Chapter 4: Numerical Methods for Describing Data

Section 4.1-4.3

Name ___________________________

1. Astronomers are interested in the recessional velocity of

galaxies – that is, the speed at which they are moving Recessional
away from the Milky Way. The accompanying table velocities
contains the recessional velocities for a sample of (km/sec)
galaxies, measured in km/sec. Negative velocity 170 150
indicates the galaxy is moving towards us. 290 500
-130 920
(a) Calculate these numerical summaries: -70 500
-220 960
The mean _______________ 200 500
290 850
The standard deviation _______________ 200 800
300 1090
The median _______________ 650
The interquartile range _______________

(b) Construct a skeletal box plot for these data.

Chapter 4, Quiz 1, Form A

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(c) Judging from the data and your responses in parts (a) and (b), would you say this
distribution is skewed or approximately symmetric? Justify your response using
appropriate statistical terminology.

2. A wide variety of oak trees grow in the United States. In one

Acorn Statistics
study a sample of acorns was collected from different
locations, and their volumes, in cm3, were recorded. In the
Statistic Value
table at right are summary statistics for these data.
N 38
Mean 3.0
(a) Describe a procedure that uses these some or all of these
Median 1.8
summary statistics to determine whether outliers are present
St. Dev. 2.6
in the data.
Minimum 0.3
Maximum 10.5
1st Quartile 1.1
3rd Quartile 4.3

(b) Using your procedure from part (a), determine if there are outliers in these data.

Chapter 4, Quiz 1, Form A

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3. An insurance agent is studying fire damage claims in a major city to see if the
insurance premiums are matched to the company's risk. She takes a random sample
of 20 claims, and finds the amount of each claim, in thousands of dollars. Her results
are shown below:

Fire Damage Claims in a major city

($1,000)
52 59 32 54 45
73 39 62 97 65
58 48 62 28 30
69 13 41 75 36

(a) Under what circumstances should one consider using a trimmed mean as a description
of the center of a distribution?

(b) Does the fire damage data exhibit the characteristic(s) that suggest a trimmed mean is
the appropriate statistic to calculate? Explain.

Chapter 4, Quiz 1, Form A

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