BIOL 244 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Standard Deviation, Scientific Notation, Decimal Mark
Document Summary
Unit 2: descriptive statistics and measurements in biology: Population: all individuals of one species in a given area. Sample: representative subset of population: provides researchers with estimate of some variables, assume what happens in sample happens in entire population. Importance of variation and replication: using only one sampling can lead to incorrect conclusions, repeated sampling reduces variation among samples that is due to chance. The metric system: base units, length: meter (m, mass: gram (g, volume: liter (l, temperature: degree ( c or k, other important units, energy: calorie (cal, time: second (sec), minute (min), and hour (h) Rounding off numbers/using significant figures: cannot have more precise answer than least precise measurement, so rounding used to reflect accuracy of measurements, rule 1: # of significant digits is # of digits known with certainty plus one. 0. 4 not measured with certainty: rule 2: last digit reported depends on precision of measurements.
