Unit:

Introduction to Programming
Assignment title:
Mathematical Analysis
Spring 2024
Important notes
• Please refer to the Assignment Presentation Requirements for advice on how
to set out your assignment. These can be found on the NCC Education
website. Hover over ‘About Us’ on the main menu and then navigate to
‘Policies and Procedures’ then scroll to the ‘Student Support’ area.
• You must read the NCC Education document Academic Misconduct Policy
and ensure that you acknowledge all the sources that you use in your work.
These documents are available on the NCC Education website. Hover over
‘About Us’ on the main menu and then navigate to ‘Policies and Procedures’
then scroll to the ‘Student Support’ area.
• You must complete the Statement and Confirmation of Own Work. The form
is available on the NCC Education website. Hover over ‘About Us’ on the
main menu and then navigate to ‘Policies and Procedures’ then scroll to the
‘Student Support’ area.
• Please make a note of the recommended word count. You could lose marks
if you write 10% more or less than this.
• You must submit a paper copy and digital copy (on disk or similarly
acceptable medium). Media containing viruses, or media that cannot be run
directly, will result in a fail grade being awarded for this assessment.
• All electronic media will be checked for plagiarism.
 Background information

Complete the following computer programming tasks using Visual Basic.

For each task, you must test the programming code you create.

The evidence you must produce is a working VB program and a Word document
containing the following:

• Screenshots of the user interface

• Pseudocode
• Completed Object Definition Sheet
• The Visual Basic program code, with relevant comments (i.e., annotated)
• Simple test criteria
• Completed Test Log
• Screenshots of the output generated when the program code is run

It would be a good idea to use the Windows Snipping tool to assemble this Word
document.

You do not have to provide any general commentary on your work in a separate word-
processed document, but you do have to provide short comments on the code to explain
what each function or segment of code does.

You do not have to provide any history of what debugging you may have done.

It is very important that the program code is clear, the outputs are designed to be
easy to understand and your Word document is well presented.

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Introduction

This assessment is worth 100% of your overall grade.

Scenario

A program needs to be written that allows the user to enter ONE (1) or more sets of data
for statistical analysis.

The user can select to view the:

• mean of the data
• median of the data
• mode of the data
• Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of the data
• description of the meaning of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient

The program will need to:

• allow the user to enter the mathematical analysis they want to perform.
• allow the user to enter the required data for their chosen analysis or choose to load
the data from an external text file. The data should have a maximum of values.
• allow the user to select the number of decimal places they want to be displayed.
• validate that the data is appropriate (for example, validate that the data is not empty
and is of an appropriate data type)
• calculate and output the result of the chosen mathematical analysis.
• display the steps of the calculations selected by the user.

If the user selects a description of the meaning of ONE (1) of the correlation coefficients,
the output will need to identify and display:
• the strength of the correlation
• whether the correlation is positive or negative
• what the correlation means for the data.
For example, a correlation coefficient of 0.75:
This is a strong positive correlation. As the value of X increases so does the value of Y.

Hints on design and implementation

• Plan your program before starting. You will need to think about how the user will
make their choices.
• You will need to identify the different data that will need to be entered depending on
the chosen analysis and how this data will be entered.
• You will need to consider how to make the system robust against invalid data, for
example, if calculating a correlation coefficient then the quantity of both data items
will need to be the same.

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Task – 100 Marks

Task 1 Form/interface design – 10 marks

Design your user interface for ONE (1) or more VB forms:

• to allow the user to select the mathematical analysis they want to perform.
• to allow the user to enter the appropriate data for their chosen analysis.
• to display the result of the analysis

Task 2 Pseudocode and Object Definition Sheet – 28 marks

• Write pseudocode to design the input for mathematical analysis and choices the
user can make.
• Write pseudocode to design the validation for entering and loading the data from a
text file (when selected)
• Write pseudocode for each of the calculations and how the result will be displayed.
• Produce an Object Definition Sheet for the full program (see attached template).

Task 3 Implementation – Main program – 37 marks

• Create the form to allow the user to select the mathematical analysis.
• Create the form to allow the user to enter the data.
• Write the code to read the data from a file (when selected)
• Write the code to validate the data entered.
• Write the code for each of the mathematical calculations.
• Write the code to output the result of each of the mathematical calculations.

Task 4 Testing – 25 marks

• Design a testing strategy and complete a Test Log (see attached template) for each
of the choices the user can make.
• Make sure you test all of the calculations with a range of different data, for example,
small quantities of data and large quantities of data.
• Make sure you test the validation rules so that the program is robust.
• Tests should be documented in the Test Log and screenshots of tests provided as
evidence of testing.
• Evaluate your program by comparing it to the requirements.

Mark distribution

• Design (38 marks)

• Implementation (37 marks)
• Testing (25 marks)

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Guidance

The assessment of your project will depend in part upon the quality of the documentation
that you have produced.

• Restate the specification of the assignment by listing the Required Outcomes.

• Take the time required to design the assignment before you type any program
code. Follow an appropriate design and documentation sequence.
• Always document your designs before you implement them.
• Keep up-to-date Object Definition Sheets and do basic tests at each stage of the
development.
• Provide a detailed design including, where appropriate, the design of any
algorithms.
• Build in error handling to involve meaningful messages that would help with any
future maintenance of the software.
• Annotate all implementations.
• Design a testing strategy.
• Justify the design of suitable comprehensive test data.
• Show evidence of testing.
• Where appropriate, detail any major corrective action that you have taken in the
light of the testing process.

Submission requirements

A word-processed document must be submitted incorporating the full documentation of all

the significant aspects of the development of the assignment above. The document should
be submitted both in paper form and digital form.

Refer to the Guidance above when producing your final documentation.

You are required to submit a publishable copy of the compiled system together with
installation notes.

This publishable copy, that includes a setup file, should be on an appropriate medium (CD,
USB flash drive, etc.).

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Candidate checklist

Please use the following checklist to ensure that your work is ready for submission.

Have you read the NCC Education document Academic Misconduct

Policy and ensured that you have acknowledged all the sources that ❑
you have used in your work?
Have you completed the Statement and Confirmation of Own Work
form and attached it to your assignment? You must do this. ❑
Have you ensured that your work has not gone over or under the
recommended word count by more than 10%? ❑
Have you ensured that your work does not contain viruses and can
be run directly? ❑

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 Object Definition Sheet
Non-default properties at design time
Event procedures that have to be written

No. Type Property Value Event procedure

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 Test Log Template

Test Test Input Expected Actual Pass/Fail

Number Purpose Output Output

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Introduction to Programming © NCC Education Limited 2024