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Body Mass Index


afitz

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Sine wave does fit it well, but my friend got really low marks for her math part because she used sine for BMI because it didn't make sense. Like you wouldn't expect the BMI to go up and down in a cyclical fashion, so my teacher took off points. Maybe it wasn't deserved? I don't know. I just wanted to put that warning out there. You can always ask your teacher. [if he/she responds or not is another matter...]

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Hey I have just got started on the math portfolio and i am really not sure about how to go about doing it.

the question asks to define variable but what are the variables? and what does it mean my function models?

someone please come to my rescuee :)

'function model': Well my IA sheet says 'model function' but basically the task of the assignment is to 'model' a function that fits the data; that is, to find a function (eg linear, quadratic, logarithmic) that fits the data well and shows you the right trend. So your model function / function model should be the function you're using.

Also, yes the variables are the things you change, usually the x and y in the functions that you learn. Remember to rename them to fit your data well - my teacher keeps stressing this even though it would technically be okay to use x and y as long as you defined them. One common example would be H for height and t for time. So for yours you could use something like A for the BMI of American females and Z for the BMI of Zimbabwean females etc.

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The thing is I heard people solving previous Math IAs using the calculator (when they weren't really supposed to) and they still got a full grade on the IA. And our teacher also told us we can use the autograph program, so I'm pretty confused about this. I don't even know how to get the solution manually only when I'm using a quadratic function... :D

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As long as you show the work for the manual part, you're fine. You can use a calculator, figure out what you need as the model, and then go about solving it.

For manual.. you're using a quadratic function? Like a parabola? If it looks like a parabola will fit the data points, then what you do is get a general equation. y=ax2 +bx +c

Then you find a, b, and c. Do you know how to do this using a system of equations?

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Okay, you're using a quartic [quadratic = 2 as highest power of x & quartic = 4 as highest power]

You use points from the data. The points are in the form (x, y). When you plug these points into your general formula, you'll get a system of equations. You want to use n points if you have n unknowns. So if you have 5 unknowns, you want to use 5 points. You can google it to get more details for the actual solving part. I love PurpleMath. =)

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Okay, so my equation for number 2 is a sine function. I used cubic and quartic for number three, where I used a calculator. My problem is showing the work/calculations for how I derived the sine function. I sort of just plugged in random values and guessed and checked...pretty sure that's not what IB is looking for. How do I show my manual calculations for the sine function that I used to fit the raw data?

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What does your general formula look like? y=Asinx + B? You're probably going to want something more complicated than that. What we've discussed above is that for each unknown [A, B, etc], you need an equation to make a system of equations to solve for the unknowns. You do this by plugging in points from the data you're give. PurpleMath

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