Chap003 Describing Data Numerical Measures
Chap003 Describing Data Numerical Measures
Chap003 Describing Data Numerical Measures
Chapter 03
Describing Data: Numerical Measures
True / False Questions
2. The arithmetic mean is the sum of the quantitative observations divided by the total number
of observations.
True False
3. For a set of data arranged or sorted in numerical order, the value of the observation in the
center is called the weighted mean.
True False
4. A set of ordinal, interval or ratio level data may only have one mode.
True False
5. The mode is the value of the observation that appears most frequently.
True False
7. The sum of the deviations from the mean for the set of numbers 4, 9 and 5 will equal zero.
True False
3-1
8. Three persons earn $8 an hour, six earn $9 an hour, and one earns $12 an hour. The
weighted mean hourly wage is $9.
True False
9. For any distribution, there are an equal number of values above and below the mean.
True False
12. The mean deviation is the difference between the mean or the deviations and the
arithmetic mean.
True False
13. The variance is the mean of the sum of the squared deviations between each observation
and the median.
True False
14. The standard deviation is the positive square root of the variance.
True False
15. For any data set, Chebyshev's Theorem estimates the proportion of observations that
occurs within k standard deviations of the mean, where k is greater than 1.0.
True False
3-2
16. In a company, the standard deviation of the ages of female employees is six years and the
standard deviation of the ages of male employees is ten years. These statistics indicate that the
dispersion of age is greater for females than for males.
True False
17. According to Chebyshev's Theorem, 75% percent of the observations lie within plus and
minus 2.00 average mean deviations.
True False
18. According to the Empirical Rule, 75% percent of the observations lie within plus and
minus 2.00 average mean deviations.
True False
19. The sum of the deviations of each data value from this measure of central location will
always be zero.
A. Mode
B. Mean
C. Median
D. Standard deviation
20. For any data set, which measures of central location have only one value?
A. Mode and median
B. Mode and mean
C. Mode and standard deviation
D. Mean and median
3-3
21. Which measures of central location are not affected by extremely small or extremely large
values?
A. Mean and median
B. Mean and mode
C. Mode and median
D. Standard deviation and mean
22. What is the relationship among the mean, median and mode in a symmetric distribution?
A. They are all equal
B. The mean is always the smallest value
C. The mean is always the largest value
D. The mode is the largest value
23. For a data set, half of the observations are always greater than the
A. Median
B. Mode
C. Mean
D. Standard deviation
24. What is the lowest level of measurement that a median can be computed?
A. Nominal
B. Ordinal
C. Interval
D. Ratio
25. For a data set with an odd number of observations that have been sorted from smallest to
largest values, where is the median located?
A. n
B. n/2
C. (n + 1)/2
D. n +
3-4
27. Fifteen accounting majors had an average grade of 90 on a finance exam. Seven marketing
majors averaged 85, while ten finance majors averaged 93 on the same exam. What is the
weighted mean for the 32 students taking the exam?
A. 89.84
B. 89.33
C. 89.48
D. Impossible to determine without more information
28. On a survey questionnaire, students were asked to indicate their class in college. If there
were only four choices from which to choose, which measure(s) of central location would be
appropriate to use for the data generated by that questionnaire item?
A. Mean and median
B. Mean and mode
C. Mode and median
D. Mode only
29. What is the median of 26, 30, 24, 32, 32, 31, 27 and 29?
A. 32
B. 29
C. 30
D. 29.5
30. The net incomes (in $millions) of a sample of steel fabricators are: $86, $67, $86 and $85.
What is the modal net income?
A. $67
B. $85
C. $85.5
D. $86
3-5
32. During the past six months, the purchasing agent bought:
33. A sample of single persons receiving social security payments revealed these monthly
benefits: $826, $699, $1,087, $880, $839 and $965. How many observations are below the
median?
A. 0
B. 1
C. 2
D. 3
E. 3.5
3-6
34. The number of work stoppages in a highly industrialized region for selected months are: 6,
0, 10, 14, 8 and 0. What is the median number of stoppages?
A. 0
B. 6
C. 7
D. 8
E. 3
35. Assume a student received the following grades for the semester: History, B; Statistics, A;
Spanish, C; and English, C. History and English are 5 credit hour courses, Statistics a 4 credit
hour course and Spanish a 3 credit hour course. If 4 grade points are assigned for an A, 3 for a
B and 2 for a C, what is the weighted mean for the semester grades?
A. 4.00
B. 1.96
C. 2.76
D. 3.01
36. A sample of the paramedical fees charged by clinics revealed these amounts: $55, $49,
$50, $45, $52 and $55. What is the median charge?
A. $47.50
B. $51.00
C. $52.00
D. $55.00
37. The lengths of time (in minutes) several underwriters took to review applications for
similar insurance coverage are: 50, 230, 52 and 57. What is the median length of time
required to review an application?
A. 54.5
B. 141.0
C. 97.25
D. 109.0
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38. A bottling company offers three kinds of delivery service - instant, same day and within
five days. The profit per delivery varies according to the kind of delivery. The profit for an
instant delivery is less than the other kinds because the driver has to go directly to a grocery
store with a small load and return to the bottling plant. To find out what effect each type of
delivery has on the profit picture, the company summarized the data in the following table
based on deliveries for the previous quarter.
39. For the most recent seven years, the U.S. Department of Education reported the following
number of bachelor's degrees awarded in computer science: 4,033; 5,652; 6,407; 7,201; 8,719;
11,154; 15,121. What is the annual arithmetic mean number of degrees awarded?
A. About 12,240
B. About 8,327
C. About 6,217
D. About 15,962
40. A question in a market survey asks for a respondent's favorite car color. Which measure of
central location should be used to summarize this question?
A. Mode
B. Median
C. Mean
D. Standard deviation
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41. Sometimes, data has two values that have the highest and equal frequencies. In this case,
the distribution of the data can best be summarized as
A. symmetric
B. bimodal (having two modes)
C. positively skewed
D. negatively skewed
42. A disadvantage of using an arithmetic mean to summarize a set of data is that the
arithmetic mean
A. sometimes has two values.
B. can be used for interval and ratio data.
C. is always different from the median.
D. can be biased by one or two extremely small or large values.
43. The mean, as a measure of central location would be inappropriate for which one of the
following?
A. Ages of adults at a senior citizen center
B. Incomes of lawyers
C. Number of pages in textbooks on statistics
D. Marital status of college students at a particular university
45. Rank the measures of dispersion in terms of their relative computational difficulty from
least to most.
A. Mode, median, mean
B. Range, mean deviation, variance
C. Variance, mean deviation, range
D. There is no difference
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46. Rank the measures of dispersion in terms of their relative ease of interpretation from least
to most.
A. Mode, median, mean
B. Range, mean deviation, variance
C. Variance, mean deviation, range
D. There is no difference
47. A purchasing agent for a trucking company is shopping for replacement tires for their
trucks from two suppliers. The suppliers' prices are the same. However, Supplier A's tires
have an average life of 60,000 miles with a standard deviation of 10,000 miles. Supplier B's
tires have an average life of 60,000 miles with a standard deviation of 2,000 miles.
Which of the following statements is true?
A. The two distributions of tire life are the same
B. On average, Supplier A's tires have a longer life then Supplier B's tires
C. The life of Supplier B's tire is more predictable than the life of Supplier A's tires
D. The dispersion of Supplier A's tire life is less than the dispersion of Supplier B's tire life
48. The sum of the differences between sample observations and the sample mean is
A. Zero
B. The mean deviation
C. The range
D. The standard deviation
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50. If the variance of the "number of daily parking tickets issued" is 100, the variance is
defined as
A. "number of daily parking tickets".
B. "number of daily parking tickets" squared.
C. the absolute value of the "number of daily parking tickets".
D. the square root of the "number of daily parking tickets".
51. Which of the following measures of dispersion are based on deviations from the mean?
A. Variance
B. Standard deviation
C. Mean deviation
D. All of the above
52. What is the relationship between the variance and the standard deviation?
A. Variance is the square root of the standard deviation
B. Variance is the square of the standard deviation
C. Variance is twice the standard deviation
D. No constant relationship between the variance and the standard deviation
53. According to Chebyshev's Theorem, at least what percent of the observations lie within
plus and minus 1.75 standard deviations of the mean?
A. 56%
B. 95%
C. 67%
D. Cannot compute because it depends on the shape of the distribution
54. For a sample of similar sized all-electric homes, the March electric bills were (to the
nearest dollar): $212, $191, $176, $129, $106, $92, $108, $109, $103, $121, $175 and $194.
What is the range?
A. $100
B. $130
C. $120
D. $112
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55. Which measure of dispersion disregards the algebraic signs (plus and minus) of each
difference between X and the mean?
A. Standard deviation
B. Mean deviation
C. Arithmetic mean
D. Variance
56. The following are the weekly amounts of welfare payments made by the federal
government to a sample of six families: $139, $136, $130, $136, $147 and $136. What is the
range?
A. $0
B. $14
C. $52
D. $17
57. The weights of a sample of crates ready for shipment to Moscow, Russia are (in
kilograms): 103, 97, 101, 106 and 103. What is the mean deviation?
A. 0 kg
B. 6.9 kg
C. 102.0 kg
D. 2.4 kg
E. 9.0 kg
58. The closing prices of a common stock have been 61.5, 62, 61.25, 60.875 and 61.5 for the
past week. What is the range?
A. $1.250
B. $1.750
C. $1.125
D. $1.875
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59. Ten experts rated a newly developed chocolate chip cookie on a scale of 1 to 50. Their
ratings were: 34, 35, 41, 28, 26, 29, 32, 36, 38 and 40. What is the mean deviation?
A. 8.00
B. 4.12
C. 12.67
D. 0.75
60. The weights (in kilograms) of a group of crates being shipped to Panama are 95, 103, 110,
104, 105, 112 and 92. What is the mean deviation?
A. 5.43 kg
B. 6.25 kg
C. 0.53 kg
D. 52.50 kg
61. A sample of the personnel files of eight male employees revealed that, during a six-month
period, they lost the following number of days due to illness: 2, 0, 6, 3, 10, 4, 1 and 2. What is
the mean deviation (in days)?
A. 1
B. 0
C. 3 1/8
D. 2 3/8
62. A sample of the monthly amounts spent for food by families of four receiving food stamps
approximates a symmetrical distribution. The sample mean is $150 and the standard deviation
is $20. Using the Empirical Rule, about 95 percent of the monthly food expenditures are
between what two amounts?
A. $100 and $200
B. $85 and $105
C. $205 and $220
D. $110 and $190
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63. The ages of all the patients in the isolation ward of the hospital are 38, 26, 13, 41 and 22.
What is the population variance?
A. 106.8
B. 91.4
C. 240.3
D. 42.4
64. A sample of assistant professors on the business faculty at state supported institutions in
Ohio revealed the mean income to be $72,000 for 9 months with a standard deviation of
$3,000. Using Chebyshev's Theorem, what proportion of the faculty earns more than $66,000
but less than $78,000?
A. At least 50%
B. At least 25%
C. At least 75%
D. At least 100%
65. A population consists of all the weights of all defensive tackles on Sociable University's
football team. They are: Johnson, 204 pounds; Patrick, 215 pounds; Junior, 207 pounds;
Kendron, 212 pounds; Nicko, 214 pounds; and Cochran, 208 pounds. What is the population
standard deviation (in pounds)?
A. About 4
B. About 16
C. About 100
D. About 40
66. The weights (in grams) of the contents of several small bottles are 4, 2, 5, 4, 5, 2 and 6.
What is the sample variance?
A. 6.92
B. 4.80
C. 1.96
D. 2.33
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67. The distribution of a sample of the outside diameters of PVC gas pipes approximates a
symmetrical, bell-shaped distribution. The arithmetic mean is 14.0 inches, and the standard
deviation is 0.1 inches. About 68 percent of the outside diameters lie between what two
amounts?
A. 13.5 and 14.5 inches
B. 13.0 and 15.0 inches
C. 13.9 and 14.1 inches
D. 13.8 and 14.2 inches
68. If the sample variance for a frequency distribution consisting of hourly wages was
computed to be 10, what is the sample standard deviation?
A. $1.96
B. $4.67
C. $3.16
D. $10.00
69. Based on the Empirical Rule, what percent of the observations will lie between plus or
minus two standard deviations from the mean?
A. 95%
B. 5%
C. 68%
D. 2.5%
70. Samples of the wires coming off the production line were tested for tensile strength. The
statistical results (in PSI) were:
According to the Empirical Rule, the middle 95 percent of the wires tested between
approximately what two values?
A. 450 and 550
B. 460 and 540
C. 420 and 580
D. 380 and 620
3-15
71. Which measure of central location is used to determine an average annual percent
increase?
A. Arithmetic mean
B. Weighted mean
C. Mode
D. Geometric mean
72. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reported that passenger revenues on
international flights increased from $528 million in 1986 to $5,100 million in 2009. What is
the geometric mean annual percent increase in international passenger revenues?
A. 10.4
B. 27.9
C. 103.6
D. 9.96
E. 2814
73. The Investment Research Institute reported in its Mutual Fund Fact Book that the number
of mutual funds increased from 5725 in 1999 to 7977 in 2009. What is the geometric mean
annual percent increase in the number of funds?
A. 1.034
B. 3.37
C. 39.34
D. 71.77
E. 633.5
74. Production of passenger cars in Japan increased from 3.94 million in 1999 to 6.74 million
in 2009. What is the geometric mean annual percent increase?
A. 4.0
B. 1.9
C. 5.5
D. 16.6
E. 47.3
3-16
75. The number of students at a local university increased from 2,500 students to 5,000
students in 10 years. Based on a geometric mean, the university grew at an average percentage
rate of
A. 2,500 students per year
B. 1.071 percent per year
C. 7.1 percent per year
D. 250 students per year
76. In the calculation of the arithmetic mean for grouped data, which value is used to
represent all the values in a particular class?
A. The upper limit of the class.
B. The lower limit of the class.
C. The frequency of the class.
D. The cumulative frequency preceding the class.
E. The class midpoint.
77. The net annual sales of a sample of small retail clothing stores were organized into the
following relative frequency distribution.
3-17
78. Each person who applies for an assembly job at Robert's Electronics is given a mechanical
aptitude test. One part of the test involves assembling a plug-in unit based on numbered
instructions. A sample of the length of time it took 42 persons to assemble the unit was
organized into the following frequency distribution.
79. What measure of central location uses all of the observations in its calculation?
_____________
________________________________________
80. In a frequency distribution, what measure of central location is used for the class with the
largest number of observations? ______________
________________________________________
81. If a set of observations contains an extreme value and none of the observations repeat
themselves, what is the most representative measure of central location? _____________
________________________________________
82. The value that occurs most often in a set of data is called the ____.
________________________________________
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83. The weekly sales from a sample of ten computer stores yielded a mean of $25,900; a
median $25,000 and a mode of $24,500. What is the shape of the distribution?
__________________
________________________________________
84. Which measure of central location requires that the data be ranked before it is possible to
determine it? ____________
________________________________________
85. A statistic computed by summing all of the values of a distribution and dividing by the
number of values is called ____________.
________________________________________
86. If a distribution is highly skewed, what measure of central location should be avoided?
____________
________________________________________
87. What measure of central location cannot be determined if the distribution has an openended class? ____________________
________________________________________
88. What is the smallest measure of central location in a positively skewed distribution?
___________
________________________________________
89. A small manufacturing company with 52 employees has annual salaries distributed such
that the mean is $25,459, the median is $24,798 and the mode is $24,000. An additional
foreman is hired at an annual salary of $50,700. What measure of central location is most
affected by the addition of this salary? ___________________
________________________________________
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90. What is the relationship between the mean and median in a negatively skewed
distribution? _______________
________________________________________
93. A geometric mean is useful to compute the average percent change over _______.
________________________________________
94. What is the difference between the largest and the smallest values in a set of data?
_________
________________________________________
95. When is the only time the variance equals the standard deviation? ________________
________________________________________
96. The mean absolute deviation is always positive because the numerator computes the
_______________.
________________________________________
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97. According to the Empirical Rule, what percent of the observations lie within plus and
minus one standard deviation of the mean? _______
________________________________________
100. What does the sum of the deviations of each value from the mean equal?
____________________________________
________________________________________
101. A company studied the commissions paid to furniture salespersons. If the variance is
computed, what is the unit of measure? ___________
________________________________________
102. When computing the mean for grouped data, the numerator is the sum of _________.
________________________________________
103. A company studied the commissions paid to furniture salespersons. If the standard
deviation is computed, what is the unit of measure? ___________
________________________________________
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104. A sample revealed that the ages of a popular group of musicians are 36, 29, 37, 32, 36
and 75. What is the median age? _____________.
105. The distribution of annual salaries for 52 employees in a small manufacturing company
has the following averages: the mean is $25,459, the median is $24,798 and the mode is
$24,000. What is the total amount paid for employee salaries?
106. Five students were given a page of problems with instructions to solve as many as they
could in one hour. The five students solved the following number of problems: 12, 10, 8, 6
and 4. What is the arithmetic mean number of minutes required per problem? ________.
107. The capacities of several metal containers are: 38, 20, 37, 64, and 27 liters. What is the
range in liters? ____.
3-22
108. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
109. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
3-23
110. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
111. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
3-24
112. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
113. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
3-25
114. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
115. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
3-26
116. A company's human resource department was interested in the average number of years
that a person works before retiring. The sample of size 11 follows:
What is the mode? ____________.
117. A company's human resource department was interested in the average number of years
that a person works before retiring. The sample of size 11 follows:
What is the arithmetic mean? _________.
118. A company's human resource department was interested in the average number of years
that a person works before retiring. The sample of size 11 follows:
What is the median? ___________.
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119. A company's human resource department was interested in the average number of years
that a person works before retiring. The sample of size 11 follows:
Based on the values of the arithmetic mean, median, and mode, what is the most likely shape
of the distribution? _________________.
120. The Canal Corporation recorded the last five annual percent changes in profit.
What is the mean annual percentage change over the last five years? ___________.
121. Cook County public safety monitors the number of "driving under the influence" arrests
and is interested in the distribution of arrests in the month of December over the last 5 years.
The data are
What is the sample variance? ___________.
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122. Cook County public safety monitors the number of "driving on the influence" arrests and
is interested in the distribution of arrests in the month of December over the last 5 years. The
data are
What is the standard deviation? ___________.
123. The Sea Mist Hotel collects customer satisfaction data daily. Yesterday the hotel was
99% occupied and the manager wanted to quickly assess customer satisfaction. She randomly
selected ten scores. 100 points is the maximum score. The mean score is 82.1. The ten scores
were
What is the variance? ___________.
124. The Sea Mist Hotel collects customer satisfaction data daily. Yesterday the hotel was
99% occupied and the manager wanted to quickly assess customer satisfaction. She randomly
selected ten scores. 100 points is the maximum score. The mean score is 82.1. The ten scores
were
What is the standard deviation? ___________.
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125. The mean monthly income of a group of college students is $500; the standard deviation
is $20. According to Chebyshev's theorem, at least what percent of the incomes will lie
between $400 and $600? _______________________
126. The mean monthly income of a group of college students is $500; the standard deviation
is $50. And the mean monthly income is normally distributed. Approximately, what percent of
the incomes will lie between $400 and $600? _______________________
127. Coastal Carolina University recently surveyed a sample of students to determine how far
they lived from campus. The results are shown below. Compute the mean distance.
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128. Coastal Carolina University recently surveyed a sample of students to determine how far
they lived from campus. The results are shown below. Compute the standard deviation.
Essay Questions
129. What are the similarities and differences between the mean, the median, and the mode?
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130. What are the similarities and differences between the range and the standard deviation?
131. When reporting descriptive statistics for a variable, why should the report include
measures of location and dispersion?
132. What are the similarities and differences between the applications of Chebyshev's
Theorem and the Empirical Rule?
3-32
2. The arithmetic mean is the sum of the quantitative observations divided by the total number
of observations.
TRUE
3. For a set of data arranged or sorted in numerical order, the value of the observation in the
center is called the weighted mean.
FALSE
3-33
4. A set of ordinal, interval or ratio level data may only have one mode.
FALSE
AACSB: Reflective Thinking
Bloom's: Application
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 03-05 Identify the mode.
Topic: The Mode
5. The mode is the value of the observation that appears most frequently.
TRUE
3-34
7. The sum of the deviations from the mean for the set of numbers 4, 9 and 5 will equal zero.
TRUE
AACSB: Analytic Skills
Bloom's: Application
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 03-02 Identify and compute the arithmetic mean.
Topic: Arithmetic Mean
8. Three persons earn $8 an hour, six earn $9 an hour, and one earns $12 an hour. The
weighted mean hourly wage is $9.
TRUE
9. For any distribution, there are an equal number of values above and below the mean.
FALSE
3-35
12. The mean deviation is the difference between the mean or the deviations and the
arithmetic mean.
FALSE
13. The variance is the mean of the sum of the squared deviations between each observation
and the median.
FALSE
3-36
14. The standard deviation is the positive square root of the variance.
TRUE
15. For any data set, Chebyshev's Theorem estimates the proportion of observations that
occurs within k standard deviations of the mean, where k is greater than 1.0.
TRUE
16. In a company, the standard deviation of the ages of female employees is six years and the
standard deviation of the ages of male employees is ten years. These statistics indicate that the
dispersion of age is greater for females than for males.
FALSE
17. According to Chebyshev's Theorem, 75% percent of the observations lie within plus and
minus 2.00 average mean deviations.
FALSE
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18. According to the Empirical Rule, 75% percent of the observations lie within plus and
minus 2.00 average mean deviations.
FALSE
19. The sum of the deviations of each data value from this measure of central location will
always be zero.
A. Mode
B. Mean
C. Median
D. Standard deviation
20. For any data set, which measures of central location have only one value?
A. Mode and median
B. Mode and mean
C. Mode and standard deviation
D. Mean and median
3-38
21. Which measures of central location are not affected by extremely small or extremely large
values?
A. Mean and median
B. Mean and mode
C. Mode and median
D. Standard deviation and mean
22. What is the relationship among the mean, median and mode in a symmetric distribution?
A. They are all equal
B. The mean is always the smallest value
C. The mean is always the largest value
D. The mode is the largest value
23. For a data set, half of the observations are always greater than the
A. Median
B. Mode
C. Mean
D. Standard deviation
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24. What is the lowest level of measurement that a median can be computed?
A. Nominal
B. Ordinal
C. Interval
D. Ratio
25. For a data set with an odd number of observations that have been sorted from smallest to
largest values, where is the median located?
A. n
B. n/2
C. (n + 1)/2
D. n +
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27. Fifteen accounting majors had an average grade of 90 on a finance exam. Seven marketing
majors averaged 85, while ten finance majors averaged 93 on the same exam. What is the
weighted mean for the 32 students taking the exam?
A. 89.84
B. 89.33
C. 89.48
D. Impossible to determine without more information
28. On a survey questionnaire, students were asked to indicate their class in college. If there
were only four choices from which to choose, which measure(s) of central location would be
appropriate to use for the data generated by that questionnaire item?
A. Mean and median
B. Mean and mode
C. Mode and median
D. Mode only
29. What is the median of 26, 30, 24, 32, 32, 31, 27 and 29?
A. 32
B. 29
C. 30
D. 29.5
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30. The net incomes (in $millions) of a sample of steel fabricators are: $86, $67, $86 and $85.
What is the modal net income?
A. $67
B. $85
C. $85.5
D. $86
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32. During the past six months, the purchasing agent bought:
33. A sample of single persons receiving social security payments revealed these monthly
benefits: $826, $699, $1,087, $880, $839 and $965. How many observations are below the
median?
A. 0
B. 1
C. 2
D. 3
E. 3.5
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34. The number of work stoppages in a highly industrialized region for selected months are: 6,
0, 10, 14, 8 and 0. What is the median number of stoppages?
A. 0
B. 6
C. 7
D. 8
E. 3
35. Assume a student received the following grades for the semester: History, B; Statistics, A;
Spanish, C; and English, C. History and English are 5 credit hour courses, Statistics a 4 credit
hour course and Spanish a 3 credit hour course. If 4 grade points are assigned for an A, 3 for a
B and 2 for a C, what is the weighted mean for the semester grades?
A. 4.00
B. 1.96
C. 2.76
D. 3.01
36. A sample of the paramedical fees charged by clinics revealed these amounts: $55, $49,
$50, $45, $52 and $55. What is the median charge?
A. $47.50
B. $51.00
C. $52.00
D. $55.00
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37. The lengths of time (in minutes) several underwriters took to review applications for
similar insurance coverage are: 50, 230, 52 and 57. What is the median length of time
required to review an application?
A. 54.5
B. 141.0
C. 97.25
D. 109.0
38. A bottling company offers three kinds of delivery service - instant, same day and within
five days. The profit per delivery varies according to the kind of delivery. The profit for an
instant delivery is less than the other kinds because the driver has to go directly to a grocery
store with a small load and return to the bottling plant. To find out what effect each type of
delivery has on the profit picture, the company summarized the data in the following table
based on deliveries for the previous quarter.
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39. For the most recent seven years, the U.S. Department of Education reported the following
number of bachelor's degrees awarded in computer science: 4,033; 5,652; 6,407; 7,201; 8,719;
11,154; 15,121. What is the annual arithmetic mean number of degrees awarded?
A. About 12,240
B. About 8,327
C. About 6,217
D. About 15,962
40. A question in a market survey asks for a respondent's favorite car color. Which measure of
central location should be used to summarize this question?
A. Mode
B. Median
C. Mean
D. Standard deviation
41. Sometimes, data has two values that have the highest and equal frequencies. In this case,
the distribution of the data can best be summarized as
A. symmetric
B. bimodal (having two modes)
C. positively skewed
D. negatively skewed
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42. A disadvantage of using an arithmetic mean to summarize a set of data is that the
arithmetic mean
A. sometimes has two values.
B. can be used for interval and ratio data.
C. is always different from the median.
D. can be biased by one or two extremely small or large values.
43. The mean, as a measure of central location would be inappropriate for which one of the
following?
A. Ages of adults at a senior citizen center
B. Incomes of lawyers
C. Number of pages in textbooks on statistics
D. Marital status of college students at a particular university
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45. Rank the measures of dispersion in terms of their relative computational difficulty from
least to most.
A. Mode, median, mean
B. Range, mean deviation, variance
C. Variance, mean deviation, range
D. There is no difference
46. Rank the measures of dispersion in terms of their relative ease of interpretation from least
to most.
A. Mode, median, mean
B. Range, mean deviation, variance
C. Variance, mean deviation, range
D. There is no difference
47. A purchasing agent for a trucking company is shopping for replacement tires for their
trucks from two suppliers. The suppliers' prices are the same. However, Supplier A's tires
have an average life of 60,000 miles with a standard deviation of 10,000 miles. Supplier B's
tires have an average life of 60,000 miles with a standard deviation of 2,000 miles.
Which of the following statements is true?
A. The two distributions of tire life are the same
B. On average, Supplier A's tires have a longer life then Supplier B's tires
C. The life of Supplier B's tire is more predictable than the life of Supplier A's tires
D. The dispersion of Supplier A's tire life is less than the dispersion of Supplier B's tire life
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48. The sum of the differences between sample observations and the sample mean is
A. Zero
B. The mean deviation
C. The range
D. The standard deviation
50. If the variance of the "number of daily parking tickets issued" is 100, the variance is
defined as
A. "number of daily parking tickets".
B. "number of daily parking tickets" squared.
C. the absolute value of the "number of daily parking tickets".
D. the square root of the "number of daily parking tickets".
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51. Which of the following measures of dispersion are based on deviations from the mean?
A. Variance
B. Standard deviation
C. Mean deviation
D. All of the above
52. What is the relationship between the variance and the standard deviation?
A. Variance is the square root of the standard deviation
B. Variance is the square of the standard deviation
C. Variance is twice the standard deviation
D. No constant relationship between the variance and the standard deviation
53. According to Chebyshev's Theorem, at least what percent of the observations lie within
plus and minus 1.75 standard deviations of the mean?
A. 56%
B. 95%
C. 67%
D. Cannot compute because it depends on the shape of the distribution
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54. For a sample of similar sized all-electric homes, the March electric bills were (to the
nearest dollar): $212, $191, $176, $129, $106, $92, $108, $109, $103, $121, $175 and $194.
What is the range?
A. $100
B. $130
C. $120
D. $112
55. Which measure of dispersion disregards the algebraic signs (plus and minus) of each
difference between X and the mean?
A. Standard deviation
B. Mean deviation
C. Arithmetic mean
D. Variance
56. The following are the weekly amounts of welfare payments made by the federal
government to a sample of six families: $139, $136, $130, $136, $147 and $136. What is the
range?
A. $0
B. $14
C. $52
D. $17
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57. The weights of a sample of crates ready for shipment to Moscow, Russia are (in
kilograms): 103, 97, 101, 106 and 103. What is the mean deviation?
A. 0 kg
B. 6.9 kg
C. 102.0 kg
D. 2.4 kg
E. 9.0 kg
58. The closing prices of a common stock have been 61.5, 62, 61.25, 60.875 and 61.5 for the
past week. What is the range?
A. $1.250
B. $1.750
C. $1.125
D. $1.875
59. Ten experts rated a newly developed chocolate chip cookie on a scale of 1 to 50. Their
ratings were: 34, 35, 41, 28, 26, 29, 32, 36, 38 and 40. What is the mean deviation?
A. 8.00
B. 4.12
C. 12.67
D. 0.75
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60. The weights (in kilograms) of a group of crates being shipped to Panama are 95, 103, 110,
104, 105, 112 and 92. What is the mean deviation?
A. 5.43 kg
B. 6.25 kg
C. 0.53 kg
D. 52.50 kg
61. A sample of the personnel files of eight male employees revealed that, during a six-month
period, they lost the following number of days due to illness: 2, 0, 6, 3, 10, 4, 1 and 2. What is
the mean deviation (in days)?
A. 1
B. 0
C. 3 1/8
D. 2 3/8
62. A sample of the monthly amounts spent for food by families of four receiving food stamps
approximates a symmetrical distribution. The sample mean is $150 and the standard deviation
is $20. Using the Empirical Rule, about 95 percent of the monthly food expenditures are
between what two amounts?
A. $100 and $200
B. $85 and $105
C. $205 and $220
D. $110 and $190
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63. The ages of all the patients in the isolation ward of the hospital are 38, 26, 13, 41 and 22.
What is the population variance?
A. 106.8
B. 91.4
C. 240.3
D. 42.4
64. A sample of assistant professors on the business faculty at state supported institutions in
Ohio revealed the mean income to be $72,000 for 9 months with a standard deviation of
$3,000. Using Chebyshev's Theorem, what proportion of the faculty earns more than $66,000
but less than $78,000?
A. At least 50%
B. At least 25%
C. At least 75%
D. At least 100%
65. A population consists of all the weights of all defensive tackles on Sociable University's
football team. They are: Johnson, 204 pounds; Patrick, 215 pounds; Junior, 207 pounds;
Kendron, 212 pounds; Nicko, 214 pounds; and Cochran, 208 pounds. What is the population
standard deviation (in pounds)?
A. About 4
B. About 16
C. About 100
D. About 40
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66. The weights (in grams) of the contents of several small bottles are 4, 2, 5, 4, 5, 2 and 6.
What is the sample variance?
A. 6.92
B. 4.80
C. 1.96
D. 2.33
67. The distribution of a sample of the outside diameters of PVC gas pipes approximates a
symmetrical, bell-shaped distribution. The arithmetic mean is 14.0 inches, and the standard
deviation is 0.1 inches. About 68 percent of the outside diameters lie between what two
amounts?
A. 13.5 and 14.5 inches
B. 13.0 and 15.0 inches
C. 13.9 and 14.1 inches
D. 13.8 and 14.2 inches
68. If the sample variance for a frequency distribution consisting of hourly wages was
computed to be 10, what is the sample standard deviation?
A. $1.96
B. $4.67
C. $3.16
D. $10.00
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69. Based on the Empirical Rule, what percent of the observations will lie between plus or
minus two standard deviations from the mean?
A. 95%
B. 5%
C. 68%
D. 2.5%
70. Samples of the wires coming off the production line were tested for tensile strength. The
statistical results (in PSI) were:
According to the Empirical Rule, the middle 95 percent of the wires tested between
approximately what two values?
A. 450 and 550
B. 460 and 540
C. 420 and 580
D. 380 and 620
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71. Which measure of central location is used to determine an average annual percent
increase?
A. Arithmetic mean
B. Weighted mean
C. Mode
D. Geometric mean
72. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reported that passenger revenues on
international flights increased from $528 million in 1986 to $5,100 million in 2009. What is
the geometric mean annual percent increase in international passenger revenues?
A. 10.4
B. 27.9
C. 103.6
D. 9.96
E. 2814
73. The Investment Research Institute reported in its Mutual Fund Fact Book that the number
of mutual funds increased from 5725 in 1999 to 7977 in 2009. What is the geometric mean
annual percent increase in the number of funds?
A. 1.034
B. 3.37
C. 39.34
D. 71.77
E. 633.5
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74. Production of passenger cars in Japan increased from 3.94 million in 1999 to 6.74 million
in 2009. What is the geometric mean annual percent increase?
A. 4.0
B. 1.9
C. 5.5
D. 16.6
E. 47.3
75. The number of students at a local university increased from 2,500 students to 5,000
students in 10 years. Based on a geometric mean, the university grew at an average percentage
rate of
A. 2,500 students per year
B. 1.071 percent per year
C. 7.1 percent per year
D. 250 students per year
76. In the calculation of the arithmetic mean for grouped data, which value is used to
represent all the values in a particular class?
A. The upper limit of the class.
B. The lower limit of the class.
C. The frequency of the class.
D. The cumulative frequency preceding the class.
E. The class midpoint.
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77. The net annual sales of a sample of small retail clothing stores were organized into the
following relative frequency distribution.
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78. Each person who applies for an assembly job at Robert's Electronics is given a mechanical
aptitude test. One part of the test involves assembling a plug-in unit based on numbered
instructions. A sample of the length of time it took 42 persons to assemble the unit was
organized into the following frequency distribution.
79. What measure of central location uses all of the observations in its calculation?
_____________
Mean
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80. In a frequency distribution, what measure of central location is used for the class with the
largest number of observations? ______________
Mode
81. If a set of observations contains an extreme value and none of the observations repeat
themselves, what is the most representative measure of central location? _____________
Median
82. The value that occurs most often in a set of data is called the ____.
Mode
83. The weekly sales from a sample of ten computer stores yielded a mean of $25,900; a
median $25,000 and a mode of $24,500. What is the shape of the distribution?
__________________
Positively skewed
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84. Which measure of central location requires that the data be ranked before it is possible to
determine it? ____________
Median
85. A statistic computed by summing all of the values of a distribution and dividing by the
number of values is called ____________.
arithmetic mean
86. If a distribution is highly skewed, what measure of central location should be avoided?
____________
Mean
87. What measure of central location cannot be determined if the distribution has an openended class? ____________________
Arithmetic mean
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88. What is the smallest measure of central location in a positively skewed distribution?
___________
Mode
89. A small manufacturing company with 52 employees has annual salaries distributed such
that the mean is $25,459, the median is $24,798 and the mode is $24,000. An additional
foreman is hired at an annual salary of $50,700. What measure of central location is most
affected by the addition of this salary? ___________________
Arithmetic mean
90. What is the relationship between the mean and median in a negatively skewed
distribution? _______________
Mean is less than the median
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93. A geometric mean is useful to compute the average percent change over _______.
time
94. What is the difference between the largest and the smallest values in a set of data?
_________
Range
95. When is the only time the variance equals the standard deviation? ________________
Both equal 1
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96. The mean absolute deviation is always positive because the numerator computes the
_______________.
absolute value of the deviations from the sample mean
97. According to the Empirical Rule, what percent of the observations lie within plus and
minus one standard deviation of the mean? _______
68%
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100. What does the sum of the deviations of each value from the mean equal?
____________________________________
Zero
101. A company studied the commissions paid to furniture salespersons. If the variance is
computed, what is the unit of measure? ___________
Dollars squared
102. When computing the mean for grouped data, the numerator is the sum of _________.
the product of class frequencies and midpoints
103. A company studied the commissions paid to furniture salespersons. If the standard
deviation is computed, what is the unit of measure? ___________
Dollars
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104. A sample revealed that the ages of a popular group of musicians are 36, 29, 37, 32, 36
and 75. What is the median age? _____________.
36
105. The distribution of annual salaries for 52 employees in a small manufacturing company
has the following averages: the mean is $25,459, the median is $24,798 and the mode is
$24,000. What is the total amount paid for employee salaries?
$1,323,868
106. Five students were given a page of problems with instructions to solve as many as they
could in one hour. The five students solved the following number of problems: 12, 10, 8, 6
and 4. What is the arithmetic mean number of minutes required per problem? ________.
7.5 minutes (average of 8 problems in an hour)
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107. The capacities of several metal containers are: 38, 20, 37, 64, and 27 liters. What is the
range in liters? ____.
44 liters
108. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
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109. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
110. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
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111. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
112. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
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113. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
114. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
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115. A sample of five full service gasoline stations, each carrying three grades of gasoline,
was taken and the price per liter (to the nearest cent) was recorded for each grade of gasoline,
as shown in the table below.
116. A company's human resource department was interested in the average number of years
that a person works before retiring. The sample of size 11 follows:
What is the mode? ____________.
21
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117. A company's human resource department was interested in the average number of years
that a person works before retiring. The sample of size 11 follows:
What is the arithmetic mean? _________.
20.36
118. A company's human resource department was interested in the average number of years
that a person works before retiring. The sample of size 11 follows:
What is the median? ___________.
21
119. A company's human resource department was interested in the average number of years
that a person works before retiring. The sample of size 11 follows:
Based on the values of the arithmetic mean, median, and mode, what is the most likely shape
of the distribution? _________________.
Symmetric
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120. The Canal Corporation recorded the last five annual percent changes in profit.
What is the mean annual percentage change over the last five years? ___________.
7.89%
121. Cook County public safety monitors the number of "driving under the influence" arrests
and is interested in the distribution of arrests in the month of December over the last 5 years.
The data are
What is the sample variance? ___________.
116.2
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122. Cook County public safety monitors the number of "driving on the influence" arrests and
is interested in the distribution of arrests in the month of December over the last 5 years. The
data are
What is the standard deviation? ___________.
10.7796
123. The Sea Mist Hotel collects customer satisfaction data daily. Yesterday the hotel was
99% occupied and the manager wanted to quickly assess customer satisfaction. She randomly
selected ten scores. 100 points is the maximum score. The mean score is 82.1. The ten scores
were
What is the variance? ___________.
262.5444
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124. The Sea Mist Hotel collects customer satisfaction data daily. Yesterday the hotel was
99% occupied and the manager wanted to quickly assess customer satisfaction. She randomly
selected ten scores. 100 points is the maximum score. The mean score is 82.1. The ten scores
were
What is the standard deviation? ___________.
16.2032
125. The mean monthly income of a group of college students is $500; the standard deviation
is $20. According to Chebyshev's theorem, at least what percent of the incomes will lie
between $400 and $600? _______________________
75%
126. The mean monthly income of a group of college students is $500; the standard deviation
is $50. And the mean monthly income is normally distributed. Approximately, what percent of
the incomes will lie between $400 and $600? _______________________
95%
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127. Coastal Carolina University recently surveyed a sample of students to determine how far
they lived from campus. The results are shown below. Compute the mean distance.
12.61111
128. Coastal Carolina University recently surveyed a sample of students to determine how far
they lived from campus. The results are shown below. Compute the standard deviation.
5.9819
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129. What are the similarities and differences between the mean, the median, and the mode?
Answers may vary but should include the following points. While all are measures of a
distribution's central location, each is computed and interpreted differently. The mean is the
average of all values in a data set. Its value is affected by extreme values (small and large) in
the data set. In this case, the mean is probably not a good measure of a distribution's central
location. The median is also a measure of central location. However, its value is determined
by sorting or arranging data in order and then finding the value in the middle of the sorted list.
Therefore, 50% of all data set values are less than the median, and 50% are greater than the
median. The median is not affected by extreme values in a dataset. The mode is the value in a
dataset that has the highest frequency. Sometimes a data set may have more than one mode
because more than one value has the highest and equal frequency.
130. What are the similarities and differences between the range and the standard deviation?
Both are measures of a distribution's dispersion. However, each is computed differently and
has a different interpretation. The range is computed as the difference between the maximum
and minimum values in a dataset. It represents the dispersion or spread of the data. The
standard deviation is based on the squared differences between all dataset values and the mean
of the dataset. In contrast to the range, the standard deviation measures the dispersion of data
values in relation to the mean or central location of a distribution. Another way to interpret the
standard deviation is a measure of the concentration of dataset values near the mean.
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131. When reporting descriptive statistics for a variable, why should the report include
measures of location and dispersion?
The key is to know that every variable has a distribution. The distribution can be described
using measures of location and dispersion. A measure of location is used to describe the center
of the distribution or the most typical value of the variable. The description must also include
a measure of the dispersion or spread of the distribution. While the range simply shows the
spread of a distribution, the mean deviation and standard deviation measure the concentration
of the distribution around the mean.
132. What are the similarities and differences between the applications of Chebyshev's
Theorem and the Empirical Rule?
Both Chebyshev's Theorem and the Empirical Rule make statements based on the standard
deviation of a distribution. For example, a given percentage of observations will be within
two standard deviations of the mean. The differences related to assumptions regarding the
shape of the distribution. Chebyshev's Theorem applies for any distribution. Empirical Rule
assumes that the distribution is bell-shaped or normally distributed.
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