QUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT

MAY-2021 – JULY 2021

Max marks : 40

Answer all the questions.

1. The file Supermarket Transactions.xlsx contains over 500 transactions made by

supermarket customers over a period of approximately two years. (The data are not
real, but real supermarket chains have huge data sets just like this one.) . Column B
contains the date of the purchase, column C is a unique identifier for each customer,
columns D-H contain information about the customer, columns I-K contain the
location of the store, columns L-N contain information about the product purchased,
and the last two columns indicate the number of items purchased and the amount
paid.

- Identify the variables type and level of measurement

- Summarize the data using tables, diagrams and charts
- Compute appropriate numerical descriptive measures
- Set up a single pivot table and corresponding pivot chart, with some instructions
to a user ( like the supermarket manager) in a text box, on how the user can get
answers to any typical question about the data. For example, one possibility (of
many) could be total revenue by product department and month, for any
combination of gender, marital status, and homeowner.
- Write a brief summary report on the findings. 15 marks

2. An agent for a residential real estate company in a suburb located outside of

Washington DC, has the business objective of developing more accurate estimates of
the monthly rental cost for apartments. Toward that goal, the agent would like to use
the size of an apartment, as defined by square footage to predict the monthly rental
cost. The agent selects a sample of 40 one bedroom apartments and collects and
stores the data in RentSilverSpring.xls
a. Construct a scatter plot
b. Determine the regression coefficient bo and b1
c. Interpret the meaning of bo and b1 in this problem
d. Predict the mean monthly rent for an apartment that has 800 square feet.
e. Determine the coefficient of determination and interpret the result 15 marks
3. Interns report that when deciding on where to work, career growth, salary and
compensation, location and commute, and company culture and values are important
factors to them. According to the Glassdorr blog’s “25 Highest Paying Companies for
interns 2014”, the mean monthly pay of interns at Intel is $4648. Suppose that the
intern monthly pay is normally distributed, with a standard deviation of $400. What is
the probability that the monthly pay of an intern at Intel is
a. Less than $4500?
b. Between $4300 and $4700
c. Above $5200
d. Ninety-nine percent of the intern monthly pays are higher than what value?
e. Ninety five percent of the intern monthly pays are between what two values,
symmetrically distributed around the mean. 10 marks