Student instructions
Quadratic modelling of the number of males registered in apprenticeship programs

In this activity, you will determine if a parabola can be a useful model for the number of males registered in apprenticeship programs in Canada.

E-STAT instructions

1. Go to the E-STAT website.
2. Select English.
3. Click on Search CANSIM on the left sidebar.
4. Type 477-0051 in the Search box and click on the Search button to retrieve Table 477-0051 - Registered apprenticeship training, registrations by major trade groups and sex, annual (number)
5. On the Subset selection page:
   • Under Geography, select Canada
   • Under Major trade groups, select Total major trade groups
   • Under Sex, select Males
   • Under From, select 1991
   • Under To, select 2000
6. Click on the Retrieve as individual Time Series button.
7. On the Output specification page, select either Plain text: Table, time as rows, HTML, table: Time as rows, or CSV: Time as rows. The output selected will depend on your software. Ask your teacher which format works best with your school's software.
8. Click on the Retrieve now button.

Generic statistical software instructions

Note: Specific instructions for dynamic statistical software (PDF) (e.g. Fathom) are also provided.

1. Import your data into your statistical software program.
2. Save your file as Apprenticeship Registrations.
3. Create a scatter plot with Year on the x-axis and Number of registrations on the y-axis.
4. Plot the following function on your scatter plot:
   Number of registrations = a(Year - h)² + k

***** Go to your worksheet and answer questions #1 to 11. *****

Alter the values of a, h, and k until your function closely approximates the data in the scatter plot.

***** Go to your worksheet and answer questions #12 to 18. *****