Seminar worksheet.

Measures of dispersion 2

1. There are two routes for a worker to get to his office. Both the routes involve hold ups due to traffic
lights. He records the time it takes over a series of six journeys for each route. The results are
shown in the table.

Route 1 15 15 11 17 14 12
Route 2 11 14 17 15 16 11

a. Work out the mean time taken for each route.

b. Calculate the variance and the standard deviation of each of the two routes.
c. Using your answers to (a) and (b) suggest which route you would recommend.

a. mean route 1 = 14
mean route 2 = 14
b. variance 1 = 4 SD1 = 2
variance 2 = 5.(33) SD2 = 2.309
c. we suppose that first route because it takes little time than second one.
2. The following stem and leaf diagram summaries the wing length, to the nearest mm, of a random
sample of 67 owl moths.

Wing lengths Key: 5|0 means 50 Cumulative

frequency
5 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 (12) 12
5 5 5 6 6 6 7 8 8 9 9 (10) 22
6 0 1 1 1 3 3 4 4 4 4 (10) 32
6 5 5 6 7 8 9 9 (7) 39
7 1 1 2 2 3 3 (6) 45
7 5 7 9 9 (4) 49
8 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 (8) 57
8 7 8 9 (3) 60
9 0 1 1 2 (4) 64
9 5 7 9 (3) 67

a. Write down the mode of these data.

b. Find the median and quartiles of these data.
c. Construct a box plot to represent these data.
d. Calculate the mean and standard deviation of these data.

a. 64 (4)

This diagram’s mode is 64, it occurs 4 times.

67
b. 𝑛 = = 33.5 =) 34th value is a median median = 65
2

67
𝑄1: 4
= 16.75 =) 17th value Q1 = 56

67
𝑄2: = 33.5 =) 34th value Q2 = 65
2

3×67
𝑄3: 4
= 50.25 =) 51st value Q3 = 81

c. Outliers: 𝑄1 − 1.5(𝑄3 − 𝑄1) = 56 − 1.5(81 − 56) = 18.5

𝑄3 + 1.5(𝑄3 − 𝑄1) = 81 + 1.5(81 − 56) = 118.5

50 Q1 = 56 Q2 = 65 Q3 = 81 99
d.

Mean = Summ/n=4604/67=68.72
SD = 13.73
 STATISTICS

3. Nahab asks the students in his year group how much pocket money they get per week. The results,
rounded to the nearest pound, are shown in the table.

a. Complete the table.

b. Work out the variance and the standard deviation for these data.

4. The lifetime, x, in hours, of 70 light bulbs is shown in the table.

 Estimate the variance and the standard deviation for these data.

References:

Some of the questions on this worksheet were reproduced from the following source:

Attwood, G., Macpherson, A., Moran, B., Petran, J., Pledger, K., Staley, G. and Wilkins, D. (2008), Edexcel AS
and A-Level Modular Mathematics series S1-3, Pearson, Harlow, UK.