Math task 1200 words+ Forms 10 hrs

Maths for Business INU0111 Semester 2 Project

Deadline: Tuesday March 24th - 12:00 noon

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Aims of the Project

The aim of this project is to explore the price of properties for sale in two areas

of Newcastle upon Tyne. You are to write a report comparing the properties

available and their prices for two specific areas of Newcastle upon Tyne. You

are expected to use the statistical methods that you are learning on your

course.

Background

Newcastle upon Tyne, like many major cities, grew up from separate, small

villages. Centuries ago, the River Tyne had a town called Newcastle around

the “new castle” built by the Normans and there were settlements outside this

now known as Walker, Byker, Wallsend (where Hadrian’s Wall ended),

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Gosforth, Jesmond and many others. When the Industrial Revolution came to

the North-East, Newcastle became a centre for coal exports, shipbuilding (on

the River Tyne from Wallsend to Walker and up the river at Scotswood and

Elswick) and other “heavy” industry. Indeed, the river became the most

important resource the area had. Even today, Geordies are very attached to

“their” river.

With all the heavy industry came a workforce. In a time when public transport

was limited, workers lived near their place of work. In very simple terms,

properties near the river were built to house the workers and areas away from

the river grew up to house those who were better off. Most of the heavy

industry has gone now but many of the properties remain. The sometimes-

narrow cramped streets and often small terraced properties of Walker,

Wallsend and Byker are a reminder of those days.

Jesmond (about 2km north of the river) and Gosforth (a little further north)

grew up away from the heavy industry. This was where the people with wealth

lived. Some streets (such as Mitchell Avenue in Jesmond or Elmfield Road in

Gosforth) still contain very expensive properties dating from the late 1890’s

and early 1900’s. Elsewhere in Jesmond and Gosforth, prices never quite reach

these levels but are much higher than the sites where heavy industry once

housed its workforce.

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Types of Properties

Properties in the UK come in many shapes and sizes. There are detached

properties in their own grounds and semi-detached, which share a central wall

with another house. There are also terraced houses (a row of properties).

Then there are bungalows (just a ground floor, no upstairs) and apartments

(part of a block). There are also properties called Tyneside flats. These are

(usually) a terraced house divided so that someone lives upstairs and someone

lives downstairs (and they have separate front doors). There are other types

too, so be very careful in your categorisation.

Terraced Houses

Tyneside Flat

Detached House

Semi-detached House

Block of flats Bungalow

Apartment Block

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How to tackle this project…?

You need to write a report. You must choose ONE location from each area and

collect data on prices of houses, number of bedrooms in each house and type

of each house. You will need to create a table of data with column headings

that look like this:

Area A

Street Number of Bedrooms Type of House Price

Repeat for Area B

The first thing you are going to have to do is to collect some data.

Have a look at the map on the page 2.

The areas outlined in blue dashes (Area A: Jesmond and Gosforth) and red

dots (Area B: Wallsend, Walker and Byker) are the places you are looking for

data. There are newspapers that contain information about properties for

sale. HOWEVER, the simplest way to find data is to use ESTATE AGENTS’

websites.

Make a note of where you obtained your data because you will need to

reference it.

You need at least 30 properties from each area (at least 60 in total) for this

project. However, between 50 and 100 properties from each area would be

better. Try to make the sample REPRESENTATIVE of the population of all the

properties available in the two areas that you have chosen. Do not just choose

many 3-bedroom semi-detached properties (even though there are a lot of

these about). Also, do not just choose the first few properties on a website, as

they may be the most expensive or least expensive properties available.

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The best way to create your table of data is to use Microsoft Excel. When you

have collected all your data, print off a full list sorted so the most expensive

properties are at the top of the list and the cheapest is at the bottom.

Explaining what you are doing and why is important.

Break your data up now into the two areas, A and B.

What types of properties are available in these two areas or how many

properties are there with 1, 2, 3, etc. bedrooms? You will need to make a

comparison between the two areas. Consider using tables, graphs and

comments.

Considering all the data for each area calculate some statistics. Find the

measures for the centre and for the spread of the prices. Display your two sets

of data graphically. Now make some comment about what you have found.

Do not just “do statistics”; analyse them.

You could now break your data up into smaller categories. For example, draw

graphs to show the prices of 2-bedroom properties in the 2 areas, then for the

3-bedroom properties (or detached properties, or semi-detached properties).

Drawing conclusions and using the statistics that you have calculated is an

important skill. Top marks can be obtained by writing between 1000 and

1500 words.

The Project will be marked out of 100 according to the

following criteria:

 Introduction and methodology to the project (20 Marks) 

 Data Collection (10 Marks) 

 Presenting data in an appropriate form (15 Marks) 

 Statistical analysis (15 Marks) 

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 Discussion (20 Marks)

 Conclusions (10 Marks) 

 Report Layout (10 Marks)

For further details, please see Blackboard.

Additional Advice.

 Write this in the style of a report.

 You covered this in Study Skills!

 Include a front cover with a suitable title and your name.

 Write a brief introduction saying what you are doing and what you hope

to find.

 Discuss where you got your data. Together with this, you need to say

how you chose your sample of properties.

 Provide data in tables.

 Calculation of and comments on relevant statistics are expected.

 Graphs should be used to compare the data sets.

 The conclusion should be factual and fully supported by the evidence

that you have collected.

 Include an accurate and comprehensive list of your sources.

Submitting the project

You must submit your project by 12:00 noon on Monday March 23rd. You must

upload your project to Turnitin using Blackboard. You do NOT need to hand

in a paper copy of your project. Late submissions are liable to be penalised. If

you have any problems, you must contact either Adrian or Yvonne by email

before the submission time:

[email protected] [email protected]