SEC: Measuring Up to Leonardo: launching bivariate data in Maths

Measuring Up to Leonardo: launching bivariate data in Maths

We kicked off our Statistics work with a practical investigation inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Learners measured their height and arm-span, then plotted the pairs on a scatter graph to see whether the classic claim—“arm-span ≈ height”—holds in our class. Using their calculators, they ran a least-squares regression, interpreted the slope and intercept in context, and made predictions (for example, what arm-span you’d expect for someone 1.80 m tall). Along the way we spoke about correlation versus causation, outliers, and why real human data never lands in a perfect straight line.

A special shout-out to Enya, Giulia, Prunella, Matias and Andri for meticulous measuring and thoughtful discussion. The accompanying photos capture the energy of the task—tape measures flying, careful checking, and plenty of mathematical curiosity.