MAT 510 WEEK 7 DISCUSSION

MAT 510 WEEK 7 Building and Using Models Please respond to the following
Last week we introduced the idea of data data collection, stratification of data and then data analysis tools. This week we introduce the concept of building models with our data in an effort to predict some future outcome. I have attached a BBC documentary on the space shuttle challenger disaster to inject  the story of a struggle between engineers and their data with operators and administrators that are forced to make hard decisions in a world where there is more unknown than known. After watching this video review the attached Power Point presentation. I would like you to expound on a replacement discussion question this week.


The BBC documentary makes a compelling case that NASA management should have listened to the engineers, thus avoiding the Challenger mishap. However, the video does not present the evidence in the same fashion that the historical record shows. Slides 2-5 depict the data Morton Thiokol showed NASA leadership. Data was presented as raw numbers in tables, not as figures on a chart. Slides 6 and 7 show a different perspective of that data first by using a relational table then drawing a scatter plot. Had this information been presented, could you now come up with a better forecast relating O ring damage and temperature?