ECE-288 Measuring the World
The world is addicted to quantifying the essence of everything, from personal IQ, to the speed of a baseball, to our healthiness, or our chances of winning the lottery. Behind most of these numeric values exists a science of measurement. Some of this is referenced to international standards, such as for length, time, weight, or temperature. Others are more arbitrary and subjective, such as ranking Olympic performance in gymnastics, beauty pageants, or popular responses as found in the game show "Family Feud." A third category includes controversial areas, such as measuring whether a person is lying when interrogated, or using hype rather than reality to market products. Sometimes statistics are used to predict sports outcomes, such as in the annual March Madness NCAA basketball brackets. Finally, in a world subject to fraud and deception, it can be essential to distinguish legitimate from counterfeit items, such as in money, art, collectibles, and historical documents. Don't get hoodwinked! This course examines all of these, starting with how measurements have been made throughout history, along with a full deck of entertaining terms used during the ages. This may help you sort out your weight, whether given in pounds, kilos, or stones. Often these terms will provide insights into how people lived in different eras. We will also look at some of the technologies currently available to provide these measurements, and unravel the complexities of various sensors that are used. As we consider the meaning of "accuracy" we may become less naive about how much confidence to ascribe to the results given us. Hovering around all of these measurements should be the question of validity - are they meaningful, useful, or misleading? And the impact they have on society - whether they steer behavior more powerfully than one might originally suspect. Each student will also be given an opportunity to become an "expert" in an area of measurement of personal interest. By the end of the course all students should have gained greater insight into how the world around them is quantified, and whether numbers can provide accurate predictors for our future. Algebra helpful. Basic science background helpful. Curiosity essential!