Business Statistics Workshop 2

Students are expected to have reviewed “Videos on how to use Excel for Week 2” before
attempting the questions below.

Task 1: Data Types and Charts

Question 2.1

Classify each of the following variables as numerical or categorical, discrete or continuous,

ordinal or nominal.

a) the postcode of suburbs Categorical nominal

b) eye colour (brown, blue, . . . ) Categorical nominal
c) whether a person drinks alcohol (yes, no) Categorical nominal
d) length of cucumbers (in centimetres) Numerical continuous
e) number of cars in a car park Numerical discrete
f) salary (high, medium, low) Categorical ordinal
g) salary (in dollars and cents) Numerical continuous
h) daily temperature in ◦C Numerical continuous
i) shoe size (6, 8, 10, . . .) Categorical ordinal

Question 2.2

Data collected for the following variables is to be displayed graphically. Which type of graph is
most appropriate, bar charts, pie charts or histograms?

a) number of passengers in flights — 100 flights in sample

Bar Chart (Histogram if you group the data)

b) type of petrol purchased (super, unleaded, premium)

Bar Chart/Pie Chart

c) prices of cars sold in Melbourne over a weekend

Histogram

d) state of residence of a sample of 200 Australians

Bar Chart/Pie Chart

e) number of cigarettes smoked in a day (a sample of 120 people)

Bar Chart (Histogram if you group the data)
Business Statistics Workshop 2

Question 2.3

One hundred and twenty-one university students were asked to identify their preferred leisure
activity. The results are displayed in a bar chart, as shown below.

a) What percentage of students in total nominated either listening to music or reading as

their preferred leisure activity? 27%

b) State the least popular leisure activity for these students and quote the percentage.
Reading, 11%

c) Based on your answer in (b), how many students rated this activity as their preferred
leisure activity? 13 students
Business Statistics Workshop 2

For the following task, you will need to use Excel:

Task 2: Using VLOOKUP Function – Elecmart_2.xlsx

VLOOKUP is an abbreviation for the phrase Vertical Lookup. Specifically, it looks for a value in the
leftmost column of a table, and then returns a value in the same row, using another column you
specify.
Once you learn how to use VLOOKUP, you'll be able to use it with larger, more complex
spreadsheets and that's when it will become truly useful!

Download the file Elecmart_2.xlsx available in the Workshop Material Folder under the
Week 2 Section on Moodle. We used this example in Week 1. This data file provides information
on 400 customer orders during a period of several months for Elecmart (a fictional company).

In this file, the variable names are listed in Row 1. Place the cursor on a variable name, eg,
Region, to see its description.

Complete Table 1 in the Elecmart_2.xlsx file. Then answer Questions 2.4– 2.7.

Question 2.4

Calculate the mean amount spent for the sample of 10 customers in Table 1

$141.22

Question 2.5

Calculate the median amount spent for the sample of 10 customers in Table 1

$75.20

Question 2.6
Calculate the range of amount spent for the sample of 400 customers
$478.19

Question 2.7

Calculate the mean amount spent for the sample of 400 customers. Compare this value to your
answer from Question 2.4 and discuss the results.
Business Statistics Workshop 2

The mean amount spent from the sample of 10 customers ($141.22) is smaller than that from
the sample of 400 customers ($153.82). The closer these values are to each other, the more
representative the smaller sample is of the larger sample.