Assignment 1 - 2011

Due date(s):	12 January 2011
(PDF)	Assignment questions

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.. note:: 600-level students must complete all questions; 400-level students may attempt the 600 level question for extra credit.

Question 1 [1.5]

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.. figure:: ../figures/visualization/kidnappings-question.png :scale: 25 :width: 450px :align: center

Click figure to enlarge

1. . What type of plot is this?
2. . Describe the phenomenon displayed.
3. . Which plot type asks you to draw a cause and effect relationship?
4. . Use rough values from the given plot to construct an approximate example of the plot you proposed in part 3.
5. . What advantage is there to the plot given here, over the type in your answer to part 3.

Question 2 [1.5]

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Load the `room temperature <http://datasets.connectmv.com/info/room-temperature>`_ dataset from the general `Datasets website <http://datasets.connectmv.com>`_ into R, Python or MATLAB.

1. . Plot the 4 trajectories, ``FrontLeft``, ``FrontRight``, ``BackLeft`` and ``BackRight`` on the same plot using the default settings in the software.
2. . Comment on any features you observe in your plot.
3. . Be specific and describe how sparklines of these same data would improve the message the data is showing.

Question 3 [1]

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Load the `six point board thickness <http://datasets.connectmv.com/info/six-point-board-thickness>`_ dataset, available from datasets website.

1. . Plot a boxplot of the first 100 rows of data to match the figure in the course notes (page 9 in the PDF version).
2. . Explain why the thick center line in the box plot is not symmetrical with the outer edges of the box.

Question 4 [1]

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Pie charts are widely criticized in the technical literature as being inappropriate - there is almost never a case where it is suitable - yet we see them in the media all the time. Next time you open a daily newspaper or magazine count how many times you see this type of plot.

Read the article by Stephen Few, `"Save the pies for dessert" <http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/08-21-07.pdf>`_ and explain in your own words the shortcomings of the pie chart. Which is an appropriate alternative?

Question 5 [1]

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Using the `Website traffic data set <http://datasets.connectmv.com/info/website-traffic>`_:

1. . Create a chart that shows the *variability* in website traffic for each day of the week.
2. . Use the same data set to describe any time-based trends that are apparent.

Question 6 [1] (600 level)

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Copy a plot from any recently-graduated PhD student in your department. Include the plot in your assignment and comment on any shortcomings in the plot: how would you improve it and if necessary, reproduce your version of the improved plot.

Non-credit question

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.. note:: *Question 1* from the course notes was a question from the 2010 midterm. Repeated below.

The data shown here are the number of visits to a university website for the 4C3/6C3 statistics course in 2010. There were 90 students in the course, however the site is also publicly available.

.. figure:: ../che4c3/Assignments/Assignment-1/images/course-website-visits.png :align: center :width: 750px

1. . What are the names (type) of the 2 plots shown?
2. . List any 2 interesting features in these data.

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\vspace{0.5cm} \hrule \begin{center}END\end{center}

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