Presentation Reflection

Link to the presentation:  https://docs.zoho.com/show/publish/30xmz17239681d39f42f698d859ac81ea054f

The CS & Economics presentation was done cooperatively by David and me, and the theme of our economic measurement was about the effectiveness of medical care in the world. The presentation was separated into several parts, in which we introduced the background and the motivation of our topic, the variables and the formula of the indicator, and finally, some examples of this indicator being applied to different countries in the world (shown in a spreadsheet).

The formula of our indicator may take a while to fully understand due to its complexity. However, we did not do very well on effectively explaining this formula to the audience. The slides of our presentation did not include any pictures, graphs, or diagrams assisting the oral presentation. The time limit also restricted us from clearly explaining all the elements involved in the formula.

Our group cited all sources properly, and the font and the color did not hinder the audience from seeing all the contents on the slides, so I consider that those two requirements have basically been met by our group.

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The flowchart and the pseudocode we made reflect the process how we came up with the formula of the indicator. We had several conditions and two loops in both the flowchart and the pseudocode, in which we processed the information inputted (for example, the different variables that we considered to be parts of the indicator) and got some results as output.

The spreadsheet gathers the data of all indicators from some countries in its first several columns, and then a function calculates the result according to the raw data and the given equation. The final figures are recorded in the last column. Charts that show these final data graphically help to make comparisons between countries and regions.

The link to the spreadsheet is:  https://docs.zoho.com/sheet/published.do?rid=2wa9m30326bb0bc24430a85a7c6e3bb5692bc

 

Class Reflection Week 13

Spreadsheet software basically provides its users with a series of charts where data can be inputted, ordered and analyzed freely. The most prevalent type of spreadsheet software now is Excel produced by Microsoft. A typical spreadsheet software looks exactly like it:

Clearly, a separate sheet in a spreadsheet is comprised of columns labeled in alphabet and rows labeled with numbers. To locate any single cell in the whole sheet, we only need to click on it with the mouse.

The most common application of spreadsheet software in real life is statistics – gathering and analyzing data collections. A typical example of this is when recording students’ scores and ranks in an exam – every student’s result of the scores for different subjects are inputted into the spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet software will automatically give the sums (or average) of scores from every subject for students as long as there is a formula inputted. Also, the spreadsheet helps to rank the scores of students from high to low to compare the performance of different students. This type of usage of spreadsheets is very common in national programs in Chinese middle schools.

In a spreadsheet, functions can be utilized to make the statistics more efficient and can reduce the workload of recording. A simple example of a function is “average” function, which saves the work of manually creating formulas to calculate the average of a set of data. If the user intends to emphasize certain unit cells with different colors, he can use the condition function (shown by “IF”) to make selections towards specific value range (such as those students who scored higher than 90) and then label it with colors or words like “good”.

This a screenshot of the spreadsheet created in class. It records a series of imaginary scores of IB students and makes some comparisons and analysis. It includes not only sheer data but also some equations, functions, and a chart based on the set of data. The functions involved are “average” (results are shown in column H), “if” functions (shown in column C, E, G, and I determining which IB grade each student gets), and “concatenate” (formula is shown in the, which arranges complete sentences by using information in preceding unit cells. The chart illustrates the performance of each student graphically.

Generally speaking, a spreadsheet is extremely useful in real life when we do statistics and analysis. Spreadsheet software serves as an auxiliary tool in a wide variety of tasks and jobs.

Class Reflection Week 12

The big family of software has two main branches: the application software and the system software. This week, the class got to learn different sub-braches of software and their uses.

Generally speaking, system software is the type of software constructing the basis for application software to operate – it comprises the whole system we use to carry out different tasks on a computer. The most important function of system software is to provide a platform where other software with more practical functions can run normally. Application software carries out more specific uses compared to system software – this type of software does not build up the fundamental functions of a computer, but has a variety of more advanced uses such as communication, electronic designing, or games.

System software and application software can be further classified into different categories. The four sub-branches of system software are: 1. Operating systems, which is a series of programs enabling the users to have direct interactions between the computer; 2. Library programs, which contains codes and data available for other software (for example graphical user interface libraries); 3. Utility programs, which are small programs carrying out very specific tasks; and 4. Programming language translators, which converts source code into machine code.

The most famous examples of an operating system (a type of system software) are the Windows and the IOS systems that we use every day on our PCs.

Application software can be classified into general-purpose application software, special-purpose application software, and bespoke application software. General purpose application software is often providing its user a platform to do some further design with the assistance of a computer and is not limited to one certain type of task. Examples of this are pieces of software in Microsoft Office set: the Word, the PowerPoint, and the Excels. In contrast, specific-purpose software only provides one certain type of service to its users. For instance, a media player only enables its users to watch movies in certain formats without offering any other service.

Flowchart Poster

Due to the limited space on the poster, the revised version of pseudocode is placed here:

 

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This poster generally describes the steps a BNDS student usually have to follow when he/she loses his student card accidentally. Several conditions and one loop is involve in this flowchart and pseudocode.