MATHEMATICS IN THE MODERN WORLD MIDTERM REVIEWER
observing that a specific
Problem Solving
Problem
● A statement requiring a solution,
usually by means of mathematical
operation/geometric construction.
● It is a situation that confronts the
learner, that requires resolution, and
for which the path to the answer is not
immediately known.
Method
● The ways or techniques used to get
answer which will usually involve one
or more problem solving strategies.
Problem Solving
● Is a process
● An ongoing activity in which we take
what we know to discover what we
don’t know.
Drill/Exercise
● a situation that requires resolution but
the method is clear and the way to the
answer is easily seen.
Inductive Reasoning
● Process of reaching a general
conclusion by examining specific
examples.
● Specific to general
● Example:
○ What is the next number in
the sequence 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, …?
○ Answer: 21
○ Solution: The numbers are
increasing by 4 starting with
number 1. By applying
inductive reasoning, the next
number in the series is 21.
● Egyptian's and Babylonian's approach
in solving problems was an example of
"do thus and so" method, that is, to
solve a problem or perform an
operation, cookbook-like recipe was
given, and it was performed over and
over to solve similar problems.
○ They concluded the same
method would work for any
similar type of problem by
method worked for a certain
type of problem. Such
conclusion is called conjecture.
Conjecture
● is an educated guess based on
repeated observations of a particular
process or pattern.
● It should be carefully noted that a
conjecture is an idea that may or may
not be correct.
DEDUCTIVE REASONING
● Deductive reasoning is the process of
solving problems by applying
premises, syllogisms, and
conclusions.
● It goes from a general case to a
specific case.
Key Terms:
● Argument
○ is the reason or reasons
offered for or against
something
● Premises
○ minor or major propositions
or assertions that serve as the
bases for an argument.
○ It can be an assumption, law,
rule, widely held idea or
observation.
● Syllogism
○ an argument composed of two
statements or premises
followed by a conclusion.
● Conclusion
○ the last step in a reasoning
process
● Example:
○ "Today is Thursday.
Tomorrow is Friday."
○ Solution:
■ There is only one premise in this
statement, "Today is Thursday".
The other statement "Tomorrow
is Friday" is called a conclusion.
Following the days in a week, the
fact that Friday is the day after
Thursday is not explicitly stated.
Since the conclusion comes from
general facts that apply to this
case, deductive reasoning was
used.
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Sir George Polya (December 13,1887 - September 7,1985)
● He was regarded as the father of
modern emphasis in math education
on problem solving
● A leading research mathematician of
his time, Dr. Polya made seminal
contributions to probability,
combinatorial theory and conflict
analysis.
● His work on random walk and his
famous enumeration theorem widely
applied.
POLYA'S 4-STEPS IN PROBLEM SOLVING
POLYA'S STRATEGY
● named after George Polya (1887 -
1985), is a four-step problem solving
strategy that are deceptively simple.
Polya's four-step approach to problem
solving
1) Preparation: Understand the problem
● Learn the necessary
underlying mathematical
concepts Consider the
terminology and notation
used in the problem:
1. What sort of a problem is it?
2. What is being asked?
3. What do the terms mean?
4. Are the information given enough?
5. What is known or unknown?
Rephrase the problem in words.
6. Note specific examples of the
conditions given in the problem.
2) Thinking Time: Devise a plan
● You must start somewhere so
try something. How are you
going to attack the problem?
Possible strategies: (i. e. reach into your
bag of tricks.)
1. Make a list of the known and
unknown information.
2. Use a variable for unknowns.
3. Draw pictures, diagrams or
even tables.
4. Be systematic.
5. Solve a simpler version of the
problem.
6. Guess and check. Trial and
error. Guess and test.
(Guessing is OK.)
7. Look for a pattern or patterns.
8. Work backwards. Guess at a
solution and check your
result.
Tip:
Once you understand what the
problem is, if you are stumped or
stuck, set
the problem aside for a while. Your
subconscious mind may keep working
on it.
3) Insight: Carry out the plan
● Work out an idea or a new
approach carefully and see if it
leads to a solution.
● If the plan does not seem to be
working, then start over and
try another approach.
● Often the first approach does
not work. Do not worry, just
because an approach does not
work, it does not mean you
did it wrong. You actually
accomplished something,
knowing a way does not work
is part of the process of
elimination. Remember to
keep an accurate and neat
record of all your attempts.
● The key is to keep trying until
something works.
4) Verification: Look back and review your
solution
● Check to see if your potential solution
it works.
1.Did you answer the question?
2.Is your result reasonable?
3. Double check to make sure that all
of the conditions related to the
problem are satisfied.
4. Review your computations in
finding the solution.
If your solution does not work, there
may only be a simple mistake. Try to
modify your current attempt before
scrapping it. Though you have to
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 remember likely that at least part of it
will end up being
useful.
Is there a simpler way to solve the problem?
(You need to become flexible in your thinking.
There could be another way.)
Can the problem or method be generalized so
as to be useful for future problems?

Variable
● a numerical characteristic or attribute
associated with the population being
"A great discovery solves a great problem but
studied.
there is a grain of discovery in the solution of any
● They are further classified as
problem. Your problem may be modest; but if it
categorical or qualitative and numerical
challenges your curiosity and brings into play
or quantitative
your inventive faculties, and if you solve it by
your own means, you may experience the tension
and enjoy the triumph of discovery."
- George Polya

BASIC STATISTICS
Statistics
● itself came from the Latin word
“status” which means state. Discrete variables
Data ● values obtained by counting.
● In statistics, it is always a result of
experiment, observation, investigation Continuous variables
and other means and often appears as a ● values obtained by measuring, all of
numerical figure and then evaluated which cannot be put into a list because
to make it into useful knowledge. they can have any value in some
interval of real numbers.
DIVISION OF STATISTICS
LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT
Descriptive Statistics
● deals with the collection and
presentation of data and collection of
summarizing values to describe its
group characteristics.
● The most common summarizing values
are the measure of central tendency and
variation.

Inferential Statistics
● deals with the predictions and
inferences based on the analysis and
interpretation of the results of the
information gathered by the
statistician.
● Some of the common statistical tools
of inferential statistics are the t-test,
z-test, analysis of variance, chi-square,
and Pearson r.
● Nominal
○ classifies elements into two or
more categories or classes, the
numbers indicating that the
elements are different but not
according to order or
magnitude

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● Ordinal
○ a scale that ranks individual in
terms of the degree to which
they possess a characteristic
of interest.
● Interval
○ in addition to ordering scores
from high to low, it also
establishes a uniform unit in
the scale so that any equal
distance between two scores is
of equal magnitude. There is no
absolute zero in this scale.
● Ratio
○ in addition to being an
interval scale, it also has an
absolute zero.
POPULATION AND SAMPLE
Population
● defined as groups of people, animals,
places, things or ideas to which any
conclusions based on characteristics
of a sample will be applied.
Sample
● a subgroup of the population.
PARAMETER AND STATISTIC
Parameter
● a numerical measure that describes a
characteristic of the population.
Statistic
● numerical measure that is used to
describe a characteristic of a sample.
MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY: MEAN,
MEDIAN AND MODE
Measures of Central Tendency
● To describe a whole set of data with a
single value that represents the middle
or center of its distribution is the
purpose of measure of central
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 tendency (measures of center or
central location).
● To put in other words, it is a way to
describe the center of a data set.
● It lets us know what is normal or
'average' for a set of data.
● It also condenses the data set down to
one representative value, which is
useful when you are working with
large amounts of data.
Mean (Balance Point)
● Known as the average or norm
● The mean by definition is the sum of
all the values in the observation or a
dataset divided by the total number of
observations.
● This is also known as the arithmetic
average.
● The mean can be used for both
continuous and discrete numeric data as
well as for categorical data, as the
values cannot be summed.
● As the mean includes every value in
the distribution the mean is influenced
by outliers (which are numbers that are
much higher or much lower than the rest
of the data set) and skewed
(asymmetric) distributions.
● This measurement is applicable to use
for ratio and interval data.
Median (Physical Middle point)
● The median is considered as the
physical middle point in a distribution
because it is located at the center
position when the values are arranged
in ascending or descending order, which
in turn divides the distribution in half
(there are 50% of observations on either
side of the median value).
● If a distribution has an odd number of
observations, the median value is the
middle value.
● If it is an even number, the median
value is the mean or average of the two
middle values.
● Widely used in ordinal type of
information
Mode
● The mode can be found for both
numerical and categorical
(non-numerical) data.
● It is the most commonly occurring
value in a distribution.
● There can be more than one mode for
the same distribution of data,
(bi-modal, or multi-modal), thus
limiting the ability of the mode in
describing the center of the
distribution.
● In some particular cases, the
distribution may have no mode at all
(i.e. if all values are different).
● In such case, it may be better to
consider using the median or mean, or
group the data in to appropriate
intervals, and find the modal class
MEASURES OF OTHER POSITION
Quantiles
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 ● are cut points in a score distribution Qk= [(k*n ) / 4]th
where the scores are divided into
● DECILE
different equal parts.
● There are three kinds of quantiles Dk= [(k*n ) / 10]th
namely:
○ Quartiles ● PERCENTILE
○ Deciles
Pk= [(k*n ) / 100]th
○ Percentiles
NOTE: Always Round Up for the position
Quartiles
● A measure of position that divides the
ordered observations or score 
distribution into 4 equal parts.
MEAN ABSOLUTE DEVIATION

Mean absolute deviation is the average of how much

the data values differ from the mean.

A small MAD value indicates a clustered data values.

Decile
A big MAD value indicates a spread out data values
● A measure of position that divides the
ordered observations or score
distribution into 10 equal parts.

Percentiles 1. Find and interpret the mean absolute

deviation of the test scores obtained by these
● A measure of position that divides the two students.
ordered observations or score
distribution into 100 equal parts.

Q2 = D5 =P50 = MEDIAN

FORMULA FOR UNGROUPED DATA

● QUARTILE MEASURES of VARIATION

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Measures of Variation
● enable you to know how varied the
observations are, whether there are
extremes values in the distribution, or
whether the values are very close to
each other. ○ Sample Variance
● If the measure of variation is zero, it
means that there is no variation at all
and that the observations are all alike,
or homogeneous. Otherwise, they are
heterogenous.
● The common measures of variations
are:
○ range
○ Variance Sample Problem:
○ standard deviation
● other measures of variation: Note:
○ mean absolute deviation ● Except when specified that the
○ interquartile range population variance is to be used, you
○ quartile deviation will always use the sample variance
formula in the examples and
Range exercises.
● is the simplest form of measuring the
variation of a distribution
● The range is simple to compute and is
useful when you wish to evaluate the
whole of a dataset.
● The range is useful for showing the
spread within a dataset and for
comparing the spread between similar
datasets.
● FORMULA:
○ Range (R) = HIGHEST
OBSERVATION – LOWEST
OBSERVATION

Variance
● is another measure of variation which
can be used instead of the range.
● The variance considers the deviation
of each observation from the mean.
● To obtain the variance of a
distribution, first square the deviation
from the mean of each row score and
add them together.
● Then, divide the resulting sum by N or
the total number of cases
● Formulas:
○ Population Variance

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Standard Deviation
● The standard deviation, (σ) for a
population and (s) for a sample, is the
square root of the value of the
variance.
● In symbols and formula for grouped
and ungrouped data:

Example:
Ungrouped Data:
● If the Population Variance is
σ^2=86.7, therefore, the value of
population standard deviation is σ=
√(σ^2 )= √(86.7)=9.31

Ungrouped Data:
● If the Sample Variance is s^2=101.14,
therefore, the value of sample
standard deviation is s= √(s^2 )=
√(101.14)=10.06