Not stupid, just lacking education
Then leave them WITHOUT ANY frigging answer, ferchrissake!
If they're too stupid (of course they are; that only proves they're relatives of yours) to understand that you gotta do your own stuff before theirs, then leave them as they are: Understanding nothing.
That's their problem, not yours.
Not understanding how a computer works or how to troubleshoot it is not a sign of stupidity. It is a sign of a lack of education and knowledge in computer science. Some relatives I have thaught to do their own work, and some have learned it on their own.
No, due to you not knowing shit about statistics.
For the piddling elementary assignments I'm almost sure is what you get in an introductory statistics class, you DON'T NEED a calculator with any "statitistcal functions".
Considering that my statistics class was over 15 years ago, and my memory is a bit fuzzy from that era. They did allow us to use a calculator and did not teach us how to do things by hand. Again it is not stupidity, but a lack of education. Had I been taught how to do these problems by hand and keep my skills up to date, it would have been a different story.
Of fucking course not!!!
What do you think the test is supposed to be ABOUT -- think they're trying to find out if your CALCULATOR can do statistics?!?
A calculator cannot do statistics, it takes an operator to operate the calculator properly to do statistics. Gee here I thought you were smart and understood that a calculator is a tool and cannot do things all by itself. It makes about as much sense to me as trying to create a computer program without the use of a development tool like Delphi. Imagine if they took Delphi away from you and then asked you to write Delphi programs anyway. How good a job could you do without that tool?
Ooh, poow widdle Nowmy-Wowmy, haf to do hif own wowk!
How fucking hard is it, really, to calculate a standard deviation?!?
It's not like those test assignments have zillions and zillions of data points, do they? (My guess is, if they're anything like what we used to have, it's five or eight or, at most, a dozen -- right?) Use a frigging paper and pencil, and, yes, a NON-"statistical" calculator. Like this:
1. Calculate the mean by adding all the numbers (ordinary calculators have a "+" button) and then dividing the sum by the number of numbers (ordinary calculators have a "/" button, too). Write down the mean.
2. Calculate each deviation by subtracting each number from the mean (ordinary calculators have a "-" button). (Or do it the other way around; the sign of the deviation doesn't matter.) Write them all down in a list; I'd suggest lining them up in a column below each other, and making sure to leave space for another column to the right of it.
3. Calculate the square of each number in the "deviation" column from step 2 (most ordinary calculators have a "^2" button; if yours doesn't, you'll just have to type in each number twice, with a "*" in between), and write it down (in the next column to the right).
4. Calculate the sum of the "squared-deviations" column from step 3 in the same way you did in step 1 (remember, ordinary calculators have a "+" button). Write down the sum.
5. If the assignment purports to be a complete survey of a "population", divide the square-sum from step 4 by the number of numbers (remember, ordinary calculators have a "/" button); if it is a sample from some "population", divide by the-number-of-numbers-minus-one. If you don't understand what I'm on about, with "complete survey", "population", and "sample", then go with the first alternative; forget the "minus-one" bit. Write down the result. (This is called the "variance", and is the square of the standard deviation that we're after.)
6. Calculate the standard deviation by taking the square root of the variance from step 5 (almost all ordinary calculators have a "SqRt" button; if yours doesn't, you're shit-outta-luck; get another one).
There you are: Calculating the standard deviation is so easy, a fucking MONKEY could do it -- WITHOUT any "statistical" calculator!
Don't know about the "permintations, etc", though.
What part of "The online calculator would not work" did you not understand? Your reading comprehension skills must be worse than mine? I was not allowed to use anything except for that which the Java program provided. Otherwise that would be cheating. I had to do math problems in my head without the use of a calculator and scored pretty good. It was the statistics problems that threw me, I did well in figuring out the mean, that is easy. I just cannot do complex methods in my head without the use of a calculator.
Anyway traced my problem with Aleks, apparently I used IE 6.0 with MS's Java VM which apparently has issues with the software they wrote. Like the calculator breaking, looping in the practice questions, etc, all that I had. They said to try Netscape with JRE 1.4.1, not JRE 1.4.2 as it has issues with that.
BTW I was told I was not allowed to use paper and pencil, so I didn't use them.
Guess you "could have used" a sheet with the answers all ready and printed out for you, too, eh?
How the fuck do you think you're going to LEARN this shit, if you don't DO it all the way through by yourself?!?
Perhaps you have a point there, I hope my instructor teaches us how to do these things by hand. I admit I do not know how to do that, with the exception of the mean, factorials, etc.
With that attitude, yes, it probably is going to feel like an eternity.
The problem isn't with the subject, though; it's with your attitude.
I talked to other students who seem to feel the same way. I got 140 pages to read by monday and so far they aren't talking about how to do these things by hand. Interestingly enough the resource page has Excel spreadsheets to download. I guess they do not teach us how to do these things by hand anymore?