Introduction

a) The Olympic Games is an international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which athletesparticip

ate in different competitions. In ancient Greece the Olympic Games were athletic competitionshel d in honor of Zeus. Since the

Olympic Games began they have been the competition grounds for greatest athletes. First place obtaining

gold; second silver and third bronze. The Olympic medalsrepresen t the hardship of what the competitors of the Olympics

have done in order to obtain the medal.On one side the Olympic medal has Nike the goddess of victory holding a palm and a

winners crown andon the other side the medal has a different label for each Olympiad reflecting the host of the games.Olympic

medals could be used as a unit of measure of athleticism.Top 10 Olympic Medal- winning CountriesCount ry Medals won1.

The UnitedStates24 042. Soviet Union 12043. Great Britain 6894. France 6795. Germany 6486.

Italy 5957. Sweden 5888. East Germany 5199. Hungary 45410. Finland 446This is a table showing the top 10 Olympic

Medal- Winning Countries and definitely shows how theOlympics can be seen as a standardized unit of athleticism

ata
a)Height (in centimeters) achieved by the gold medalist at various Olympic games.Year 1932 1936 1948

1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980Height(cm) 197 203 198 204 212 216 218 224 223 225 236

Variables and Constraints

a) The dependent variable for this data set is the Olympic Gold Medalist

Heights. The independentvari able for this data set is the years in which the summer Olympic Games occurred in. A constraint of

this data set is the limited amount of data that is available. The data available is only between 1932 and

19520020521021 5220225230235 2401 9 2 0 1 9 3 0 1 9 4 0 1 9 5 0 1 9 6 0 1 9 7 0 1 9 8 0 1 9 9 0

H

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics VS. Gold Medal

eights
Initial values

1980. If there were more data and if there is a pattern the pattern would

become more apparent. Ontop of this there is a gap between 1936 and 1948 which is a 12 year chunk of data missing. And since

theOlympics are held every 4 years that is 3 Olympic competitions missing from the data.b) In a math textbook the variables

and constraints could be seen as y= Olympic Gold Medalist Heightsand x= years in which the summer Olympic games occurred in.c)

In the context of this problem is that the x axis would be used to show the Year of the Olympic Gamesand y would be used

to show the height of the gold medalist.d) This data set is continuous because it is associated with a measurement and its possible

to have thesame y value for different x values. And since the data is measuring height a decimal answer is possible.A

function that would fit most of the data would be a quadratic function. The constraint that there is a12 year gap

between 1936 and 1948 could skew the data. The data that we are missing could of showedus a much clearer model like a

linear or could of reassured us of a quadratic model.

Graph of Initial
D

ata
a)

Analysis and Model Construction

Based on the data the type of curve that might be expected is

quadratic and maybe even a third degreefunction. The expected shape would be quadratic if we disregarded the 1936 value and

itlooks like a third degree function would fit well. a) Some general formulas that the data could

fit can be quadratic

f(x),linear

, or exponential

.Quadratic possible values

:X Y1932 197 begin_of_the_s kype_highlighti ng 1932 197 end_of_the_sk ype_highlightin g.991936 199.041948 204.331952

206.821956 209.671960 212.881964 216.461968 220.391972 224.691976 229.341980 234.36Linear Possible values

X Y1932 194 begin_of_the_s kype_highlighti ng 1932 194 end_of_the_sk ype_highlightin g.141936 197.161948 206.221952

209.241956 212.261960 215.281964 218.31968 221.321972 224.341976 227.361980 230.38Exponen

tial Possible Values

X Y1932 194 begin_of_the_s kype_highlighti ng 1932 194 end_of_the_sk

ype_highlightin g.721936 197.491948 206.041952 208.971956 211.95 1960 214 begin_of_the_s kype_highlighti

ng 1960 214 end_of_the_sk ype_highlightin g.961964 218.021968 221.121972 224.271976 227.461980 230.69All of

the formulas used to fit the data are increasing and all have a min ( when x=0) for thequadratic fit the minimum is 41946.847 of

the linear fit the minimum is -1264.6484 and for theexponential fit the min is 0.21211804. All of the formulas

maximum.For the model to become much more realistic the logical fit would be a sinusoidal curve. Theconstraints

on a sinusoidal curve would be that the curve would have to be half a cycle. The curve has tobe half a cycle because it

curve would show that the heights fluctuate from Olympics toOlympics and this would not represent our data. But by

limiting the curve to half a cycle then the curvewould fit the data.b) Linear Model Quadratic Model

General form for a linear equation:

When using two points from the data andsubstituting them into the

values for x andy the values for m and b can be found. Thepoints that are going to be used are goingto be (1972,223) and

(1960,216). Thesepoints were chosen because they look likea nice line can be drawn between themwithout too much

differentiation betweenthe other points.

To find the value of a, we can subtract thetwo equations. This will

We can now find m by dividing both sidesby 12 so we get:

The value for b can now be found bysubstituting

to any of the equations

The general form for an quadraticequati on is

. With 3points on the graph an equation can beformulated in the form

. The points that are going to be used aregoing to be (1936,203),(197 2,233) and(1960,216) We can make three equations

using thesethree points and the general formula

. by substituting xand y values we get:

or

or

or

Then we can subtract two equationstogeth er to eliminate C. I chose to

subtractthe first and second equation

The equation will now be:

Now I will subtract the second and thirdequation to get two new

equations tosolve for a and b.

With the two equations now we mustisolate a variable to solve, I will be chosinga, so we need to eliminate b. we

can dothis by multiplying

By

since

. By multiplyin by

we get

. then weadd the equations:

Now we can solve for a and we get

. Now we can substitute ainto one of the equations with twovariables to solve for

. I will be using theequation

.bysubstituting a we get:

we can now substitute both a and b intothe

original equations and solve for c. I willbe substituting in into the secondequation.

Now we have found all variables and

wecan write our equation. And we get:

Linear Function Quadratic function

The reason why I chose a linear model is

because despite some points the data in the graph seemed tobe modeled well by a linear model. I also chose a quadratic model

because the data points seemed to bemodeled well by a quadratic model.b) Linear Equation:

1952002052102 1522022523023 52401 9 2 0 1 9 3 0 1 9 4 0 1

9 6 0 1
H

5 0 1 9

0 1 9 9

1 9 9 7 8 0 0

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics VS. Gold Medal

H

eights
Initial valuesLinear Equation

YearsInitialvalu es Linear Equation1932 197 199.671936

203 202.003333319 48 198 209.003333319 52 204 211.336666719 56 212 213.671960 216 216.003333319

64 218 218.336666719 68 224 220.671972 223 223.003333319 76 225 225.336666719 80 236

227.67This linear function is not the best fit for the model because as we can see from the graph there are a lotof points left

out and that are not even close to the linear equation. Also in the data table there aresome years where the linear equation

varies greatly from the actual

seethat for some years it is close like for 1936 but for others it is

much farther away from the linearequation like in 1948.

0501001502002 503001 9 2 0 1 9 3 0 1 9 4 0 1 9

5 6 7 8 9
H

0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 1

9 9 9 9

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics VS. Gold Medal

H

eights
Quadratic Equation:

Years Initial values Quadratic Equation1932 197 204.578947419 36 203

2031948 198 204.157894719 52 204 206.508771919 56 212 209.842105319 60 216 214.157894719 64 218

219.456140419 68 224 225.736842119 72 223 2331976 225 241.245614198 0 236 250.4736842T he quadratic

equation that I came up with is a reasonable fit but still not the best fit. As we can seefrom the graph the quadratic equation

increases quicker than the actual values. This causes the data to
0501001502002 501 9 2 0 1 9 3 0 1

9 5 0 1 9
H

4 0 1 9 9

0 1 9 8 0

1 9 7 0

9 6 0 1

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics VS. Gold Medal

H

eights
Initial valuesLinear Regression

be way off for the final two years in our data. We can

see this from the data table as 1976 and 1980 arenot as close are the other actual values to the values from the quadratic

equation.Linear Regression

Years Initial values Linear Regression1932 197 194.138242619 36 203 197.158504819 48 198 206.219291419

52 204 209.239553619 56 212 212.259815819 60 216 215.280078196 4 218 218.3003402

19520020521021 5220225230235 2401 9 2 0 1 9 3 0 1 9 4 0 1 9 5 0 1 9 6 0 1 9 7 0 1 9 8 0 1 9 9 0

H

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics VS. Gold Medal

eights
Initial valuesQuadratic Regression

1968 224 221.320602419 72 223

224.340864619 76 225 227.361126819 80 236 230.381389Thi s is a better linear model but it is still not the best.

Because it is linear it excludes some points like1948. In 1948 we can see that difference between the actual values

and the linear regression models isquite significant.Qua dratic Regression

Years Initial values Quadratic Regression1932 197 197.995296519 36 203 199.0379511194 8 198

204.334820919 52 204 206.823412719 56 212 209.673488819 60 216 212.885049319 64 218 216.458094

19520020521021 5220225230235 2401 9 2 0 1 9 3 0 1 9 4 0 1 9 5 0 1 9 6 0 1 9 7 0 1 9 8 0 1 9 9 0

H

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics VS. Gold Medal

eights
Initial valuesQuadratic Regression

1968 224 220.392623197 2 223

224.688636419 76 225 229.346134198 0 236 234.3651159Th is is the best fit because as we can see from the graph

it fits most points without leaving other too faroff. From the data table we can see that this is the only function that

does not vary too wildly from theactual value.

Proposed model
The quadratic regression model is a

reasonable fit for the data because the regression line does not varyall that much from the actual values.As we can see the

quadratic regression model fits the graph almost perfectly. The only year that thegraph does not fit all that well is 1948.

The data is increasing for the entire domain but this does notnecessarily mean that future years will be

accurate. This is because there are almost asymptotes in all of the graphs. There has to be a limit of how low the

heights have to be to qualify and since the Olympiccompeti tors are human there is a limit. This makes all of the graphs not a best fit

for all of the futureyears that the event will be held and all of the past years but this quadratic model does model the

datagiven accurately.

Consideration of Accuracy
Linear Equation:

Years Initial values Linear Equation Percent Error1932 197 199.67 1.351936 203 202.0033333 .491948 198

209.0033333 5.551952 204 211.3366667 3.61956 212 213.67 .791960 216 216.0033333 .00151964 218 218.3366667

.1541968 224 220.67 1.481972 223 223.0033333 .00151976 225 225.3366667 .151980 236 227.67 3.53Average

1.55Quadratic Equation:

X-Values Initial values Quadratic Equation Error Percent1932 197 204 begin_of_the_s

kype_highlighti ng 1932 197 204 end_of_the_sk ype_highlightin g.5789474 3.851936 203 203 01948 198 204.1578947

3.111952 204 206.5087719 1.231956 212 209.8421053 1.021960 216 214.1578947 .851964 218 219.4561404 .671968 224

225.7368421 .771972 223 233 01976 225 241.245614 7.221980 236 250.4736842 6.13Average 2.26Linear Regression:

X-Values Initial values Linear Regression

Error Percent1932 197 194 begin_of_the_s kype_highlighti ng 1932 197 194 end_of_the_sk

ype_highlightin g.1382426 1.45 1936 203 197 begin_of_the_s kype_highlighti ng 1936 203 197 end_of_the_sk ype_highlightin

g.1585048 2.881948 198 206.2192914 4.151952 204 209.2395536 2.561956 212 212.2598158 .1221960 216 215.280078

.3331964 218 218.3003402 .141968 224 221.3206024 1.21972 223 224.3408646 .601976 225 227.3611268 1.051980 236

230.381389 2.38Averga 1.53Quadratic Regression:

X-Values Initial values Quadratic Regression Error

Percent1932 197 197 begin_of_the_s kype_highlighti ng 1932 197 197 end_of_the_sk ype_highlightin g.9952965

.501936 203 199.0379511 1.951948 198 204.3348209 3.21952 204 206.8234127 1.381956 212 209.6734888 1.11960 216

212.8850493 1.441964 218 216.458094 .711968 224 220.392623 1.611972 223 224.6886364 .761976 225 229.346134

1.931980 236 234.3651159 .69Average 1.36From the error percentages we can see that the most accurate is the

quadratic regression model. Thequadratic regression model had an average error percent of about 1.36 while

the others had highererror. The only model that came close was the linear regression model with an error

percentage of 1.53.

Predictions

These predictions are going to be with the model that I thought was the best.

Quadratic Regressionmode l. The equation is:

1984 Predictions 2016 PredictionsFirst we must substitute in the year for x and thenwe can find y which is

the height.First we must substitute in the year for x and thenwe can find y which is the height.
0501001502002 503003501 9 2

0 0 0 0 0 0
H

1 9 3 0 1 9 4 1 9 5 0 1 9 6 1 9 7 0 1 9 8 1 9 9 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 2 2 0 3 0

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics VS. Gold Medal

H

eights
Quadratic Regression

Height in cm = 239.75 295.8Table:XValuesInitialval uesQuadraticRe gression1932 197 197.995296519 36 203

199.0379511194 8 198 204.334820919 52 204 206.823412719 56 212 209.673488819 60 216 212.885049319

64 218 216.458094196 8 224 220.392623197 2 223 224.688636419 76 225 229.346134198

0 236 234.3651159 1984 239.752016 295.8 Graph:

0501001502002 503001 8 8 0 1 9 0 0

1 9 6 0 2
H

9 4 0 2 0

2 0 1 0 2

0 1 9 0 0

1 9 8 0

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics VS. Gold Medal

H

eights
Initial valuesQuadratic Regression

My answers for 1984 make sense because it is not too far

from the other values like that of 1980. On theother hand my value for 2016 is high. The main problem with any of the

models is that they show thatthe height is continuously rising. It is very unlikely that the results would keep rising like the

models Isuggested. Since 2016 far from the years given we can safely say that neither of the models stated(linear or

quadratic) are a suitable regression to use.

Additional
D

ata
a)Year 1896 1904 1908 1912

1920 1928 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008Height(cm )190 180 191 193 193 194 235 238 234 239 235 236 236

0501001502002 503001 8 8 0 1 9 0 0 1 9 2 0 1 9 4 0 1 9 6 0 1 9 8 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0
H

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics VS. Gold Medal

H

eights
Initial valuesQuadratic Regression

b)As we can see the model does fit the new data for the

most part. The only part that we see not fittingthe data is when the quadratic regression starts increasing from

1984 and beyond.Year 1896 1904 1908 1912 1920 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956Height(cm) 190 180 191 193 193 194 197

203 198 204 212Year 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000Height(cm )216 218 224 223 225 236 235 238 234

239 235Year 2004 2008Height(cm )236 236As we can see from the graph the quadratic regression seems to follow

the data closely. There are onlysome values at the beginning and at the end where the quadratic regression is different. From

the tablebelow we can see that most of the values are reasonably close to the given actual value. A thing thatcould be

done to make the data more accurate is make a new quadratic regression line for all of thedata and not

just the initial data given. XValuesInitialval uesQuadraticRe gression1896 190 204.878198190 4 180

200.818274319 08 191 199.330538819 12 193 198.204287719 20 193 197.036238319 28 194 197.3141261193

2 197 197.995296519 36 203 199.0379511194 8 198 204.334820919 52 204 206.823412719 56 212

209.673488819 60 216 212.885049319 64 218 216.458094196 8 224 220.392623197 2 223 224.688636419

76 225 229.346134198 0 236 234.365115919 84 235 239.745582119 88 238 245.487532719 92 234

251.590967519 96 239 258.05588662 000 235 264.88229200 4 236 272.070177720 08 236 279.6195497

urther testing and application The patterns that showed up

Jump also show up in other sports in the

Olympics. Forexample the Olympic records for free style shows this same pattern.Year 1896 1904 1908

1912 1920 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956Time (seconds)82.2 62.8 65.6 63.4 61.4 58.6 58.2 57.6 57.3 57.4 55.4Year 1960 1964 1968 1972

1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000Time (seconds)55.2 53.4 52.2 51.2 49.9 50.4 49.8 48.6 49.0 48.7 48.3Year 2004

2008Height(cm )48.2 47.2

0102030405060 7080901 8 8 0 1 9 0 0 1 9 2 0 1 9 4 0 1 9 6 0 1 9 8 0 2 0

0 2
H

0 0

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics

VS. Gold Medal

H

eights
Initial values

When the data is graphed it

looks like this:The X values represent the years in which the Olympics were hosted inThe Y values represent the

time of the gold medalist resultsThe graph shows a decline in time since the early 1900s. The gold results were

becomingshorte r and shorter over the year until towards the start of the 21
st

century. Like on the Gold

medalistheights this suggests a type of asymptote. If we do a quadratic regression for this data we get theequation

f(x) = .0017830124x^ 27.173749547x+ 7264.004005. When we graph this equation we get

thefollowing graph.

0102030405060 7080901 8 8 0 1 9 0 0 1 9 2 0 1 9 4 0 1 9 6 0 1 9

8 0 2
H

0 0 0

2 2

0 0

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics

VS. Time of 100m

F

reeStyle
Initial

X-Values Initial values Quadratic Regression1896 82.2 72.1763676119 04 62.8 68.9899481919 08 65.6

67.4823230819 12 63.4 66.0317543619 20 61.4 63.3017861219 28 58.6 60.8000434719 32 58.2 59.6347567319

36 57.6 58.5265264194 8 57.3 55.5441737719 52 57.4 54.6641690319 56 55.4 53.8412206719 60 55.2

53.0753287219 64 53.4 52.3664931619 68 52.2 51.7147141972 51.2 51.11999124197 6 49.9 50.5823248719

80 50.4 50.10171491984 49.8 49.6781613319 88 48.6 49.31166415199 2 49 49.0022233719

96 48.7 48.74983899

0102030405060 7080901 8 8 0 1 9 0 0 1 9 2 0 1 9 4 0 1 9 6 0 1 9

8 0 2
H

0 0 0

2 2

0 0

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics

VS. Time of 100m

F

reestyle
2000 48.3 48.5545112004 48.2

48.4162394120 08 47.2 48.33502422Co mpare and contrast:

0501001502002 503001 8 8 0 1 9 0 0 1 9 2 0 1 9 4 0 1 9 6 0 1 9 8 0 2 0

0 2
H

0 0

eight(cm)

Year

Year Of Olympics

VS. Gold Medal

H

eights
From the two graphs above we can see that

they are really opposites of each other. The gold medalheights are a concave up quadratic function while the time for

freestyle is concavedown. The gold medal heights graph is increasing throughout the data and the

freestyle isdecreasing throughout the data. They are both similar in the way that accurately model

everysingle year that the Olympics will be held because they will both decrease and increase beyond theactual values. This is

because humans are competing in these events and we all have limits. This is alsoapparent in the gold medal heights, as the years went on

the heights got more and more close to eachother without significant difference. The freestyle seems

to fit the data better becausetowards recent years the times have been very close. Over all we can see that the

freestylequadra tic regression model fits its data better than the gold medal heights. Conclusion a)

jump results from 1896 to 2008 Olympics showed that the gold medalist resultsfor high jump steadily

increased. Towards the end the heights started to level off because of human limits. The best model that was found to model the

data was quadratic. This is becausefrom 896 towards 2008 the data was steadily increasing at a parabola like shape. The

m Freestyle results from 1896 to 2008 showed that the results for the 100 m freestyle weresteadily

decreasing, and towards the end the results leveled off. This is because of humanlimitation s. A good type of model to

model the 100m freestyle data from 1896 to 2008 was alsoa quadratic function. This modeled the data almost perfectly

ibliography
Swim-City. "Swim-City.com - Record

History Olympic Records Men." Swim-City.com SwimmingMetro polis . Swim-City, 2011. Web. 20 Jan. 2012. <http://www.swi

mcity.com/record historie.php3?r ecord=orh>.