The Party Comedian

Speaking of steps, I used these problem solving steps to plan my party.

Step 1	Understand the Problem	I wanted to have an awesome party so I had to make careful plans. First I had to decide who to invite*.
Step 2	Decide on a Plan	Then I asked my friends for their ideas on what we should eat at my party.
Step 3	Carry out the Plan	This is the step that I'm on right now.

Come with me and meet my friends...

HI! I'm Rosa.	I invited Lili & Joe.	Hello, I'm Amal.	I brought Kay & T.J
YO! I'm John.	I brought Natasia & Jamal.	And I'm Jose.	I invited my best buddies Brad & Jake. \|
			I invited my best buddies Brad & Jake. \|

My friends helped me decide what we would eat at our party. I used both the range and the mode of their responses to make my decision.

CHEESE	PEPPERONI	SUPREME

Range	Cheese, Pepperoni, and Supreme pizzas
Mode	Pepperoni and Pizza Hut

Our pizza arrived a few minutes ago from Pizza Hut. Select the slice of pizza you would like to eat.

Do you hear that? I wonder what is happening outside?

Click on each word to see what all the commotion is about! \|

"Oh, I'm the Party Comedian! I bring laughter and math to your games! Yes, I'm the Party Comedian! And we'll start the first game with your names!"
Rosa	Jamal	Joe

As we told him our names, he drew a numbered juggling ball from his sack.
Why do you think he asked our names before giving us a juggling ball?

When he was finished, each of my friends had one of these five balls.

He then started juggling. As he juggled, he shared this secret with us:

"To juggle balls or numbers or swords,
You must remember these words...the one in the middle is the one with to fiddle, to keep them off the floor."

He explained that by keeping his eye on the ball in the middle, he knew when to toss the next ball. He then stopped and laid the balls in order on the table.

"You've used range and mode,
(or so I've been told), to juggle both numbers and data. But I'm here today, to show a new way, to look at those numbers and data."

	Arrange the numbers in order.
	Find the middle number.
	This is the median of the data.	Median= 4
\|

Rosa	Lili	Amal	Kay	Natasia
Joe	T.J.	John	Jamal	Jose	Brad	Jake

Today", he continued, "I have a special job for the median girl and the median boy".

"First, line up in order of your number. (To keep things fair, those with the same number need to line up in ABC order.)"

Select the correct order for the girls.

Select the correct order for the boys.

"Now, select the median girl to hang the Pin the Tail on the Tiger game."
Kay		Amal		Lili			Rosa		Natasia
"The median boy would be: I need his strong muscles to hang the pi�ata!"
T.J.	Joe		Brad		Jake	John		Jose		Jamal

"Remember, the median is the middle value in an ordered set of numbers." How can I find the median of the whole group (in order to determine who will start the first game)?

"Let's use your ideas," he said, "and find that median!" He then arranged us and stood back to scratch his head and think.
T.J.	Joe	Kay	Amal	Brad	Jake	John	Jose	Lili	Rosa	Jamal	Natasia
What do you think he is thinking about?.
How would you select the median? \|

EVEN sets of data					ODD sets
Brad	Jake	M I D D L E	John	Jose	Rosa	Jamal	Natasia
"In an even set of numbered data, the median would be the midway point between the other data. In this case, our median would come between Jake and John."
					In an odd set of data, the median is simply the middle value.

Let's try a few more examples! This time, let's order ourselves according to the number of pizza slices we ate! I'll even join you!

Kay		Amal	Lili	Rosa		Natasia	Order the girls and boys first by the NUMBER of pizza slices they ate. (Remember to keep things fair, use ABC order when more than one person has the same number).
		1st
T.J.	Joe		Brad	Jake	Clown		John	Jose	Jamal
	8th								1st

Next, let's find
the median girl
and boy!

Amal		Rosa		Kay		Lili		Natasia		The median girl would be:
Jamal	T.J.		Brad	Clown	Jake		John	Jose	Joe	Remember, this is an EVEN set of data...
The median would be between and .

"Wow! You are getting good at this! Let's try one more...this time, I want you to find the median shirt color at the party..."

	The Party Comedian went back to the kitchen for another slice of pizza (good thing we had leftovers!) as we tried to get ourselves in order.
After a while, I asked him what to do next. We couldn't find the median!	Type in "why" you think we couldn't find the median.

"Oh, I'm the Party Comedian! To me, "math" and "fun" are the same! We learned how to use the median, and I'll leave you now to your games!