A Path to Statistics, Part IV
Combinations Everywhere
In a few short weeks, Antonio has started back at PreAlgebra level counting concepts and is now solving problems using combinations at the level of an advanced high school student. Part of what is interesting is that he doesn't even yet realize how far he has come in a short time.
In this lesson, we examine a modeling technique often known as "stars and bars" or "balls and urns". We also solve path walking problems and talk through why Pascal's triangle is really just a grid of combinations.
This completes only six total hours of conversation between us, starting from material that some elementary school students work on. The number of people who can learn math is substantially larger than the number who think they can.
Do you have a syllabus or outline that someone with high school algebra and not much else could use to chart a course of self-study for learning statistics? Other recommendations or materials? There's so many options out there, it's a bit overwhelming.