Sunday, December 28, 2008

Wherein Is Related The Experiment in the First Day of Classes With Other Droll Adventures

The first day of classes I asked half the class to be the sellers and the other half to be the buyers. Sellers and buyers had to write in a piece of paper their respective reservation prices (the instructions were a bit different so I didn't mention the words reservation prices) for an item that I described before the activity without saying its true price.

The demand curve was clear, except for two points that I'm not showing in this graph (in class I showed ALL the points). The supply curve was very bad, only three points were reasonable (maybe because they have more intuition as buyers than as sellers). Not surprisingly though, the intersection is at a price of $700, and the true price of the item that I described in class is $630.

I know, the experiment is very bad. But I think it was a good activity.

In Morelia the yeast was delivered and I saw some friends. I did not bring the chord to transfer my pics to my computer, so that will have to wait for the days in the desert.

Also I met in a street exhibition a guy called Ángel Pahuamba. I really liked his paintings. This is his website.

9 comments:

Aura said...

What does the numbers in the X axis represent? The number of the student who set the price? (sorry if it's a dumb idea, I just don't know) What's the point of the activity?

Voy a linkear a Pahuamba en mi blog. Cuando puedas pon fotos del cafecito. Y de las palomas en la fuente.

Anonymous said...

¿Das clases de economía o qué o cómo o qué haces aparte de ser matemático renegado?

Mario Samano said...

On the X-axis it is the number of people that said a specific price.

For example, 2 buyers chose a price of $700.

I forgot to put the right graph with the names in the axis. Sorry.

Sí, luego posteo sobre Morelia y sus palomas.

Sí, doy clases de economía.

Anonymous said...

Ahora, como molestia ¿sabes de algún buen tutorial de matlab? digo, en algún momento de mi vida me servirá saber usarlo.

Aura said...

OK, then is normal that more "sellers" choose higher prices (and more "buyers", lower prices) in such a trend? I say this, because I would expect a random graph, or more people choosing middle values... I don't know, just guessing, but that trend is unexpected to me.

In the other hand, is the real price of a product usually related to intersections between "buyers" and "sellers" price expectations?

Two buyers chose $900, three choose $700, jejeje.

Ya, fue mucho para mí por hoy. ¿Estás leyendo textos antiguos? ¿Así como el quijote y eso?

Hugo Carlos said...

Your graphic looks like made in paint

Mario Samano said...

hola bleh, por qué te serviría saber matlab? hace unos meses vi a una amiga aprender matlab leyendo el tutorial que viene en el help. ya hasta ella sabía unos trucos que yo no me sabía.

Aura: those trends are very common. I'm not reading ancient texts right now, but I did it a lot during highschool, including the quixote. you are right, the title of my post copied old styles.

Hugo: yes, i did it in paint. it was faster and easier.

Anonymous said...

cuantos datos tienes en total?

Sería bueno poder distinguir cuales son los puntos muestrales y cual es tu interpolación

Mario Samano said...

tuve como 37 datos.

los tuve que agrupar en rangos de precios para que fuera más fácil distinguir la tendencia en los datos.

técnica de interpolación: mano temblorosa del sámano por culpa del café usando paint.