You are on page 1of 26

GEOG 090 Quantitative Methods in

Geography
The Scientific Method
Exploratory methods (descriptive statistics)
Confirmatory methods (inferential statistics)

Mathematical Notation
Summation notation
Pi notation
Factorial notation
Combinations

The Scientific Method


Both physical scientists and social scientists (in our
context, physical and human geographers) often
make use of the scientific method in their attempts
to learn about the world
organize
Concepts

surprise
Description

Hypothesis
formalize
validate

Theory

Laws

Model

The Scientific Method


The scientific method gives us a means by which
to approach the problems we wish to solve
The core of this method is the forming and testing of
hypotheses
A very loose definition of hypotheses is potential
answers to questions
Geographers use quantitative methods in the
context of the scientific method in at least two distinct
fashions:

Two Sorts of Approaches


Exploratory methods of analysis focus on
generating and suggesting hypotheses
Confirmatory methods are applied in order to test
the utility and validity of hypotheses
organize
Concepts

surprise
Description

Hypothesis
validate

Theory

Laws

formalize
Model

Two Sorts of Statistics


Descriptive statistics
To describe and summarize the characteristics of
the sample
Fall within the class of exploratory techniques

Inferential statistics
To infer something about the population from the
sample
Lie within the class of confirmatory methods

Mathematical Notation
The mathematical notation used most often in
this course is the summation notation
The Greek letter is used as a shorthand way of
indicating that a sum is to be taken:

i n

x
i 1

The expression is equivalent to:

x1 x2 xn

Summation Notation: Components


refers to where the
sum of terms ends

i n

x
indicates we are
taking a sum

i 1

refers to where the


sum of terms begins

indicates what we
are summing up

Summation Notation: Simplification


A summation will often be written leaving out the
upper and/or lower limits of the summation,
assuming that all of the terms available are to be
summed
i n

x x x
i 1

i 1

Summation Notation: Examples


Example I: All observations are included in the sum:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
10

x
i 1

x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6 x7 x8 x9 x10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Example II: Only observations 3 through 5 are included


in the sum: 5

x
i 3

x3 x4 x5 3 4 5 12

Summation Notation: Rules


Rule I: Summing a constant n times yields a result
of na:
n

a a a a na
i 1

Here we are simply using the summation notation


to carry out a multiplication, e.g.:
5

4
i 1

4 4 4 4 4 4 5 20

Summation Notation: Rules


Rule II: Constants may be taken outside of the
summation sign
n

ax
i 1

ax
i 1

a xi
i 1

ax1 ax2 axn


n

a ( x1 x2 xn ) a xi
i 1

Rule II: Constants may be taken outside of the


summation sign
Example: Now let a = 3, and let the values of a
set (n = 3) of x and y values be:
x1 = 4, x2 = 5, x3 = 6
y1 = 7, y2 = 8, y3 = 9
3

ax

i 2

ax

a xi 3(5 6) 33
i 2

a xi 3(4 5 6) 45

Summation Notation: Rules


Rule III: The order in which addition operations are
carried out is unimportant
n

(x y ) x y
i 1

i 1

i 1

( x1 x2 x3 xn 1 xn )
+

( y1 y2 y3 yn 1 yn )

Rule III: The order in which addition operations are


carried out is unimportant
Example: Now let a = 3, and let the values of a
set (n = 3) of x and y values be:
x1 = 4, x2 = 5, x3 = 6
y1 = 7, y2 = 8, y3 = 9
2

(x y ) x y
i 1

i 1

i 1

(4 5) (7 8) 24

( x y ) (4 7) (5 8) 24
i 1

Summation Notation: Rules


Rule IV: Exponents are handled differently depending
on whether they are applied to the observation term
or the whole sum
n

i 1

k
1

x x x

k
i

x
i 1

k
2

k
n

( x1 x2 xn )

Rule IV: Exponents are handled differently depending


on whether they are applied to the observation term or
the whole sum
Example: Now let the values of a set (n = 3) of x
values be:
x1 = 4, x2 = 5, x3 = 6

2
i

4 5 6 77
2

( xi ) (4 5 6) 225
2

Summation Notation: Rules


Rule V: Products are handled much like exponents
n

x y
i

i 1

( x1 y1 x2 y2 xn yn )
n

x y x y
i 1

x y
i 1

i 1

i 1

i 1

( x1 x2 xn ) ( y1 y2 yn )

Rule V: Products are handled much like exponents


Example: Now let the values of a set (n = 3) of
x and y values be:
x1 = 4, x2 = 5, x3 = 6
y1 = 7, y2 = 8, y3 = 9

x y
i

4 7 5 8 6 9 122

x y
i

(4 5 6) (7 8 9) 360

Summation Notation: Compound Sums


We frequently use tabular data (or data drawn from
matrices), with which we can construct sums of
both the rows and the columns (compound sums),
using subscript i to denote the row index and the
subscript j to denote the column index:
Columns

Rows

x11

x12

x21 x22

x13
x23

x
i 1 j 1

ij

( x11 x12 x13 x21 x22 x23 )

Pi Notation
Whereas the summation notation refers to the
addition of terms, the product notation applies to
the multiplication of terms
It is denoted by the following capital Green letter
(pi), and is used in the same way as the
summation notation
n

x1 x2 xn

i 1

(x y ) (x
i

i 1

y1 )( x2 y2 ) ( xn yn )

Factorial
The factorial of a positive integer, n, is equal to
the product of the first n integers
Factorials can be denoted by an exclamation
point
n

n! i
i 1

5! 5 4 3 2 1 120 i
i 1

There is also a convention that 0! = 1


Factorials are not defined for negative integers
or nonintegers

Combinations
Combinations refer to the number of possible
outcomes that particular probability experiments
may have
Specifically, the number of ways that r items may
be chosen from a group of n items is denoted by:

or

n
n!

r r!(n r )!

n!
C ( n, r )
r!(n r )!

Combinations
Example Suppose the landscape can be
characterized by five land cover types: forest (F),
grassland (G), shrubland (S), agriculture (A),
and water (W). A region has only two land cover
types, the number of possible combinations is:

n!
C (n, r )
r!(n r )!
5!
5 4 3 2 1
C (5,2)

10
2!(5 2)! (2 1) (3 2 1)

Combinations
Ten possible combinations:
F G, F S, F A, F W
G S, G A, G W
S A, S W
AW
F (forest), G (grassland), S (shrubland),
A (Agriculture), W (Water)

Assignment I
Textbook, p39-40, #3 - #5
#3 is about summation notation
#4 is about factorial
#5 is about combinations
Due: January 26th (Thursday) (preferably at the
beginning of class, or put in my mailbox before
5pm (Rm 315))

Mailboxes in Grad Workroom (315)

...

...

...

...
...

Jingfeng Xiao

You might also like