#$&*
Phy 201
Your 'timer program' report has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.
#$&* Your General Comment **
6/3 2:30 pm
I had a really hard time getting the timer program to work on my computer and it wont open in excel
#$&* Describe what you see on your first 10 clicks **
1 hour
#$&*Your TIMER data from 20 fast clicks **
If you miss a click, try again. Keep trying until you get at least 20 intervals without a missed or delayed click.
Copy your data starting in the next line:
1 317.0391 317.0391
2 317.1836 .1445313
3 317.3438 .1601563
4 317.4922 .1484375
5 317.6758 .1835938
6 317.8359 .1601563
7 318.0078 .171875
8 318.1563 .1484375
9 318.332 .1757813
10 318.4805 .1484375
11 318.6523 .171875
12 318.8242 .171875
13 318.9844 .1601563
14 319.1563 .171875
15 319.3242 .1679688
16 319.4766 .1523438
17 319.6563 .1796875
18 319.8281 .171875
19 320 .171875
20 320.1719 .171875
#$&*
You got at least 20 time intervals. Based on your data what was the average of the first 20 time intervals? Note that you could get this average by averaging the first 20 intervals. My first few intervals were .15625, .15625, .1875, .171875, etc; I could just add up the first 20 intervals and divide by 20 to get the average. However there is an easier and quicker way to get the result, so use the easier way if you can.
Give your result, number only, in the first line, and starting in the second line explain how you got it.
.167266895
I got my results by finding all the same numbers and multiplying them by how many there of each. Then I added up the rest, combined the totals and divided by 20.
#$&*
When I did this activity the first few lines of my data were as follows:
event number clock time time interval
1 11.67188 11.67188
2 11.875 0.203125
3 12.0625 0.1875
4 12.20313 0.140625
5 12.375 0.171875
6 12.54688 0.171875
7 12.73438 0.1875
8 12.92188 0.1875
9 13.10938 0.1875
10 13.28125 0.171875
11 13.4375 0.15625
It looks like the same intervals keep popping up. For example .1875 seconds occurs 5 times out of the first 10 intervals, .171875 seconds occurs three times, and .203125 seconds, .140625 seconds and .15625 seconds each occur once.
A frequency distribution for my time intervals would be as follows:
time interval frequency
,140625 1
.15625 1
.171875 3
.1875 5
.203125 1
What different time intervals did you observe in your first 20 intervals, and how many times did each occur? List below the different time intervals you observed and the number of times each occurred. List from the shortest to the longest interval, and use a comma between the time interval and its frequency. For example my data above would be listed at
.140625, 1
.1565, 1
.171875, 3
.1875, 5
.203125, 1
Your list should be in exactly this format, with no other symbols or characters.
.1445313, 1
.1484375, 3
.1523438, 1
.1601563, 3
.1679688, 1
.171875, 7
.1757813, 1
.1796875, 1
.1835938, 1
#$&*
You may make any comments or ask any question about the process so far in the box below
#$&*
On the 10 intervals I've shown you, do you really think I managed to get a time of .1875 seconds, accurate to 4 significant figures, on half of the intervals? If you do, I'm grateful for your confidence but I'm just not that good. No human being has that much neurological and muscular control.
So why do you think the TIMER program reported that time so frequently? Why weren't there times like .1830 seconds, or .1769 seconds? Does this mean that the TIMER program is flawed? Does that mean it's useless?
I believe that the timer does this to give us the best estimate of the time that we are clicking. Too many decimal places, is unnecessary, because the amount changed is so little that it doesn’t really effect the results.
#$&*
Here are a few more lines of data, with an added column showing the difference between each time interval and the next.
clock time time interval difference from one time interval to next
9 13.10938 0.1875 -0.01563
10 13.28125 0.171875 -0.01563
11 13.4375 0.15625 0.03125
12 13.625 0.1875 -0.01563
13 13.79688 0.171875 0.015625
14 13.98438 0.1875 0.015625
15 14.1875 0.203125 -0.03125
16 14.35938 0.171875 -0.01563
17 14.51563 0.15625 0.03125
Take a good look at that last column and tell us what you see in those numbers, and what this tells you about the TIMER program
In this last column you see that the timer program goes as quickly or as slowly as you do. If you speed up then the results will be ( - ) compared to the previous time.
#$&*
Now initialize the TIMER once more, and take a series of 10 relaxed breaths. Every time you start to inhale, hit the TIMER button.
My results for the first 7 complete breaths are as follows:
series of relaxed breaths
event number clock time time interval difference between time interval and next
1 1569.734 1569.734
2 1582.75 13.01563 0.32812
3 1596.094 13.34375 3.90625
4 1613.344 17.25 2.70313
5 1633.297 19.95313 1.35937
6 1654.609 21.3125 4.23438
7 1680.156 25.54688 2.15625
8 1707.859 27.70313
I didn't go on because the time between my breaths kept increasing, and I was afraid if I relaxed any more I might stop breathing altogether. It's going to take either more statistical analysis to determine whether that's a real danger, or a little common sense.
Report your results by just entering your time intervals, one to each line, in the box below. If I was entering my results I would enter
13.01563
13.34375
17.25
19.95313
21.3125
etc.
Enter your results in the same format:
148.0078
150.5586
153.3906
155.8633
158.4258
160.8984
163.5859
166.4258
168.9766
171.4219
#$&*
If you have any comments please insert them here
#$&*
Most likely you did not observe the same exact time interval twice, and if you did it did not happen nearly as often as when you did the fact clicks.
Why do you think this is exactly what we would expect?
This did not occur as often, because your breathing changes. As you relax it slows, or it gets faster as your heart rate speeds up. You cannot tell yourself to breath at the same rate every breath, but you can try to tell your muscles to move at the same rate.
#$&*
Which of the following statements do you think is the most accurate?
a. The TIMER program is capable of determining the time between two events accurately to within about .1 second.
b. The TIMER program is capable of determining the time between two events accurately to within about .01 second.
c. The TIMER program is capable of determining the time between two events accurately to within about .001 second.
d. The TIMER program is capable of determining the time between two events accurately to within about .0001 second.
Enter your answer and your reasoning below:
I believe the answer is C. When the timer produces my results the numbers are up to 4 decimal places. I believe that the last decimal place is rounded, so the other three are accurate.
#$&*
Note that the TIMER.exe program can save your data in a format that can be read by a spreadsheet (the TIMER applet cannot do so). This will be very handy in the future, so take a minute and do the following:
1. Click on the button at the lower right of the TIMER form, entitled Click to File Data.
2. A box will pop up allowing you to include an identifying message. You should generally choose to include such a message; for the data presently on your timer that might be 'series of regular breaths time at beginning of inhalation' or something similar. Type in whatever you think would serve as a good identifier for this data and OK that box.
3. A typical Save As window will appear. Decide where to save your data and what to call it, and proceed to save it. The program will save the file as a comma-delimited text file.
4. Open your spreadsheet program (typically Excel) and choose File > Open. Browse to the folder in which you just saved your data. Below the File Name line will be a File Type line; set this either to Text Files or All Files so your file will appear. Open it.
5. A series of windows will typically appear. In the first window make sure the file type chosen is Delimited, the proceed to the next window.
6. In the second window you will see a series of checkboxes; check the one entitled Comma, in order to select the comma-delimited file, then just click on Finish.
If you can't run the .exe program, you can't do Steps 1-3. However all you need to do is copy the contents of the program to a text file, using copy-and-paste. Save that text file, using any filename you wish. Then proceed with steps 4-6 above.
Your data should appear in your spreadsheet, and can be manipulated as in any spreadsheet.
Copy a few lines of the data from your spreadsheet below:
1 , 5.421875 , 5.421875
2 , 7.109375 , 1.6875
3 , 10.14844 , 3.039063
4 , 12.80469 , 2.65625
5 , 15.76172 , 2.957031
6 , 18.61719 , 2.855469
7 , 21.70313 , 3.085938
8 , 24.62891 , 2.925781
9 , 27.76172 , 3.132813
10 , 30.54297 , 2.78125
11 , 33.79297 , 3.25
#$&*
*#&!
&#Your work looks very good. Let me know if you have any questions. &#