A gas meter measures the amount of gas used by a home or business. In this case,
the meter measures the force of the moving gas in the pipeline. The dials on the meter
turn faster as the flow of gas increases, or slower as the gas flow decreases. To under-
stand how the gas and electric companies charge a customer takes only an understand-
ing of simple mathematics. In both cases, the difference between one month’s reading
and the next month’s reading is the amount charged. For example, if the electric cur-
rent reading is 3240 and the previous month’s reading is 3201, the amount of electrici-
ty used is 39 kilowatts for one month. Then the company multiplies the number of
kilowatts by the amount per kilowatt hour to arrive at the charge to the customer.What are some numbers associated with tire pressure?
Tire pressure is measured using a tire pressure gauge, with the most common mea-
402 suring device being about the size of a pen. First, a bit about pressure: The atmos-
How is political polling done?
A
lthough polls seem to be magical predictors of election results or the suc-
cess of product advertising, they are merely a matter of taking information
and applying some simple statistics. Polling is a technique that uncovers the
attitudes or opinions of a segment of the population, and is based on certain
questions about politics, the economy, and even social conditions. The sample
population can be chosen randomly, or by other methods. People can be polled
via a telephone interview, questionnaire in the mail, or personal interview, such
as an exit poll during an election (polled as a person leaves his or her voting
place). Statistics such as averaging and resulting percents are then used to
determine the overall “pulse” of the public. Many commercial poll takers not
only claim their results help in market research and advertising, but also get the
people’s concerns out in the open.
Of course, just because statistics are used does not make polling infallible,
or even reliable. For example, some questions may be misleading. The media is
notorious for asking such polling questions as, “Do you agree that keeping the
environment clean is important?” as if the majority of people would say “no.”
Such questions often make the results of polling somewhat questionable, espe-
cially if the results are not presented along with the original questions. Errors
and questionable outcomes are also caused by people lying, bad interview tech-
niques, and even the sample of people interviewed. All too often, the results of
polling create another consequence: swaying public opinion and creating a
“jump on the bandwagon” effect. (For more information about statistics, see
“Applied Mathematics.”)