Purpose

An effective way to engage with the topic of writing is to consider how writing matters in various communities on a daily basis. This paper provides the chance to reflect in a personal way about a writing community you successfully joined by learning how to use the language and reasoning skills of that community. By using personal experiences and anecdotes, you will trace your movement from an outsider to an insider in a particular community. Examples of writing communities include a specific workplace, a sports team, a church community, a social or college club, a different country and language, a specific discussion forum--online or in-person.

Task

Write a 3-5 page personal narrative that explores a particular writing community that you are very familiar with and that you feel comfortable discussing with your peers. This writing community should be one that you have chosen, rather than one you were born into. Pick a clear writing community, explain and analyze the writing community’s specific language practices and value system, and show readers that you have become a full member of this community by learning those language practices. Follow these specific steps:

1. Include a main point or take-away (thesis) in the beginning of your essay to clearly indicate to readers what the essay is about and what overall point you wish to make.
2. Identify the community’s specific reasoning (logos), its values and emotions (pathos) and explain how you built your credibility (ethos) as a new community member.
3. Explain some of the tensions and limitations of this writing community: do some members demand or disapprove of certain language use?
4. Use what cultural anthropologist Clifford Geertz calls “thick description” in your essay to identify a particular setting, mood, and people’s characteristics (names, ages, etc.). Show, rather than tell, by using sensory details in your own writing that cue readers to visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and kinesthetic aspects.
5. Highlight one or two particular incidents (anecdotes) in which the community’s language practices are nicely evident.
6. You may use quotes from individuals of this community, or from texts the community uses. Make sure to integrate such quotes into your essay.
7. Your audience are your peers and myself, your instructor. Thus, tailor the language of your essay to us, your real audience, and use a style that is distinctly your own.

3. Solve the following linear programming problem. You must use the dual. First write down the dual maximization LP problem, solve that, then state the solution to the original minimization problem.

(a) Minimize w = 4y₁ + 5y₂ + 7y₃

Subject to: y₁ + y₂ + y₃ ≥ 18

2y₁ + y₂ + 2y₃ ≥ 20

y₁ + 2y₂ + 3y₃ ≥ 25

y₁, y₂, y₃ ≥ 0

(b) Making use of shadow costs, if the 2^nd original constraint changed to

2y₁ + y₂ + 2y₃ ≥ 24, now what will the minimum of w be? Explain clearly.

(c) Making use of shadow costs, if the 1^st original constraint changed to

y₁ + y₂ + y₃ 21, now what will the minimum of w be? Explain clearly.

Solve the following linear programming problem. You must use the dual. First write down the dual maximization LP problem, solve that, then state the solution to the original minimization problem.

(a) Minimize w = 4y₁ + 5y₂ + 7y₃

Subject to: y₁ + y₂ + y₃ ≥ 18

2y₁ + y₂ + 2y₃ ≥ 20

y₁ + 2y₂ + 3y₃ ≥ 25

y₁, y₂, y₃ ≥ 0

(b) Making use of shadow costs, if the 2^nd original constraint changed to

2y₁ + y₂ + 2y₃ ≥ 24, now what will the minimum of w be? Explain clearly.

(c) Making use of shadow costs, if the 1^st original constraint changed to

y₁ + y₂ + y₃ ≥ 21, now what will the minimum of w be? Explain clearly.

E. Martz tells us that chi-square analysis can be used for more than just practical applications:

Chi-square analysis compares the counts of two categorical variables to tell you if a relationship exists between the variables or not. You can apply chi-square analysis to answer important questions about factors in everyday life, and even about events like elections... or Halloween. If you are a character in a slasher film, is there a connection between your gender and your dying in some horrible manner?

As explained in the above passage, you can use chi-square analysis to compare a wide range of topics.

To complete the Discussion activity, please do the following:

• Propose a life event or situation and two categorical variables for it. Complete a chi-square analysis of this event or situation and these variables, and share your results.
• Do you agree with your findings? Why or why not?
• What other factors, if any, should be considered?
• In your peer responses, explain whether you agree with other’s posts on their chi-square analyses. Why or why not? Fully explain your answers.

Use Worksheet 9.2. Ben West, a 35-year-old computer programmer, earns $57,000 a year. His monthly take-home pay is $3,000. His wife, Ashley, works part-time at their children's elementary school but receives no benefits. Under state law, Ashley's employer contributes to a workers' compensation insurance fund that would provide $2,050 per month for six months if Ben were disabled and unable to work.

1. Use Worksheet 9.2 to calculate Ben's disability insurance needs assuming that he won't qualify for Medicare under his Social Security benefits. Round your answer to the nearest whole.
   $
2. Based on your answer in part a, what would you advise Ben about his need for additional disability income insurance? Discuss the type and size of disability income insurance coverage he should consider, including possible provisions he might want to include. What other factors should he take into account if he decides to purchase a policy?
   

2. A jar contains 5 balls, 4 of which are blue and one red.

(a) If you draw balls one at a time and replace them, what is the expected draw at which

you will see the red ball?

(b) If you draw balls one at a time, but without replacing them, what is the expected time

to see the red ball?

3. A jar contains 1 red ball and an unknown number of blue balls. You make 20 draws with

replacement from the jar. What is a maximum likelihood estimator of the number of blue

balls in the jar?

CRIMINAL JUSTICE: The Death Penalty is a hard area to talk about since many people have strong feelings on the issue. For this discussion board, state the arguments for the death penalty AND against the death penalty. Then you can state your feelings on the death penalty and why.

Answer the questions below using the appropriate statistical technique. For questions involving the use of hypothesis testing, you must:

1. State the null and research hypotheses

2. Provide the Z(critical), T(critical), or χ 2 (critical) score corresponding to the α threshold for your test

3. Provide your test statistic

4. Provide your decision about statistical significance

An advantage that often comes with a basic knowledge of statistics is a change in salary. To see whether this was the case for Tulane University graduates, you took a random sample of 57 students who completed a statistics class and asked about their starting salaries (in thousands) after graduation. The sample had a mean of 53.3 with a standard deviation of 3.72 (i.e., x = 53.3 and s = 3.72). A call to the Office of the Registrar indicates that the average starting salary value for all Tulane students is 47.1. Do students who take statistics courses earn an equal salary compared to Tulane students generally? Use α = 0.001.

Answer the questions below using the appropriate statistical technique. For questions involving the use of hypothesis testing, you must:

1. State the null and research hypotheses

2. Provide the Z(critical), T(critical), or χ 2 (critical) score corresponding to the α threshold for your test

3. Provide your test statistic

4. Provide your decision about statistical significance

An advantage that often comes with a basic knowledge of statistics is a change in salary. To see whether this was the case for Tulane University graduates, you took a random sample of 57 students who completed a statistics class and asked about their starting salaries (in thousands) after graduation. The sample had a mean of 53.3 with a standard deviation of 3.72 (i.e., x = 53.3 and s = 3.72). A call to the Office of the Registrar indicates that the average starting salary value for all Tulane students is 47.1. Do students who take statistics courses earn an equal salary compared to Tulane students generally? Use α = 0.001.