations are necessary, but often the critical skill is qualitative–quantitative reasoning, that is a qualitative understanding of quantitative phenomena. This can after be aided by the ability to use back-of-the-envelope calculations and dealing with lightweight numeric information.
This talk discusses these issues and presents some prototype tools to explore the design space for personal numeric information.
18. Above canopy model
ground at
0 V
open boundary
condition complex
sprayer at
high voltage
+ 1000s V
charged
spray drops
model path,
speed and
space voltage
due to drop
cloud
?
19. Within Canopy Model
crop modelled as
straight sides
ground at
bottom
+V – charged spray enters crop
canopy from above;
speed and charge determined
by above canopy model.
20. Within Canopy Model
crop modelled as
straight sides
ground at
bottom
+V – charged spray enters crop
canopy from above;
speed and charge determined
by above canopy model.
33. ↑ more
automation
↓ less
labour needed
↑ higher
productivity
↑ higher
prosperity
↓ less
employment
↓ lower
wages
? people
better off
↑ ↓
34. ↑ more
automation
↓ decline of
other companies
↑ more
competative
↑ growth
of company
↓ less
jobs elsewhere
↑ more
jobs there
? overall
employment
↑
↓
35.
36.
37. numerical data
numeric data and innumeracy
–more BBC – 35,000 m3 vs 35 km3
qualitative–quantitative reasoning
–iVolver
–worksheets
38. the size of Wales (TSoW)
478 square kilometers
184.5 square miles
about 1¼ times the size
of the Isle of Wight
184.5
sq miles
146.8
sq miles
39. numerical data
numeric data and innumeracy
–more BBC – 35,000 m3 vs 35 km3
qualitative–quantitative reasoning
–iVolver
–calQ
–worksheets
By CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM - https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86444014
By NASA ICE - A close look at the shelf, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24450299
By ChiralJon - https://www.flickr.com/photos/69057297@N04/45554136424/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75011663
BBC (2018). £350m Brexit claim was 'too low', says Boris Johnson. BBC News, 16 January 2018. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42698981
BBC (2018). £350m Brexit claim was 'too low', says Boris Johnson. BBC News, 16 January 2018. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42698981
[img]http://www.freeimageslive.co.uk/files/images008/school_maths.small.jpg[/img][url={http://www.freeimageslive.co.uk/free_stock_image/school-maths-jpg}Image by freeimageslive - gratuit[/url]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lattice_diagram_of_Q_adjoin_the_positive_square_roots_of_2_and_3,_its_subfields,_and_Galois_groups.svg
<a href="https://www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/water-tap">Water Tap Vectors by Vecteezy</a>