Shodor Computational Science Institute

An Investigation of Straws

Robert M. Panoff, Ph.D.
The Shodor Education Foundation
June 1998

Observations, Exploration, Conjecture

    Behold, you see a box of straws
    Whose contents (perhaps) give you pause.
    What certain knowledge can be hoped
    If you must leave the box unope'd?
1. Describe as best you can the properties of a straw 'believed' to be contained in the box. How sure are you? Why should you care?

2. How many straws might there be in the box? How sure are you? Why should you care?

3. Suppose all the straws in your box were laid end-to-end. How long would such a super straw be? How sure are you? Why should you care?

4. How much of the information on the box would you expect to be 'true'? How much 'variance' in this truth, if any, might you expect to find? Why?

  Count Length Width Other? Superstraw
Expected          
Actual          
Error          
Last update on: June 9, 1998
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