The great honky countdown

There are a lot of honky nuts (marri gumnuts) on the ground in the Science quadrangle.

Too many to actually count one by one.

Our ATAR Biology class calculated the total number to be in the vicinity of 12 000 for the patch investigated, using a field technique known as quadrats. The square (quadrat) is placed on the ground and the number of gumnuts counted inside it. This is repeated at random across the area to generate an average number per square meter. Then we multiplied the average by the size of the total area to produce our estimate.

In the real biological world the gumnuts would be non-mobile species like anemones or plants.

Our students showed admirable patience in determining this result.

Lindesay Pound
Science Teacher