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SCIENTIFIC LITERACY Cheat Sheet by

SCIENTIFIC LITERACY EXAM 2022 SEMESTER 1

EMPIRICAL STATEMENTS

About the natural world
Invest­igated using evidence of our senses
EG. Taller boys have larger hands
EG. High-sugar soft drinks contribute to heart conditions
Something doesn't have to be true to be an Empirical statement as long as theore­tically it could be proved of disproved
Not Empirical if it relates to ethics, maths etc.

QUANTI­TATIVE SKILLS

ACCURACY
Proximity of a measur­ement to its true value
PRECISION
Proximity of several measur­ements to each other
UNCERT­AINTY
Try and estimate measured quantity to one decimal place smaller than the lowest graduation on a scale
EG. On a ruler with cm and mm read to 3.74
EG. If balance weighs mass to the nearest gram there is an uncert­ainty reading of +- 0.5g

STATISTICS

Mode - highest - lowest score
Median - Middle score
Mean - Average
Standard deviation - SD = √ ∑ (mean – x)2 / n - 1
 

VALID AND SOUND ARGUMENTS

VALID
If the truth of the premise (opening statem­ents) guarantees truth of conclusion
SOUND
If argument is valid and premises are true
EG. All fruit have seeds, some breakfast foods are fruit, therefore, some breakfast foods have seeds = valid and sound
EG. All fish can talk, some birds are fish, therefore, some birds can talk = Valid but unsound
EG. All fruit are edible foods, some edible foods are breakfast foods, therefore, some breakfast foods and fruit = Invalid and unsound
To be a sound argument, it must be a valid one, even if premises are true

VARIABLES

Factors that affect results
Indepe­ndent or experi­mental variable is changed (on the X axis of a graph
Controls are kept the same
Dependent variable is beings measured (on the Y axis of a graph)

PROBAB­ILITY

Single - number of favourable outcom­es/­number of equally likely outcomes
2 or more - Probab­ility of one X probab­ility of the other
A or B -proba­bility of a X probab­ility of B - probab­ility of A and B
 

Quanti­tative skills

CONVER­SIONS BETWEEN MEASUR­EMENTS
Micrometer = 0.001mm
Millimeter = 0.001m
Centimeter = 10mm
Meter = 100cm
Decimeter = 10cm or 1/10 of a meter
Kilometer = 1000m
Megameter = 1000km
Gigameter = 1000000km
Kelvin = degrees celcius + 273

SIGNIF­ICANT FIGURES

All non-zero digits are signif­icant
Zeros between non-zero digits are signif­icant
Zeros at the beginning of a number are not signif­icant eg. 0.00234
Zeros at the end of a number are signif­icant if there is a decimal in the number eg. 560.00
Only round at final step of equation
Round to least signif­icant decimal place/­figure
Conversion between units = given units X desire­d/given = desired
 

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