Like my scientific literacy reflection, a reflection on mathematical literacy was not required for me as an Associate in Arts student, but I wanted to include one since it is relevant to my future career. I selected a project completed in MAT-152 (Statistics), which I took in the fall semester of 2022. While I have never felt that math was one of my greatest strengths, this project and class gave me the opportunity to explore an aspect of math that I may very likely use in my future research career, and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. While taking this course, I was also completing undergraduate research studying the effects of water drainage and pipe construction on blue ridge two-lined salamander populations and had many opportunities to apply my statistics studies to that project, as well as my knowledge using stat-crunch and graphing calculators.

For this particular assignment, I chose two countries covid statistics to compare, analyze, and reflect on. Specifically, August (2022) Covid Cases in Argentina and the United Kingdom, with emphasis on frequency distribution, histograms, summary stats, boxplots, confidence intervals, sample means, standard deviations, lower limits, and upper limits. Imputing information in StatCrunch proved somewhat difficult, as the number of documented cases was extensive, and transferring the information without making mistakes was tedious. After practicing with other statistics several times, I was able to confidently do the same for Argentina and the United Kingdom's August Covid cases and then calculated my desired outcomes.

The goals I had selected previously for this assignment were to better understand math, applying past techniques as best I can to achieve a more straightforward way to analyze and solve problems, and to discover new and faster ways of remembering formulas, applying helpful techniques and better memorizing the steps within mathematics. While the first goal is certainly relevant and accomplished within this project, I wanted to make it more specified, so I adjusted it to demonstrating a proficient understanding of statistics—specifically frequency distribution, boxplots, and histograms, and to incorporate personal reflection into my analysis. I decided to keep the second goal, as my mathematical skills are not as strong as some of my others, and discovering new ways of remembering formulas was something that proved to be extremely useful in statistics.​

For the first goal, demonstrating a proficient understanding of statistics—specifically frequency distribution, boxplots, and histograms, I was able to successfully complete the work on my graphing calculator and through StatCrunch, and then show my work through screenshots attached in my document. After completing the work, I reflected on and compared each country's statistics, which allowed me to further analyze the problems and demonstrate my proficiency gained from the statistics course. Fortunately, though I found many of the problems difficult to solve, I developed a strong understanding of each of the statistical topics covered in my paper throughout the class and applied those skills to this project, demonstrating my knowledge within each reflection.

My second goal, discovering new and faster ways of remembering formulas, applying helpful techniques, and better memorizing the steps within mathematics, was something that I accomplished multiple times over the course of the semester, especially as nearly all the topics covered in class made use of some type of formula, whether it was for finding a standard deviation or calculating probabilities. Fortunately, after learning the first few types of formulas and strategies for memorizing them, the more complicated ones later in the semester became easier to understand and learn as I developed new strategies. I also learned techniques for using both StatCrunch and a graphing calculator, which was useful in the classroom and outside of the classroom.

While I have never been particularly passionate about math, it turns out I really enjoy statistics, which is fantastic as I will likely be using it in my future career. This class was the first time I was able to study it, and though it was time-consuming, I developed many skills that I will be applying to other areas of my life and learned to use programs and tools that are highly beneficial for research. I look forward to further developing my mathematical skills as I pursue higher education and research experience.