For this page, you’ll need the Countries of the World Starter File open on your computer. If you haven’t already, select Save a Copy from the "File" menu to make a copy of the file that’s just for you. The columns in this dataset are described below:

  • country - name of the country

  • gdp - total gross domestic product of the country

  • population - number of people in the country

  • pc-gdp - "per-capita gdp": the average GDP per-person

  • has-univ-healthcare - indicates if the country has universal healthcare

  • median-lifespan - the median life expectancy of people in the country

1 Make a scatter plot showing the relationship between pc-gdp and median-lifespan. Sketch the shape of the plot below. An empty graph for sketching on

2 What do you Notice?

3 What do you Wonder?

4 Are there any countries that stand out? Why or why not?

5 Suppose a wealthy country is suffering heavy causalties in a war. Draw a star on the plot, showing where you might expect it to be.

6 Do you think you see a relationship? If so, describe it. Is it linear or nonlinear? Strong or weak?

Stop here! We’ll continue after some discussion.

Fitting Models

For each question below: (1) explore in Fitting Wealth-v-Health (Desmos); (2) define and fit your model in Pyret (the starter file already contains sample functions for you to change, called linear1, quadratic1, and exponential1!). Then write the model and the 𝑅2.

7 Find the best linear model you can, using the first slide in the Desmos activity or lr-plot in the Countries of the World Starter File.

𝑓(𝑥) = slope (m)x + y-intercept (b)

R2

8 Find the best quadratic model you can, using the second slide (quadratic) in the Desmos activity.

𝑓(𝑥) =quadratic coefficient (a)(𝑥 −vertex (h))2 +vertical shift (k)

R2

9 Find the best exponential model you can, using the third slide (exponential) in the Desmos activity.

𝑓(𝑥) =initial value (a)(growth factor (b)𝑥) + vertical shift (k)

R2

10 Are any of these models a good fit for this data? Why or why not?

These materials were developed partly through support of the National Science Foundation, (awards 1042210, 1535276, 1648684, 1738598, 2031479, and 1501927). CCbadge Bootstrap by the Bootstrap Community is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 Unported License. This license does not grant permission to run training or professional development. Offering training or professional development with materials substantially derived from Bootstrap must be approved in writing by a Bootstrap Director. Permissions beyond the scope of this license, such as to run training, may be available by contacting contact@BootstrapWorld.org.