Available courses

Statistics - Exploring Data

Statistics is a branch of mathematics dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation, presentation, and organization of data. In applying statistics to, for example, a scientific, industrial, or social problem, it is conventional to begin with a statistical population or a statistical model process to be studied. This mini-course could be used as an introduction to a statistics course. The basic vocabulary of descriptive and bivariate data is introduced. Students use Diigo and Google Docs to explore examples of how data is used to tell a story.

World Populations

In demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently living, and was estimated to have reached 7.6 billion as of December 2017. Estimates of the total number of humans who have ever lived range from 106 to 108 billion as of 2007. Though the population is currently growing quite rapidly, future changes are influenced by difficult-to-predict factors such as economic development, cultural changes, migration, and natural disaster. Various mathematical models show that by 2100 the global population could be either rising or falling depending on how these factors affect birth and death rates.

Physics of Sound

In physics, sound is a vibration that typically propagates as an audible wave of pressure, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. Humans can only hear sound waves as distinct pitches when the frequency lies between about 20 Hz and 20 kHz. Sound above 20 kHz is ultrasound and is not perceptible by humans. Sound waves below 20 Hz are known as infrasound. Different animal species have varying hearing ranges. This course on sound is designed to give learners an online interactive experience learning about the physics and mathematics of sound.