MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND

RESILIENCE BUILDING
PROGRAMME: GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES.

GROUP MEMBERS REG NUMBERS

TAPIWANASHE C GORA R1812301H

BRIGHTON SANGU R187698E
BRUCE NCUBE R183323M
THOBEKILE SIDAMBE R186774N
MIYA MUHOMVA R185077H
SAMUEL MAKORE R187013J
LEVEL: 4.1

MODULE CODE: GES420

LECTURER: Professor S. JERIE

QUESTION: Assignment one

1 (a)

i. Mean = Total/ number of categories

= 100/8
= 12.5

ii. Median
2; 5.5; 6.5; 8.1; 9.3; 14.5; 18.8; 35.3

8.1+9.3
=
2

= 8.7

√
2
iii. Standard deviation = ∑ ( x −ẋ )
n

X (x-x) (x- x ¿ ¿ 2
35.3 22.8 519.84
18.8 6.3 39.69
8.1 -4.4 19.36
2 -10.5 110.25
14.5 2 4
6.5 -6 36
5.5 -7 49
9.3 -3.2 10.24
 ∑   788.38

=
√ 788.38
8

=9.93
(b) The value of standard deviation of the waste generated in high density is 9.9% and is closer
to the mean measurement of the values that is 12.5 meaning there is little amount of variation in
the group of waste being studied or tested. The standard deviation is small and close to the mean
because the waste generated in the group is similar and less variable. If food vegetables had been
removed from the dataset, the standard deviation decreases because the remaining values are
more concentrated around the mean.