Problem # 1 :

Mr. Ramos a high school teacher at Sacred Heart School assigns trigonometry practice problems to be
done by group online. Students must use a password to access the problems and the time of log-in and
log-off are automatically recorded for the teacher. At the end of the week, the teacher examines the
amount of time each student spent working the assigned problems. The data is provided below in
minutes.

Data Array

15 49

28 48

25 43

48 39

22 34

43 33

49 28

34 27

22 25

33 25

27 22

25 22

22 22

20 20

39 15

Mean

Mean = X / N = 452 / 15 = 30.13

Median

15 20 22 22 22 25 25 27 28 33 34 39 43
48 49

The median is 27. Half of the scores fall above this number and half fall below.

Mode

Mode is equal to 22. It occurs 3 times; all other scores occur only 2 times or less

What does this information tell you about students' length of time on the computer solving
trigonometry problems?

The mean number of minutes spent solving the problems on the computer was approximately 30
minutes. Half of the students spent more than 27 minutes solving the problems, and half spent less time
solving the problems. More students spent 22 minutes solving the problems than any other amount of
time.

Is this data skewed?

The data indicate a slight positive skew. This is most likely due to the students who spent over 40
minutes working on the trigonometry problems. Note, that it is a very slight skew - only approximately a
3 minute difference between the mean and median.
Problem # 2 :

John has been playing golf on the weekends for the past five years. Recently, he started keeping track of
his recorded scores. His scores for November and December at his favorite 9-hole (par 36) golf course
are provided below.

Data Array

45 56

49 49

42 45

56 42

41 42

36 41

34 41

38 41

41 41

40 40

42 40

41 39

39 39

38 38

40 38

39 36

36 36

41 34
Mean

Mean = X/N= 738 / 18 = 41.0

Median

34 36 36 38 38 39 39 40 40 41 41 41 41
42 42 45 49 56

The median is 40.5 . The two middle scores are 40 and 41. By adding these two numbers together and
dividing by 2, I find the median = 40.5. Half of the scores fall above this number and half fall below.

Mode

Mode is equal to 41. It occurs 4 times; all other scores occur only 3 times or less

What does this information tell you about Bailey's golf game?

John's mean score for the months of November and December is 41 (only 5 above par). Over half of
John's games had a score above 40.5 and half had a score below 40.5. His most common golf score was
a 41.

Is this data skewed?

No. The data is not skewed. The mean and median are almost identical, only a half-stroke difference.