Are Women Catching Up?
In
1992, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of
Medicine published an analysis of data indicating that within 65 years, top female
and male runners might perform equally well in the 200-m.
1.
Copy
and paste the data into Excel:
|
Year |
Time (Women) |
Time (Men) |
|
1948 |
24.4 |
21.1 |
|
1952 |
23.7 |
20.7 |
|
1956 |
23.4 |
20.6 |
|
1960 |
24 |
20.5 |
|
1964 |
23 |
20.3 |
|
1968 |
22.5 |
19.83 |
|
1972 |
22.4 |
20 |
|
1976 |
22.37 |
20.23 |
|
1980 |
22.03 |
20.19 |
|
1984 |
21.81 |
19.8 |
|
1988 |
21.34 |
19.75 |
|
1992 |
21.81 |
20.01 |
|
1996 |
22.12 |
19.32 |
|
2000 |
21.84 |
20.09 |
2.
Make
one Scatter Diagram with both men and women.
(Highlight all 3 columns and then go to the chart wizard, xy(scatter).
3.
Add
the trendline for both men and women.
Go to options and forecast forward for 60 years and check Display
Equation on Chart. Adjust the y-axis
(right click vertical axis, format axis, scale) and x-axis (right click
horizontal axis, format axis, scale) to get a good looking graph. Print graph.
4.
Calculate
the winning time for men and women predicted by the equation for the year 2060.
5.
Does
your analysis agree with the UCLA report?
Do you think women and men will actually perform equally in the Olympics
in the future? What is the problem with
extending a line so far in the future?