Thursday, 28 November 2013

Money- Budgets

What is a budget?

A budget is a money plan. It is like a blueprint of how much money you earn and how and where you spend it.

Why should I budget?

Whether you have a lot of money or just a little, a budget can help you in many ways:

If you have a budget and stick to it, you will be less likely to blow your money during random daily spending.

A budget can help you reach a financial goal because it controls how much you spend and how much you save.

Budgets can help eliminate many money surprises because you’ve planned ahead and know what to expect each month.

Even though you’re young, you can start budgeting now to get yourself into the habit.

Budgets help you see exactly where your money goes.

Tuesday, 19 November 2013

Types of conflict


        Character versus character: The most popular, since conflicts between people are the most interesting to readers. (Example: Cinderella and her wicked stepmother)


        Character versus himself/herself: Conflict between good and evil or strengths and weaknesses in a character. This is deep stuff and not usually the main conflict. (Example: The Grinch is evil and hates Christmas, but he is not evil at heart -- he is like that because someone hurt him. The Grinch feels inner conflict over the good and evil inside of him.)
 
Variety in character problems
·         "Get the story going" event: Show character's problem & event that starts adventure. (Shrek's swamp is ruined when Lord Farquaad puts fairy tale creatures there. Lord Farquaad promises to remove the fairy tale creatures after Shrek rescues Princess Fiona.)
 
·         Adventure scene(s): Meet friends & enemies, face obstacles, learn lessons, prepare for...(Shrek meets Donkey, they rescue Princess Fiona and set off for Duloc. Along the way, they become friends and have adventures, like fighting Robin Hood and his Merry Men.)
·         THE BIG EVENT: Everything is on the line. Most exciting part of story. (The wedding scene.)

·         Wrap-up: Tie up the loose ends and hand out rewards & punishments. (Shrek marries Fiona, Donkey falls in love with the dragon, and Farquaad is eaten by the dragon.)
        Character versus nature: Usually involves natural disasters or survival skills. This conflict is exciting, but often difficult to write about at length. (Example: The character in Jurassic Park must survive in and escape from a dangerous land of dinosaurs.)

Equivalent Fractions

Equivalent Fractions


Equivalent Fractions have the same value, even though they may look different.
These fractions are really the same:
1
2
=
2
4
=
4
8
Why are they the same? Because when you multiply or divide both the top and bottom by the same number, the fraction keeps it's value.
The rule to remember is:
"Change the bottom using multiply or divide,
And the same to the top must be applied"
So, here is why those fractions are really the same:
× 2 × 2
1 = 2 = 4
248
× 2 × 2
And visually it looks like this:
1/2 2/4 4/8
==

See the Animation

See Fractions on the Number Line ... it shows you many equivalent fractions
We also have a Chart of Fractions with many examples of equivalent fractions.

Dividing

Here are some more equivalent fractions, this time by dividing:
÷ 3 ÷ 6
18 = 6 = 1
36122
÷ 3 ÷ 6
Choose the number you divide by carefully, so that the results (both top and bottom) stay whole numbers.
If we keep dividing until we can't go any further, then we have simplified the fraction (made it as simple as possible).

Summary:

  • You can make equivalent fractions by multiplying or dividing both top and bottom by the same amount.
  • You only multiply or divide, never add or subtract, to get an equivalent fraction.
  • Only divide when the top and bottom would still be whole numbers.
Source: http://www.mathsisfun.com/equivalent_fractions.html

Friday, 8 November 2013

Probability- Chance and Data

Probability

How likely something is to happen.
Many events can't be predicted with total certainty. The best we can say is how likely they are to happen, using the idea of probability.

Tossing a Coin

When a coin is tossed, there are two possible outcomes:
  • heads (H) or
  • tails (T)
We say that the probability of the coin landing H is ½.
And the probability of the coin landing T is ½.

pair of dice

Throwing Dice

When a single die is thrown, there are six possible outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
The probability of any one of them is 1/6.

Probability

In general:
Probability of an event happening = Number of ways it can happen
Total number of outcomes

Example: the chances of rolling a "4" with a die

Number of ways it can happen: 1 (there is only 1 face with a "4" on it)
Total number of outcomes: 6 (there are 6 faces altogether)
So the probability = 1
6

Example: there are 5 marbles in a bag: 4 are blue, and 1 is red. What is the probability that a blue marble will be picked?

Number of ways it can happen: 4 (there are 4 blues)
Total number of outcomes: 5 (there are 5 marbles in total)
So the probability = 4 = 0.8
5

Probability Line

You can show probability on a Probability Line:
Probability is always between 0 and 1

Probability is Just a Guide

Probability does not tell us exactly what will happen, it is just a guide

Example: toss a coin 100 times, how many Heads will come up?

Probability says that heads have a ½ chance, so we would expect 50 Heads.
But when you actually try it out you might get 48 heads, or 55 heads ... or anything really, but in most cases it will be a number near 50.
Learn more at Probability Index.

Words

Some words have special meaning in Probability:
Experiment or Trial: an action where the result is uncertain.
Tossing a coin, throwing dice, seeing what pizza people choose are all examples of experiments.
Sample Space: all the possible outcomes of an experiment
Example: choosing a card from a deck
There are 52 cards in a deck (not including Jokers)
So the Sample Space is all 52 possible cards: {Ace of Hearts, 2 of Hearts, etc... }
The Sample Space is made up of Sample Points:
Sample Point: just one of the possible outcomes
Example: Deck of Cards
  • the 5 of Clubs is a sample point
  • the King of Hearts is a sample point
"King" is not a sample point. As there are 4 Kings that is 4 different sample points.

Event: a single result of an experiment
Example Events:
  • Getting a Tail when tossing a coin is an event
  • Rolling a "5" is an event.
An event can include one or more possible outcomes:
  • Choosing a "King" from a deck of cards (any of the 4 Kings) is an event
  • Rolling an "even number" (2, 4 or 6) is also an event

The Sample Space is all possible outcomes.
A Sample Point is just one possible outcome.
And an Event can be one or more of the possible outcomes.

Hey, let's use those words, so you get used to them:
pair of dice

Example: Alex decide to see how many times a "double" would come up when throwing 2 dice.

Each time Alex throws the 2 dice is an Experiment.
It is an Experiment because the result is uncertain.

The Event Alex is looking for is a "double", where both dice have the same number. It is made up of these 6 Sample Points:
{1,1} {2,2} {3,3} {4,4} {5,5} and {6,6}

The Sample Space is all possible outcomes (36 Sample Points):
{1,1} {1,2} {1,3} {1,4} ... {6,3} {6,4} {6,5} {6,6}

These are Alex's Results:
ExperimentIs it a Double?
{3,4}No
{5,1}No
{2,2}Yes
{6,3}No
......

After 100 Experiments, Alex had 19 "double" Events ... is that close to what you would expect?

Source: http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/probability.html