Statistics [I promise, it has to do with pole vaulting]

[rainbowgirl28]

How about statistically proving that fiberglass poles provide a "statistically significant" advantage over steel and bamboo poles?

To prove this, you could chart (plot on a graph) the Men's WR (or Olympic Gold Medals) over the past 100 years, and show the steep height incline in the curve in the 1960s, as fiberglass rapidly became popular.

You could show when steel took over from bamboo, and how the curve didn't change much then (~1950), compared to in the 1960s.

The reason I suggest this is that there's lots of data on the internet to plot your curve and compute your proof of "statistical significance".

How big of a project does it need to be? I recommend doing Kirk's suggestion above...

[birdi_gurlie]

Kirk, I was thinking that, I just wasn't sure.

Well, I still have to talk with my group and my coach/teacher. [He was my PV coach before he was my teacher.]
I may not even be able to do the project.
However, this counts as our exam grade. It's a 6 weeks project.
We have to have graphs and have tests that STATISTICALLY PROVE [using z-scores or t-scores, normal distributions, sigma, mew, alphi, maybe Chi, among others...for those who aren't statistcs people, math formulas and percentages and weird little Greek letters that, in statistics, symbolize other things.] to prove it.

He said something about writing the IDEAL study design, but then we'd come up with something that we could do.

Also, would straight-poling be SIMILAR to steel poles? [Since they're stiff...if this is a stupid question, I'm sorry...I'm a bit tired, seeing as it's so late. {Go powerpoint projects and a paper do tomorrow! YAY!*sarcasm*}] Just in case I do actually have to do an experiment at the school...if it is, straightpoling vs bending.

[birdi_gurlie]

Sorry guys...PV ended up being vetoed. 2 of the 4 people had no clue what we were talking about. o.O
We're seeing which lubricant [dish soap, shampoo, shower gel, etc...] works better on a slip-n-slide.
[When we asked my teacher, he was like, "DUDE THAT IS AN AWESOME PROJECT! IF YOU DO THAT, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A VIDEO ASPECT IN YOUR PRESENTATION!"...and to think, this is the guy who, just a few moments before, said, "Now remember, be sure to choose a project that you'd turn in to a college professor." xD]

[rainbowgirl28]

Sorry guys...PV ended up being vetoed. 2 of the 4 people had no clue what we were talking about. o.O
We're seeing which lubricant [dish soap, shampoo, shower gel, etc...] works better on a slip-n-slide.
[When we asked my teacher, he was like, "DUDE THAT IS AN AWESOME PROJECT! IF YOU DO THAT, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A VIDEO ASPECT IN YOUR PRESENTATION!"...and to think, this is the guy who, just a few moments before, said, "Now remember, be sure to choose a project that you'd turn in to a college professor." xD]

They just did tests that involved swimming through syrup on Mythbusters last night

[birdi_gurlie]

Haha. NICE.
What'd they test? Did they bust the myth?

...we were considering comparing my teacher to the squirrel off "Over the Hedge", but we couldn't find a way to do that statistically...he's a little bit nutty, but it makes class interesting and he's a great teacher.