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Data analysis
and evaluation
8
Data analysis and evaluation
This chapter at a glance
Stage 5.1/5.2/5.3
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:

state that the mean, median and mode are measures of location

calculate the mean, median and mode given a set of individual scores, frequency
distribution table, frequency histogram, frequency polygon, dot plot or stem and
leaf plot

solve problems involving the mean, median and mode

construct and interpret a cumulative frequency histogram and cumulative frequency
polygon (ogive)

find the mean and modal class given a set of grouped data

state that the range, inter-quartile range and standard deviation are measures of
spread

find the lower and upper quartiles for a set of scores

calculate the range, inter-quartile range and standard deviation given a set of
individual scores, frequency distribution table, frequency histogram, frequency
polygon, dot plot or stem and leaf plot

construct a box and whisker plot using a five-point summary

solve problems involving the range, inter-quartile range and standard deviation

calculate equivalent marks in different subjects using the mean and standard
deviation

determine the percentage of scores that would lie within a given number of
standard deviations either side of the mean

use the mean and standard deviation to compare two sets of data

choose an appropriate way to display two sets of data in order to make
comparisons

compare the relative merits of the measures of spread

determine whether a given distribution is positively skewed,
negatively skewed or symmetrical.

285
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8.1 Data analysis review

■ Graphs and tables
Graphs and tables are used to represent both numerical and categorical data in a way that makes
the data easier to understand and analyse. A graph must have a title, the axes must be clearly
labelled and the scale chosen must be appropriate.
■ The frequency histogram
The frequency histogram is a type of column graph.
In a histogram:
12 • the scores are placed on the horizontal axis
Frequency

8 • the frequencies are shown on the vertical axis

4
• the columns straddle the scores and are drawn next
to each other without a gap
0 • a space of half the width of one column is left on the
0 1 2 3 4
Score
horizontal axis before the first column is drawn.

■ The frequency polygon

The frequency polygon is a type of line graph. 12
Frequency

In a polygon:
• the scores are placed on the horizontal axis 8
• the frequencies are shown on the vertical axis 4
• the polygon begins and ends on the horizontal axis
0
• the first score is marked one full unit away from 0 1 2 3 4
the vertical axis. Score
When a polygon and histogram are drawn on the same
set of axes, the polygon joins the midpoints of the tops
12
Frequency

of the columns. The area under the histogram is equal to

8 the area under the polygon.
4
0
0 1 2 3 4
Score

■ The dot plot

The dot plot is a simplified version of the histogram.
In the dot plot:
• the scores are placed along a horizontal line
• one dot is placed above the score in a vertical line
each time that score occurs. 0 1 2 3 4
Score
Clusters or bunches are easily seen, as well as any outliers,
that is, scores that are a long way from the other scores.
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 287

■ The stem-and-leaf plot

The stem-and-leaf plot is similar to a histogram that Stem Leaf
has been drawn on its side, except that the rows are
made up of digits. In the stem-and-leaf plot: 2 47
• the first part of each score is called the stem, 3 2458
and is written on the left-hand side of the plot 4 0124
• the remaining part of the number is called the leaf, 5 367
and is written on the right-hand side of the plot.
For example, the ordered stem-and-leaf plot above shows
the scores 24, 27, 32, 34, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42, 44, 53, 56, 57.
When a large number of scores begins with the same Stem Leaf
digit(s), the scores can be written in class intervals of 5.
For example, this stem-and-leaf plot shows the scores 7(0) 023
70, 72, 73, 75, 76, 76, 77, 81, 82, 83, 86, 89. 7(5) 5667
8(0) 123
8(5) 69

■ Measures of location
Much of our work in data analysis is concerned with finding a score that is in some way typical
or representative of all of the scores in a distribution. The measures of location or central
tendency are often used for this purpose. They are the mean, the median and the mode.

The mean
The mean is the sum of the scores divided by the number of scores. The symbol for the mean
is x . The term ‘average’ is most commonly used to refer to the mean.

sum of the scores

Mean = --------------------------------------------
number of scores
i.e. x = ∑
x
-------- where • x is the mean
n
• ∑x is the sum of the scores
• n is the number of scores.

The mean of the data in a frequency distribution table is given by:

x = ∑
fx
----------- where • x is the mean
∑f
• ∑fx is the sum of the scores
• ∑f is the number of scores.
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The median
The median is the central value in a distribution, when the scores have been arranged in
ascending order. If the number of scores is odd, then the median is the middle score.
If the number of scores is even, then the median is the average of the two middle scores.

When a set of n scores has been arranged in ascending order, the median is:

the ⎛ ------------⎞ th score if n is odd

n+1
⎝ 2 ⎠

the average of the --- th and ⎛ --- + 1⎞ th scores if n is even.
n n
2 ⎝2 ⎠

The mode
The mode is the score with the highest frequency. That is, it is the score that occurs more times
than any other. If a set of scores has two or more scores each with the highest frequency, then
there would be two or more modes. If all the scores have the same frequency, there is no mode.

The mode is the score with the highest frequency.

■ The range
The range is a measure of spread. It is the difference between the highest and lowest scores
in a distribution. This and other measures of spread will be discussed in more detail in
Exercises 7.2–7.4.

The range is the difference between the highest and lowest scores.

■ Cumulative frequency
The cumulative frequency column in a frequency distribution table gives a progressive total of
the frequencies. A cumulative frequency histogram and a cumulative frequency polygon, or
ogive, can be drawn by using the cumulative frequencies as the heights of the columns.

To draw an ogive:

draw a cumulative frequency histogram with the columns having heights equal
to the cumulative frequencies of the scores

join the top right-hand corners of the columns with a line graph, starting with the
bottom left-hand corner of the first column.

NOTE: The ogive finishes at the top of the last column and is not drawn back down to the
horizontal axis as for the frequency polygon.
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 289

The median can also be determined graphically from the ogive.

To find the median of a distribution by using an ogive:

draw a horizontal line from the halfway mark (50th percentile) on the vertical
axis to the ogive

draw a vertical line down to the horizontal axis

read off the median.

NOTE: For discrete data, the median can be read directly from the horizontal axis. However,
for continuous data, the median must be estimated from the reading on the horizontal axis.

■ Grouped data
If the number of individual scores is large, it is not practical to show all of the scores in a
frequency distribution table or in a histogram. In these cases we group the data into class
intervals such as 1–5, 6–10 etc. When data is grouped in this way, we no longer have access to
individual scores.
In a grouped data frequency distribution table, class intervals are used in place of individual
scores and the class centres are given. The class centres are the values that lie halfway between
the upper and lower limits of each class interval. With single data we use an fx column, where
fx is the product of the scores and their frequencies. With grouped data we use an (f × cc)
column, where f × cc is the product of the class centres and the frequencies.
As the individual scores are not known, it is not possible to calculate exactly the mean, median,
mode or range. The mode is replaced with the modal class. If an ogive is used to find the median
of a grouped data distribution, then the median that is read off the horizontal axis is also an
estimate. The mean can be found by dividing the totals; however, it is only an approximation.

The approximate mean of the data in a grouped data frequency distribution table is
given by:
( f × cc )
x = ∑ -------------------------
∑f

Example 1
EG The data below shows the number of overtime hours worked by a group of employees during
+S a particular week.
5 8 9 3 8 6 4 9 7
a Find the mean, correct to 1 decimal place.
b Find the median.
c Find the mode.
d Find the range.
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Solutions
∑ x-
a x = -------
n b We first arrange the scores in
5+8+9+3+…+7 ascending order.
= ---------------------------------------------------- 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 9 9
9
59
= ------ Median = ⎛ ------------⎞ th score
9+1
9 ⎝ 2 ⎠
= 6.6 (to 1 decimal place)
= 5th score
=7
c There are two scores, 8 and 9, which d Range = highest score − lowest score
occur more than any other score. =9−3
Therefore 8 and 9 are both modes.
=6

Example 2
EG The number of students in each class in a primary school is shown below.
+S
23 25 23 26 29 24 27 24 26 27
26 27 23 28 27 24 26 25 28 25
27 24 26 25 29 27 23 27 28 24
a Draw a frequency distribution table for the data. Use the following column headings:
Number of students (x), tally, frequency (f), cumulative frequency and fx.
b Draw a frequency histogram and polygon for the data.
c Find the mean, correct to 1 decimal place.
d Find the median.
e Find the mode.
f Find the range.

Solutions
a Number of Tally Frequency Cumulative fx
students (x) (f) frequency
23 |||| 4 4 92
24 |||| 5 9 120
25 |||| 4 13 100
26 |||| 5 18 130
27 |||| || 7 25 189
28 ||| 3 28 84
29 || 2 30 58
30 773
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 291

x =∑
Number of students per class fx
b c ----------
∑f
8 773
= ---------
Frequency

6 30
4 = 25.8 (to 1 decimal place)

2
0
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
Number of students

15th score + 16th score

d Median = -------------------------------------------------------- e The mode is the score with the
2
highest frequency. Therefore, the
26 + 26
= ------------------ mode is 27.
2
f Range = highest score − lowest score
= 26
= 29 − 23
=6

Example 3
EG Draw a cumulative frequency histogram and ogive for the scores in each table.
+S Use the ogives to find the median in each case.
a x 15 16 17 18 19 20 b x 20 21 22 23 24 25
f 1 3 2 1 5 4 f 6 6 2 4 4 6

Solutions
a b
16 28
Cumulative frequency

14 24
Cumulative frequency

12 20
10 16
8 12
6 8
4 4
2 0
20 21 22 23 24 25
0 Score
15 16 17 18 19 20
Score
The median is 19. The median is 22.5.
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Example 4
EG The data below shows the golf scores of a group of 36 golfers in the first round of a golf
+S tournament.
72 76 70 73 70 77 73 69 66 75 78 74
69 73 75 74 72 72 71 68 70 76 80 74
67 70 77 76 72 69 71 72 76 79 67 73
a Draw a grouped data frequency distribution table for these scores. Use the following
column headings: Class, class centre (cc), tally, frequency (f), f × cc. Use classes of
66–68, 69–71, etc.
b Find the modal class.
c Use the table to find the approximate mean golf score, correct to the nearest whole
number.

Solutions
a Class Class centre Tally Frequency f × cc
(cc) (f)
66–68 67 |||| 4 268
69–71 70 |||| |||| 9 630
72–74 73 |||| |||| || 12 876
75–77 76 |||| ||| 8 608
78–80 79 ||| 3 237
36 2619
b The modal class is 72–74, since it is the class with the highest frequency.
( f × cc )
c x =∑
-------------------------
∑f
2619
= ------------
36
= 73 (to the nearest whole number)

Example 5
EG A set of 47 scores has a mean of 22. Find the new mean after a score of 37 is added.
+S Answer correct to 1 decimal place.

Solution
∑ x-
x = -------
n
( 47 × 22 ) + 37
= -----------------------------------
47 + 1
1071
= ------------
48
= 22.3 (to 1 decimal place)
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 293

Exercise 8.1

1 The data below shows the ages of the members of a book club.
45 47 43 44 49 52 50 48 44 46
45 43 46 44 52 46 48 51 46 50
45 49 48 51 50 50 52 46 45 47
a Organise the data into a frequency distribution table with score (x), tally, frequency (f),
cumulative frequency and fx columns.
b Draw a frequency histogram and polygon for the data.
c How many members are 48 years or younger?
d What percentage of the members are 45 years old? Answer correct to 1 decimal place.
2 The histogram shows the number of hours
Time spent watching TV
that a group of children spend watching
television each day.
a How many children watch television for 10
4 hours each day? 8
Frequency

b How many children watch for 3 hours or

6
less per day?
c How many more children watch television 4
for 2 hours per day than watch for 5 hours? 2
d How many children were surveyed? 0
e What percentage of the children watch 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
television for 6 hours per day? Time (hours)
3 Clarence, the racing commentator, gives his Racing winners
predictions for the winners of the Sydney
horse races each week. The number of
winners that he has predicted each week is
shown in the dot plot.
a In how many weeks did Clarence predict
exactly 3 winners?
b What was the greatest number of winners 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Winners
that he predicted?
c How many times was Clarence not able to pick any winners?
d Are there any outliers? If so, what are they?
e Are there any clusters? If so, what are they?
f What percentage of the time did Clarence predict at least 4 winners?
4 The stem-and-leaf plot shows the heights (in cm) of people
Stem Leaf
who had been arrested by the police at a protest march.
a How many people were arrested? 16 4578
b What are the heights of the tallest and shortest 17 01123568
protesters? 18 1223444579
c What was the most common height? 19 346678
d How many protesters were taller than 1.8 metres? 20 02
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5 Find the mean of these scores, correct to 1 decimal place.

a 8, 7, 21, 13, 28, 4, 25, 19 b 24, 16, 33, 15, 24, 56, 18, 51, 29
c 1.8, 1.2, 5.2, 9.4, 3.9, 7.8, 4.6 d 49, −12, 7, 65, −29, 0, −3, 40, −11

6 Find the median of these scores.

a 5, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 19 b 32, 23, 31, 25, 18, 29, 24, 28, 32
c 44, 41, 32, 35, 49, 33, 37, 42 d 77.6, 80.2, 73.2, 85.8, 71.3, 89.4

7 Find the mode of these scores.

a 1, 4, 3, 2, 6, 5, 4 b 9, 10, 12, 7, 9, 8, 11, 10, 10
c 37, 36, 29, 31, 38, 30, 37, 31 d 60.4, 61.8, 64.9, 66.7, 69.8, 70.3, 72.5

8 Find the range of these scores.

a 25, 34, 12, 7, 29, 18, 21 b 24, 28, 42, 9, 37, 16, 22, 28
c 41.2, 52.9, 35.1, 56.4, 69.3, 37.4 d 8, −6, 36, −11, −1, 21, 0, −15

■ Consolidation
9 Find the mean, median, mode and range for each set of scores. Answer correct to 1 decimal
place where necessary.
a 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 16, 16, 27 b 15, 17, 20, 28, 29, 29, 34, 40
c 52, 54, 55, 59, 62, 62, 71 d 31, 31, 32, 32, 32, 35, 38, 39, 41, 46
e 114, 117, 117, 125, 132, 134, 134 f 91, 92, 94, 94, 94, 96, 97, 97, 97, 99
g 7.3, 7.5, 7.6, 7.9, 8.3, 8.3, 8.3, 8.8 h 13.1, 13.5, 13.8, 14.0, 14.1, 14.3, 14.7

10 Find the mean, median, mode and range for each set of scores, correct to 1 decimal place
where necessary.
a x 1 2 3 4 5 6 b x 12 13 14 15 16 17
f 5 2 10 14 17 19 f 15 13 6 4 7 4

c x 7 10 15 23 27 31 d x 28 33 38 42 45 50
f 8 9 15 12 13 7 f 10 14 19 17 15 11

11 a Draw a frequency distribution table for the

data in the dot plot. Include score (x),
frequency (f), cumulative frequency and fx
columns.
b b Find the mean, median, mode and range for
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 these scores.
Score
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 295

12 This histogram shows the ages of the new students New students
who joined a Maths tutoring centre in 2004.
a How many new students joined the centre 12
in 2004?

Number of students
b How many of these students were 10
15 years old? 8
c Which age is the mode? 6
d Find the range of the ages of these
4
students.
e What is the median age? 2
f Calculate the average age of the new 0
students, correct to 1 decimal place. 12 13 14 15 16 17
Age (years)

13 The Nevapay Insurance Company paid out the following amounts (× $1000) for stolen cars
during one month.
25 31 16 9 12 23 34 30 19 22
18 25 20 27 19 14 32 29 27 17
26 24 25 29 36 24 8 10 15 16
a Draw a stem and leaf plot for the data with stems 0(5), 1(0), 1(5), etc.
b How many insurance claims were made during the month?
c What was the value of the most expensive car that was stolen?
d Find the range of the insurance claims.
e Which value is the mode?
f What was the median value of the cars?
g Find the average value of the cars. Answer correct to the nearest $100.
h What percentage of the cars were above the average value? Answer correct to the
nearest whole percentage.

14 The number of goals scored each game through the Goals scored in soccer
season by a junior soccer team was recorded in a
cumulative frequency histogram. 28
a How many games did the team play?
(cumulative frequency)

24
b How many goals were scored during the
Goals scored

season? 20
c Find the average number of goals scored 16
per game.
12
d How many goals were scored in the
6th game? 8
e In which game did the team score the most 4
goals for the season?
0
f In which game did the team fail to score? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Games played
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15 Use the ogives below to find the median of each set of scores.
a b
16 28

Cumulative frequency
14 24
Cumulative frequency

12 20
10 16
8 12
6 6
4 4
2 0
5 6 7 8 9 10
0 Score
12 13 14 15 16 17
Score

16 The students at a certain high school wanted to convince their principal that they needed
airconditioners in the demountable classrooms. They measured the temperature in a
classroom at 1 pm each day during February and recorded the results. The temperatures
(in °C) are shown below.
32 31 28 35 34 26 29 33 37 38
30 32 36 31 27 24 26 29 33 35
29 29 25 31 32 35 36 37 33 30
a Copy and complete this grouped data frequency distribution table.
Class Class centre Tally Frequency f × cc
(cc) (f)
24–26
27–29
30–32
33–35
36–38

b What is the modal class?

c Use the frequency distribution table to find the average temperature.
d Draw a cumulative frequency histogram and ogive.
e Use the ogive to estimate the median temperature.
f Does the data support the students’ claim that the classrooms should be airconditioned?
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 297

17 The histogram shows the ages of the team (to the NSW chess team
nearest year) chosen to represent NSW at the
national chess championships. 8

Frequency
a Write down the class intervals.
6
b How many people were selected in the team?
c What is the modal age class? 4
d How many members of the team are aged 2
36 years or under?
0
e Find the average age of the team. Answer correct 19 24 29 34 39 44
to the nearest whole year. Age (class centre)

18 What number should replace the box

Stem Leaf
so that the median score is 66?
4 257
5 13458
6 0 2 3
8 9
7 4678
8 012456

19 a A set of 11 scores has a sum of 187. Find the mean of the scores.
b The mean of a set of 24 scores is 9. Find the sum of the scores.
c The mean of a set of scores is 13.5 and their sum is 378. Find the number of scores.

20 a The mean of three scores is 16. If two of the scores are 15 and 8, find the third score.
b The mean of four scores is 12.5. If three of the scores are 17, 19 and 6, find the fourth
score.

21 A set of scores has a mean of 50. What would be the effect on the mean if the following
scores were added to the set?
a 37 b 68 c 50

22 A set of scores has a mean of 75. What would be the effect on the mean if the following
scores were taken out of the set?
a 75 b 40 c 96

23 A set of 43 scores has a mean of 62. Find, correct to 1 decimal place, the new mean after:
a a score of 25 is added to the set b a score of 39 is taken out of the set.

24 After 14 games this season, Juliana’s goal average in netball is 4.5 goals per game.
How many goals has she scored altogether this season?

25 Joshua has an average of 76% after three tests this semester. What mark does he need in the
next test in order to raise his average to 80%?

26 Sourav has an average of 65% on the first three tests of the semester. Find the highest
possible mark that he can score this semester if there are two more tests to go and each test
contributes equally to his report mark.
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■ Further applications
27 The Intermediate 1 class averaged 75 on the half-yearly exam, while the Intermediate 2
class averaged 62. There are 28 students in Intermediate 1 and 23 students in
Intermediate 2. What is the overall average for the two classes on this exam?
Answer correct to 1 decimal place.
28 a The mean of a set of 12 scores is 27. After a new score is added, the mean rises to 29.
Find the new score.
b The mean of a set of 25 scores is 68. After a new score is added, the mean falls to 66.5.
Find the new score.
29 a The mean of a set of 38 scores is 53. When one of the scores is taken out, the new mean
is 54. Find the score that was taken out.
b The mean of a set of 47 scores is 26. When one of the scores is taken out, the new mean
is then 24.5. Find the score that was taken out.
30 The mean of the scores is 7 and the mode is 8.
Score Frequency
Find the values for x and y.
x 6
y 12

TRY THIS Misleading graphs

Newspapers often use graphs, like those above, which show the share prices of two
companies XYZ and ZYX over a period of one week. Explain how these graphs could
be misleading for some readers. Examine a number of daily newspapers to find any
other graphs which could be misleading.
14.00 XYZ 5.40 ZYX

13.00 5.35
$ $
12.00 5.30

11.00 5.25

10.00 5.20
M T W Th F M T W Th F

8.2 The interquartile range

The mean, median and mode are measures of location. In particular, the mean and median
provide information about the centre of a distribution. Measures of spread or dispersion tell
us to what degree the scores in a distribution are spread out. In this chapter, we will consider
the following measures of spread:
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 299

• the range
• the interquartile range
• the standard deviation

■ The range
The range is the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution. It is the only
measure of spread that we have studied so far. It tells us how far apart the highest and lowest
scores are, but nothing about the scores in between. We do not know, for example, whether the
scores are widely spread, or whether they are bunched up around the mean. The range can also
be greatly affected by any outliers, thus giving a false impression of the spread of the data.
For these reasons, the range has only limited use as a measure of spread.

The range is the difference between the highest and lowest scores.

■ The interquartile range

The lower or first quartile (Q1), is the value up to which one-quarter of the data lies. That is,
25% of the scores in the distribution lie at or below the lower quartile. If the scores are arranged
in ascending order, the lower quartile is the central value of those scores that are less than the
median. The median is also called the second quartile (Q2).
The upper or third quartile (Q3), is the score up to which three-quarters of the data lies.
That is, 75% of the scores in the distribution lie at or below the upper quartile. If the scores are
arranged in ascending order, the upper quartile is the central value of those scores that are
greater than the median.
The interquartile range is the difference between the upper and lower quartiles. It is the range
of the middle 50% of the scores in the distribution. Unlike the range, the interquartile range is
not affected by outliers. Hence, it is a better measure of spread than the range.
For example, if the scores 8, 14, 16, 7, 15, 10, 18, 12 are arranged in ascending order, we can
find the interquartile range as follows.
7, 8 10, 12 14, 15 16, 18

lower quartile upper quartile

median
lower quartile (Q1) median (Q2) upper quartile (Q3) interquartile range = Q3 − Q1
8 + 10
= ---------------
12 + 14
= ------------------
15 + 16
= ------------------ = 15.5 − 9
2 2 2 = 6.5
=9 = 13 = 15.5

The interquartile range is the difference between the upper and lower quartiles.
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■ Box-and-whisker plots
The extreme values (i.e. the highest and lowest scores), the median and the upper and lower
quartiles are often referred to as a five-point summary. This data can be shown graphically in
the form of a box-and-whisker plot, or more simply a boxplot. The quartiles and the median
are shown by the box, while the extreme values are indicated by the ‘whiskers’.
For example, the five-point summary above could be represented as follows.
lower quartile upper quartile
lowest score median highest score

6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Score

Example 1
EG Consider the scores 21, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31, 35.
+S
a Find the range.
b Find the interquartile range.
c Draw a box-and-whisker plot for the data.

Solutions
a Range = highest score − lowest score b 21 24 26 29 30 31 35
= 35 − 21
= 14 lower median upper
quartile quartile
c
Interquartile range = upper quartile − lower quartile
= 31 − 24
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 =7
Score

Example 2
EG A dart was thrown 20 times at a dartboard. Stem Leaf
+S The results were recorded in the form of a 3 25
stem-and-leaf plot. 4 0157
a Find the range. 5 34679
b Find the median. 6 12359
c Find the interquartile range. 7 3446
d Draw a box-and-whisker plot for the data.
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 301

Solutions
10th score + 11th score
a Range = highest score − lowest score b Median = --------------------------------------------------------
2
= 76 − 32
57 + 59
= 44 = ------------------
2
5th score + 6th score
c Lower quartile = -------------------------------------------------- = 58
2
45 + 47
= ------------------ d
2
= 46
15th score + 16th score 30 40 50 60 70 80
Upper quartile = --------------------------------------------------------
2 Score
65 + 69
= ------------------
2
= 67
Interquartile range = upper quartile − lower quartile
= 67 − 46
= 21

Exercise 8.2

1 Find the range of each set of scores.

a 17, 9, 54, 21, 75, 38, 41 b 15, −4, 23, 7, 19, −10, 0, −14

2 The range of a set of scores is 25.

a Find the highest score if the lowest score is 17.
b Find the lowest score if the highest score is 90.

3 For each of these box-and-whisker plots, write down:

i the lowest and highest scores ii the range iii the median
iv the lower and upper quartiles v the interquartile range
a

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Score
b

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Score

4 For each set of scores below, find:

i the range ii the median
iii the lower and upper quartiles iv the inter-quartile range
a 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 14, 17 b 17, 18, 20, 25, 27, 28, 30, 33, 37
c 32, 33, 38, 40, 45, d 27, 28, 28, 33, 34, 38,
49, 50, 52, 57, 59 41, 43, 46, 52, 55, 56
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302 Mathscape 10 Extension

e 51, 52, 54, 55, 58, f

34, 35, 37, 37, 38,
60, 63, 66, 67, 67, 38, 39, 40, 42, 45,
68, 70, 79, 80, 83 46, 51, 52, 54, 57,
63, 64, 67, 67, 70
5 Find the median and the lower and upper quartiles, then draw a box-and-whisker plot for
each set of scores.
a 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22 b 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 20
c 25, 28, 28, 29, 30, 31, d 5.3, 5.4, 5.7, 5.7, 5.8,
32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39 6.0, 6.2, 6.5, 6.9, 7.1,
7.1, 7.2, 7.4, 7.5, 7.7
6 This dot plot shows the number of mistakes
made by a class of Year 5 students on their
weekly spelling test.
a Find the median and the interquartile
range.
b Draw a box-and-whisker plot for the data.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Spelling mistakes
7 This box-and-whisker plot shows the essay
marks obtained by a large group of Year 10
English students.
a Find the percentage of marks that lie 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Essay marks
between:
i 18 and 20 ii 24 and 26 iii 20 and 26 iv 20 and 30
b If there are 28 students in the class, find the number of students who scored a mark
between 26 and 30.
8 In a set of scores, the lower quartile is 24 and the interquartile range is 60. What is the upper
quartile?
9 The number of pages written each fortnight by an author
Stem Leaf
is shown in this stem-and-leaf plot. Find the interquartile
range for the data. 1 79
2 23457
Children visiting Santa 3 01124568
4 223569
12 5 389

10
10 The polygon shows the ages of children who
8
Frequency

visited Santa in a department store leading up

6 to Christmas.
4 a Find the extremes and the range of the
children’s ages.
2
b What is the median age?
0 c Find the lower and upper quartiles.
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 d What is the interquartile range?
Age (years)
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 303

11 Find the interquartile range of the scores in each frequency table.

a x 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
f 3 5 1 6 0 9 4 11 12 5

b x 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
f 4 11 3 6 13 1 2 4 8 9

12 In a set of scores, the lower quartile is 10 and the interquartile range is 6. Adam stated that
the median must be 13. Is he correct? Explain.

13 This cumulative frequency histogram and ogive Tic Tacs

show the number of Tic Tacs per box in a sample.
a What is the median?
20
b Find the lower and upper quartiles.

Number of boxes
c Find the interquartile range. 16
d Draw a box-and-whisker plot for the data. 12
8
4
0
29 30 31 32 33 34
Number of Tic Tacs

14 Find the median and interquartile range for these sets of discrete scores.
a b
Cumulative frequency

12 20
Cumulative frequency

10 16
8 12
6 8
4 4
2 0
1 2 3 4 5 6
0 Score
47 48 49 50 51 52
Score

15 This box-and-whisker plot shows the ages of

the employees of a small business.
a What is the median age?
b One person’s age has not been included in the 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Age (years)
box-and-whisker plot. What is the outlier age?
c Between which two ages are:
i the youngest 25% of employees? ii the middle 50% of employees?
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304 Mathscape 10 Extension

16 Write true (T) or false (F) for each of the following statements.
a The median always lies halfway between the quartiles.
b Half of the scores lie between the quartiles.
c The interquartile range must be half the size of the range because it contains the middle
50% of scores.
d The lower quartile could be equal to the lowest score.
e The interquartile range is a measure of location.
17 The table below shows the weekly pay of the employees at Wally’s Warehouse.
Weekly pay ($) 200–299 300–399 400–499 500–599 600–699
Number of employees 7 11 9 7 2
a Construct a cumulative frequency histogram and ogive from the data in the table.
Use values of 200, 300, 400 etc. on the horizontal axis.
b Use the ogive to estimate the median weekly pay.
c Use the ogive to estimate the interquartile range, correct to the nearest $10.
■ Further applications
18 Write down a set of nine scores in which the median is 15 and the interquartile range is 20.
19 This sector graph shows the shoe sizes of the Shoe size of Year 8 students
144 students in Year 8 at a certain high school.
Find the interquartile range of the students’ Size
8 Size 5 12
shoe sizes. 1 25°
Size 7 2
45° 40°
Size 6
65°
100°
85°
Size 7
Size 6 12

TRY THIS Cliometrics

What is cliometrics?
After whom is it named?

8.3 The standard deviation

The standard deviation (σn ) is a measure of the spread of the scores about the mean. The
larger the standard deviation, the more widely spread are the scores from the mean. The smaller
the standard deviation, the more bunched up are the scores about the mean.
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 305

The standard deviation is defined by the following formula.

σn = ∑ ( x – x ) 2-
------------------------
n
where • σn = the standard deviation
• x = each individual score
• x = the mean
• n = the number of scores.

To find the standard deviation for a set of scores:

calculate the mean

subtract the mean from each individual score

square each of these differences

find the average of these squares

take the square root.

The formula above is only used initially to provide an understanding of what the standard
deviation is and how it is calculated. After the introduction, however, the standard deviation
will be found by using a calculator. Students are not expected to memorise the above formula.

To find the standard deviation of a set of scores by using a calculator:

set the calculator to the statistics mode

enter each score followed by the M+ key

press the σn key.

Example 1
EG Find the standard deviation of the scores below, without the use of a calculator.
+S
17 18 20 21 24 25 29
Solution
∑ x-
i x = ------- iii σn = ∑ ( x – x ) 2-
n ii Score (x) x–x ( x – x )2 -----------------------
n
= 22 17 −5 25
108
18 −4 16 = ---------
7
20 −2 4 = 3.9 (to 1 decimal place)
21 −1 1
24 2 4
25 3 9
29 7 49
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306 Mathscape 10 Extension

Example 2
EG The table below shows the scores obtained by 10 boys and 10 girls on a spelling test.
+S
Boys 57 62 84 85 88 66 59 77 78 93
Girls 68 74 51 82 85 75 70 73 79 69
a Which group of students achieved the higher mean?
b Which group of students achieved the more consistent results?

Solutions
When the scores are entered into a calculator, the following results are obtained:
σn a The boys had a slightly higher mean than the girls.
x
b The standard deviation for the girls’ results is lower
Boys 74.9 12.3
than that of the boys. Therefore, the girls achieved
Girls 72.6 8.9 the more consistent results.

Exercise 8.3

1 For each of the following:

i find the mean
ii copy and complete the table
∑ ( x – x )2
iii find the standard deviation, correct to 1 decimal place, using σ n = ------------------------
n
a Score (x) x–x ( x – x )2 b Score (x) x–x ( x – x )2
13 52
17 55
19 57
24 61
27 64
Total = 65
Total =

2 Use a calculator to find the mean and standard deviation of each set of scores. Answer
correct to 1 decimal place.
a 4 9 3 8 6 5 7 5 b 21 19 12 8 23 6 30
c 23 19 25 11 21 d 31 37 32 39 46 28
13 16 34 18 22 37 32 30 36 28 35
e 14.6 11.2 19.4 20.5 9.8 f 5.3 6.4 9.1 8.3 4.2 0.9
17.6 14.1 37.2 18.6 6.9 0.6 5.2 7.4 1.6 2.8 4.5
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 307

■ Consolidation
3 For each set of scores, find correct to 1 decimal place where necessary:
i the mean ii the median iii the mode iv the standard deviation
a Score Freq. b Score Freq. c Score Freq.
9 6 95 1 22 4
10 2 96 15 25 7
11 5 97 10 29 3
12 8 98 9 30 5
13 13 99 4 35 13
14 1 100 12 43 6

4 Find the range and standard deviation of each set of scores, correct to 2 decimal places
where necessary.
a Stem Leaf b
5(0) 124 7
6
Frequency

5(5) 5667 5
6(0) 01334 4
6(5) 6778 3
2
7(0) 223 1
0
1 2 3 4 5
Score
c d
8
Frequency

6
4
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 2
Score
0
7 8 9 10 11
Score

5 This cumulative frequency histogram shows the

ages of people at a party.
Cumulative frequency

20
a Find the range of the ages.
16
b Which age is the mode?
c Find the median age. 12
d Find the mean age. 8
e Find the standard deviation of the ages,
4
correct to 1 decimal place.
0
20 21 22 23 24 25
Age (years)
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6 Find the mean and standard deviation for each set of grouped data. Answer correct to
1 decimal place.
a Class Class Frequency b Class Class Frequency
centre centre
1–10 5.5 6 1–7 4 5
11–20 15.5 9 8–14 11 4
21–30 25.5 10 15–21 18 8
31–40 35.5 17 22–28 25 14
41–50 45.5 3 29–35 32 11
51–60 55.5 4 36–42 39 10

7 The maximum daily temperatures (°C) recorded in a city over a period of 20 days are given
below.
25 24 27 28 26 30 28 25 29 30
31 34 32 30 26 23 24 26 30 27
a Find the range of the temperatures.
b Find the interquartile range of the temperatures.
c Find the standard deviation, correct to 1 decimal place.
d What would be the two most appropriate measures of spread for these temperatures?
Why?

8 The number of ‘hits’ per day on a certain website over a period of 14 days is shown below.
75 62 81 59 83 9 58 61 57 54 66 72 145 60
a Find the range.
b Find the interquartile range.
c Find the standard deviation.
d Which would be the most appropriate measure of spread for this data? Why?

9 Van’s class had a mean of 60 and standard deviation of 12 on the half-yearly Maths exam.
Lucy’s class had a mean of 60 and standard deviation of 8 on the same exam. In which class
were the marks more tightly bunched around the mean? Explain.
10 Write true (T) or false (F) for the following statements.
a Standard deviation is a measure of location.
b The standard deviation can be greater than the range.
c The greater the spread of the scores, the greater is the standard deviation.

11 If all of the scores in a distribution are equal, what would be the standard deviation? Why?

12 a Find the standard deviation of the following scores, correct to 1 decimal place.
5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 16, 19
b If an outlier of 40 was included, what effect do you think this would have on the
standard deviation? Use a calculator to verify your answer.
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 309

13 Two basketball teams scored the following number of points in their first 10 games of the
season.
Wombats: 94 96 103 85 99 101 105 97 90 82
Ferrets: 96 97 99 101 93 90 87 94 95 103
a Find the mean and standard deviation for each team, correct to 1 decimal place.
b Which team has been the more consistent point scorer? Explain.
14 The two History classes in Year 11 were set a research assignment on the causes of World
War II. The students’ results are given below, as percentages.
Mrs Bremner’s class: 84 79 89 92 53 90 74 68 85 65 77 83
Mrs Spencer’s class: 69 65 78 93 84 73 79 82 66 92 81 72
a Find the mean and standard deviation for the students’ results in each class, correct to
1 decimal place.
b Which class performed better on the assignment? Why?
c Which class had the more consistent results? Why?
■ Further applications
15 Consider the scores 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
a Find the mean and standard deviation of the scores.
b If each score was increased by 5, what effect would this have on the mean and standard
deviation? Why? Verify your answers using a calculator.
c If each score was multiplied by 5, what effect would this have on the mean and standard
deviation? Why? Verify your answers using a calculator.
16 Consider the scores 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14. If each score was multiplied by −1, what would
be the effect on the standard deviation? Why? Verify your answer using a calculator.

8.4 Applications of the standard

deviation
The standard deviation can be used to compare the relative performances of two or more people
on different tasks such as tests or exams. This is done by finding the number of standard
deviations that each result is above or below the mean.
For example, this table shows Shyla’s
Mark x σn
exam results in Economics and Geography,
compared to those of the other students in Economics 72 60 6
each course. At first glance it would appear Geography 75 65 10
that she performed better in Geography
because her mark in that subject (75) was higher than her mark in Economics (72). However,
this is not the case. In Geography, Shyla’s mark was only 1 standard deviation above the mean
(i.e. 75 = 65 + 10), while her mark in Economics was 2 standard deviations above the mean
(i.e. 72 = 60 + 6 + 6). Therefore, relative to the other students in each course, Shyla actually
performed better in Economics than she did in Geography, even though her Economics mark
was slightly lower.
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■ The normal distribution

If there is a large number of scores, then the
shape of the distribution will approximate 68%
a bell-shaped curve called the normal 95%
curve. The normal curve is smooth and is 99.7%
symmetrical about the mean. Approximately x – 3σ x – σ x x + σ x + 2σ x + 3σ
x – 2σ
two-thirds of the scores are clustered about
the mean, with the curve tapering away at each end. The greater the number of scores in the
distribution, the closer the curve will be to the normal curve. Mathematicians have shown that
the following results are true for large populations.

For a normal distribution it has been shown that:

approximately 68% of the scores lie within 1 standard deviation either side of
the mean

approximately 95% of the scores lie within 2 standard deviations either side of
the mean

approximately 99.7% of the scores lie within 3 standard deviations either side of
the mean.

NOTE: In a perfect normal curve, the mean, the median and the mode are all equal.
If we knew the height of every adult in Australia and calculated the mean and standard
deviation, we would find that approximately two-thirds of the adult population would have a
height that lies within the range x – σ < x < x + σ . This could also apply to other variables such
as weight, quality of sight and hearing, shoe size and IQ.

We say that if a score is chosen at random from a distribution, then that score will:

probably lie within one standard deviation of the mean

very probably lie within two standard deviations of the mean

almost certainly lie within three standard deviations of the mean.

The standard deviation and the normal curve are used widely by:
• manufacturers to reject sub-quality products
• universities to determine pass marks in courses
• insurance companies to set insurance premiums.
Example 1
The mean of a set of scores is 70 and the standard deviation is 12. Find:
EG 1 3
+S a x+σ b x – 2σ c x + ---- σ d x – 1 ---- σ
2 4
Solutions
1 3
a x+σ b x – 2σ c x + ---- σ d x – 1 ---- σ
2 4
1 3
= 70 + 12 = 70 − (2 × 12) = 70 + ( --- × 12) = 70 − (1 --- × 12)
2 4
= 82 = 70 − 24 = 70 + 6 = 70 − 21
= 46 = 76 = 49
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 311

Example 2
EG The table shows Martin’s results on consecutive
+S Mark x σn
Computing tests.
a On which test did Martin perform better? Test 1 69 60 12
b What mark in test 2 corresponds to each Test 2 82 72 10
of the following marks in test 1?
i 48 ii 78
Solutions
a Test 1 Test 2
x–x x–x
----------- -----------
σ σ
69 – 60 82 – 72
= ------------------ = ------------------
12 10
9 10
= ------ = ------
12 10
3
= --- =1
4
3
On test 1, Martin’s mark was --- of a standard deviation above the mean. On test 2, Martin’s
4
mark was 1 standard deviation above the mean. Therefore, he performed better on test 2.
b i Test 1 Test 2: The equivalent mark on test 2
x–x must also be 1 standard deviation
-----------
σ below the mean.
48 – 60 ∴ Test 2 mark = 72 − 10
= ------------------
12 = 62
– 12
= ---------
12
= −1

∴ A mark of 48 is 1 standard deviation below the mean.

b ii Test 1 Test 2: The equivalent mark on test 2
x–x 1
----------- must also be 1 --- standard deviations
σ 2
above the mean.
78 – 60
= ------------------ 1
∴ Test 2 mark = 72 + (1 --- × 10)
12 2
18
= ------ = 72 + 15
12 = 87
1
= 1 ---
2
1
∴ A mark of 78 is 1 --- standard deviations above the mean.
2
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Example 3
EG For a set of marks (out of 100), the mean is 60 and the standard deviation is 12. If the
+S distribution of the marks is normal, find the percentage of students that should have scored a
mark between:
a 48 and 72 b 36 and 84 c 24 and 96
d 60 and 72 e 36 and 48 f 84 and 100

Solutions
The graph shows the percentage of
marks that should lie in each section
34% 34%
for a normal distribution. 13.5% 13.5%
a 68% b 95%
0.15% 2.35% 2.35% 0.15%
c 99.7% d 34%
24 36 48 60 72 84 96
e 13.5% f 2.5%
±1σ
±2σ
±3σ

Exercise 8.4

1 The end of year Science exam in Year 10 had a mean of 60 and a standard deviation of 8.
Write down the mark that is:
a 1 standard deviation above the mean b 1 standard deviation below the mean
c 2 standard deviations above the mean d 2 standard deviations below the mean
e 3 standard deviations above the mean f 3 standard deviations below the mean

2 The table shows the mean and standard deviation for

x σn
the mid-year results in English and Drama. Find the
mark in each subject that is: English 60 14
a 1 standard deviation below the mean
Drama 53 8
b 2 standard deviations above the mean
c 0.5 standard deviations above the mean
d 1.5 standard deviations below the mean

3 The mean ( x ) of a set of scores is 57 and the standard deviation (σn) is 12. Find:
a x–σ b x+σ c x – 2σ d x + 2σ
1 1 2 5
e x + --- σ f x – --- σ g x + --- σ h x – --- σ
2 4 3 6
1 1 3 2
i x – 1 --- σ j x + 1 --- σ k x – 2 --- σ l x + 2 --- σ
2 6 4 3

■ Consolidation
4 Aimee scored 61 on her music practical. Her mark was two standard deviations below the
class mean of 75. What was the standard deviation?
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 313

5 Tim scored 59 on a Year 7 numeracy test, which was 1 standard deviation below the mean.
On the same test, Francis scored 77, which was 2 standard deviations above the mean.
a What was the standard deviation?
b Find the mean.
c Keith’s mark was 1.5 standard deviations above the mean. What was his mark?
d Helen’s mark was 2.5 standard deviations below the mean. What was her mark?
6 How many standard deviations above or below the mean is a mark of 60, given that:
a x = 55 and σ n = 5 b x = 76 and σ n = 8 c x = 75 and σ n = 10

7 Mark σn Jason compared his end of year results in

x
Maths and Science. In which subject did
Maths 77 70 7 he perform better? Explain.
Science 75 60 10

8 In each of the following, use the mean and standard deviation to determine which is the
better result.
a Mark x σn b Mark x σn
Test 1 86 80 6 Test 1 70 63 7
Test 2 83 75 4 Test 2 76 81 5
c Mark x σn d Mark x σn
Test 1 55 60 10 Test 1 63 67 8
Test 2 55 63 8 Test 2 62 59 6
e Mark x σn f Mark x σn
Test 1 70 88 12 Test 1 81 72 12
Test 2 69 83 7 Test 2 81 72 9
g Mark x σn h Mark x σn
Test 1 69 59 15 Test 1 50 56 8
Test 2 64 57 14 Test 2 54 65 11

9 The mean and standard deviation are shown for the exam
x σn
results in Art and Music.
a Find the mark in Music that corresponds to a mark in Art of: Art 70 8
i 78 ii 62 iii 86 iv 54
Music 68 12
b Find the mark in Art that corresponds to a mark in Music of:
i 74 ii 62 iii 86 iv 53
10 A university lecturer decides that the pass mark in his course will be two standard
deviations below the mean. Antonella’s final mark after two assignments and an exam
is 41. If the mean is 65 and the standard deviation is 11.3, determine whether Antonella will
pass the course.
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11 Each potato in a new batch was washed and weighed as part of the quality control process.
The mean weight of the potatoes was found to be 65 grams and the standard deviation
was 7. Assuming that the weights of the potatoes are normally distributed, between what
weights should we expect to find:
a 68% of the potatoes? b 95% of the potatoes? c 99.7% of the potatoes?
12 The raw marks obtained by the Year 12 students at a certain high school had a mean of 70
and a standard deviation of 8. If the distribution of the marks is approximately normal, find
the percentage of students that should have scored a mark between:
a 62 and 78 b 54 and 86 c 70 and 78
d 54 and 62 e 62 and 86 f 78 and 100
13 Four hundred people were weighed as part of a free community health check. The mean
weight was 76 kg and the standard deviation was 11 kg. How many people would be
expected to have a weight:
a between 65 kg and 87 kg? b between 54 kg and 98 kg?
c between 76 kg and 87 kg? d between 54 kg and 87 kg?
e that is more than 87 kg? f that is less than 54 kg?
14 The average weekly wage at Custom Computers is $570, with a standard deviation of $115.
One employee is chosen at random. Within what limits would his weekly wage very
probably lie if the weekly wages are normally distributed?
15 A car manufacturer states that its new model, the Galaxy, has an average petrol
consumption rate of 12 km per litre, with a standard deviation of 600 metres per litre.
Within what limits will the car’s rate of petrol consumption almost certainly lie if the
consumption rates are normally distributed?
16 Ivan scored 48 on a test in which the year average was 63, the standard deviation was 7.5
and the marks were normally distributed.
a What percentage of students in the year had a lower mark than Ivan?
b Is it likely that any student scored a mark of 93 or more on this test? Why?
■ Further applications
17 The mean of a set of scores is 50 and the standard deviation is 10. Would the mean and
standard deviation increase, decrease or stay the same if the following scores were added
to the set?
a 80 b 20 c 50
18 The mean of a set of scores is 60 and the standard deviation is 12. Would the mean and
standard deviation increase, decrease or stay the same if the following scores were taken
out of the set?
a 90 b 30 c 60

TRY THIS Two standard deviations

There are two standard deviation keys on your calculator — σn and σn – 1.
What is σn – 1 and when it is used?
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 315

8.5 The shape of a distribution

A distribution is symmetrical if the scores are spread
evenly about the mean. If a distribution is not symmetrical,

Frequency
then it is said to be skewed.

Score

If most of the scores in a distribution are relatively low, then

the distribution is positively skewed. The longer tail of the
Frequency

frequency curve will lie to the right.

Score

If most of the scores in a distribution are relatively high,

then the distribution is negatively skewed. The longer

Frequency
tail of the frequency curve will lie to the left.

Score

A distribution is:

symmetrical if the scores are spread evenly about the mean

positively skewed if most of the scores are low

negatively skewed if most of the scores are high.

Example 1
EG Describe the shape of each distribution. Are there any outliers?
+S
a b
6
Frequency

5
4
3
2
1
0
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1 2 3 4 5
Score Score
c
•

14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Score
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316 Mathscape 10 Extension

Solutions
a The scores are mostly low, therefore the distribution is positively skewed; 18 is an outlier.
b The scores are evenly spread about the mean, therefore the distribution is symmetrical.
There are no outliers.
c The scores are mostly high, therefore the distribution is negatively skewed; 14 is an
outlier.

Exercise 8.5

1 Draw a curve which represents a statistical display that is:

a symmetrical b positively skewed c negatively skewed
2 State whether each display is either symmetrical, positively skewed or negatively skewed.
a b c
Frequency

Frequency
Frequency

Score Score Score

3 For each of the graphs below:

i describe the shape of the distribution
ii state whether there are any outliers
a b

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Score Score
c d
8 8
Frequency

Frequency

6 6
4 4
2 2
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Score Score

■ Consolidation
4 Mrs Spiteri gave her class a test that consisted of 20 questions worth 1 mark each. After
marking the test, she announced that the mode was 7 and the median was 9. If a column
graph was drawn to represent these results, would it most likely be symmetrical, positively
skewed or negatively skewed?
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 317

5 a Draw a dot plot for these scores. 51 47 53 54 50 51

b How many peaks are there? 53 48 47 53 51 49
c Which score is the mode? 47 54 53 48 52 50
49 47 54 51 51 48
53 51 50 47 53 51

6 State whether each distribution is symmetrical, positively skewed or negatively skewed.

a b
Stem Leaf Stem Leaf
1 25 10 45
2 014 11 1246
3 347 12 056679
4 136789 13 3389
5 02456678 14 267
6 455699

7 A police radar unit recorded drivers travelling at the following speeds in a 60 km/h zone.
52 57 68 56 62 54 62 58 50 57
65 54 61 55 58 60 74 59 51 56
52 71 60 88 67 57 53 55 61 53
a Draw a dot plot for the data by grouping the speeds into classes 50–54, 55–59, 60–64,
etc.
b Could any of the recorded speeds be considered outliers?
c Describe the shape of the distribution.
d A 4 km/h tolerance is allowed, so the camera is set to take a photograph of any vehicle
which is travelling at 65 km/h or above. How many of these drivers will be booked for
speeding?

8 This column graph shows the Term 4 sports

number of Year 10 students
who want to play each of the 50
Number of students

sports that are available in 45

term 4. Morgan stated that this 40
35
distribution is positively skewed. 30
Is she correct? 25
20
15
10
5
0
is

ng

et

all

ll

sh
ke
ba
nn

ick

ua
mi

etb

c
se
Te

Sq
Ho
Cr
im

sk

Ba
Sw

Ba

Sport
Mathscape 10 ext. - Ch08 Page 318 Friday, September 23, 2005 8:06 AM

318 Mathscape 10 Extension

9 Peter is a 16-year-old cricketer who made the following scores last season.
24 17 34 6 45 27 20 a Draw a stem-and-leaf plot to represent
39 39 4 52 24 40 15 this data.
28 41 13 8 54 22 35 b Are there any outliers?
3 21 13 27 12 61 16 c Describe the shape of the distribution.
d Would you say that Peter has had a good
season? Why?

10 Describe the shape of the distribution represented

by each of these box-and-whisker plots. (a)

(b)
(c)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Score

11 The data below shows the number of Year 10 students who were absent each day during
term 3.
2 5 8 10 11 9 7 10 8 11 6 7
12 9 10 11 3 11 11 9 4 5 10 12
1 10 9 11 8 3 6 10 10 12 11 7
11 10 4 9 5 12 6 0 2 10 12 12
a Copy and complete this frequency table for the given data.
Absentees 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency
b Construct a five-point summary for the data.
c Draw a box-and-whisker plot.
d Describe the shape of the distribution.

12 The maximum price of petrol at a certain petrol station was recorded each day in cents per
litre, correct to the nearest cent.
84 86 92 90 91 96 93 84 78 77
81 82 90 92 97 86 85 83 82 87
91 92 84 84 83 85 94 95 99 96
a Show these petrol prices in this stem-and-leaf plot. Stem Leaf
b Describe the shape of the distribution.
c Are there any outliers? 7(5)
8(0)
8(5)
9(0)
9(5)
Mathscape 10 ext. - Ch08 Page 319 Friday, September 23, 2005 8:06 AM

Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 319

■ Further applications
13 Karl Pearson, a famous statistician, derived the following formula to measure the degree of
skew, or skewness, in a distribution.
mean – mode
Skewness = --------------------------------------------
standard deviation
A distribution is positively skewed if the skewness is positive and is negatively skewed if
the skewness is negative.
a Would a distribution be positively skewed or negatively skewed if:
i the mean is greater than the mode? ii the mean is less than the mode?
b What would be the skewness of a distribution if the mean was equal to the mode?

14 Calculate the skewness of the following sets of scores.

a x 13 14 15 16 17 18 b x 70 71 72 73 74 75
f 10 17 12 6 4 1 f 2 5 8 15 19 16

TRY THIS Correlation

1 Survey everyone in your class to find the average shoe size of your fellow
students.
2 Survey everyone in your class to find the length of their arms and their height.
Is there a relationship between the length of a person’s arms and their height?

8.6 Comparing two data sets

A number of statistical graphs and tables can be used to compare two sets of data. These include
back-to-back column graphs, double bar graphs, area charts and line graphs. The back-to-back
stem-and-leaf plot is also useful for comparing two data sets. It has an advantage over graphs
in that it shows all of the scores for both data sets. Box-and-whisker plots give an instant picture
of the spread of the scores in each distribution.
The mean, median and mode can be found to give a typical or representative score for each
distribution. The range, interquartile range and standard deviation can be used to compare the
spread of the scores in each distribution.
Together, graphs, tables, measures of location and measures of spread enable us to compare
two or more sets of data. We can then make judgements and predictions based on this
information.
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320 Mathscape 10 Extension

Example 1
EG The systolic blood pressure of some students was measured after a 100 m sprint.
+S
Heat 1: 105 105 110 110 115 115 120 120 120 125 130
Heat 2: 100 105 105 110 110 110 120 120 125 125 130
a For the students in each heat, calculate correct to 1 decimal place:
i the mean ii the median iii the mode
iv the range v the interquartile range
b Draw a box-and-whisker plot for each set of data.
c Comment on the blood pressure of the two groups of students.

Solutions
a Heat 1 Heat 2 b
Heat 1
i mean 115.9 114.5
ii median 115 110 Heat 2
iii mode 120 110
iv range 25 30 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130
v interquartile range 10 20 Systolic blood pressure

c The students in heat 1 generally have higher pulse rates. The pulse rates of the students in
heat 2 have a greater spread.

Example 2
EG The labels on soft drink cans state that they contain 375 mL. Samples of 30 cans produced by
+S two different companies were chosen at random. The volume of drink actually contained in
each can was measured. The results, in millilitres, are shown below.
Company A Company B
375 360 380 377 375 375 368 376 375 368
374 373 371 370 372 374 379 378 370 377
381 385 380 378 382 375 380 368 372 381
362 380 369 377 378 375 376 369 377 370
384 375 377 374 375 371 370 369 380 375
387 379 369 364 370 374 380 378 373 381
a Draw a back-to-back stem-and-leaf plot for the data set.
b Find the mean, median, range and standard deviation for each distribution.
c What percentage of cans from each company contained less than 375 mL of drink?
d Which company provides the more consistent volume of drink in its cans?
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 321

Solutions
a Company A Stem Company B

420 36(0)
99 36(5) 88899
4432100 37(0) 00012344
9887775555 37(5) 555556677889
421000 38(0) 00011
75 38(5)

b Company A Company B
mean 375.1 374.5
median 375 375
range 27 13
standard deviation 6.3 4.1

12 100 13 100
c Company A: ------ × --------- % Company B: ------ × --------- %
30 1 30 1
= 40% = 43.3% (to 1 decimal place)

d The range and standard deviation are lower for company B.

Therefore, company B provides the more consistent volume of drink in its cans.

Exercise 8.6 Telephone calls: Van Loi Imports

1 A business kept a 50
Number of telephone calls

record of the number 45

Local calls
of telephone calls 40
STD calls
made by its 35 International calls
employees each 30
day for a week. 25
a Find the number 20
of local calls 15
made on: 10
i Tuesday 5
ii Friday 0
b How many more Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Day
STD calls were made
on Friday than on Saturday?
c On which day were the most international calls made?
d What was the total number of calls made on Wednesday?
e On which day were the greatest number of calls made?
f What percentage of the calls made on Thursday were STD calls?
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322 Mathscape 10 Extension

2 A climatic graph is actually a combination Climatic graph, Tokyo

of two graphs. The column graph shows
rainfall (in mm) and is measured on the 500 42
left-hand scale. The line graph shows 450 36
Temperature
temperature (in °C) and is measured on 400 30

Temperature (°C)
the right-hand scale.

Rainfall (mm)
350 24
a Name the month that has: 300 18
i the highest average maximum 250 12
temperature 200 6
Rainfall
ii the lowest average maximum 150 0
temperature
iii the highest average rainfall 100 –6
iv the lowest average rainfall 50 –12
b Which three months have the most 0 –18
J F MAM J J A S O N D
rain?
c Which months have an average maximum temperature less than 12°C?
d Which months have an average rainfall of less than 100 mm?

3 This graph shows the population profile of Woodport. The population of the town has been
divided into age groups of 5 years. All persons aged 85 years and over have been counted
in one age group.
Population of Woodport
Males Age group Females

85 and
over
80–84
75–79
70–74
65–69
60–64
55–59
50–54
45–49
40–44
35–39
30–34
25–29
20–24
15–19
10–14
5–9
0–4
6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Thousand persons Thousand persons
Mathscape 10 ext. - Ch08 Page 323 Friday, September 23, 2005 8:06 AM

Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 323

a Find approximately how many male persons in Woodport are aged:

i 20–24 ii 10–14 iii 65–69
b Find approximately how many female persons in Woodport are aged:
i 45–49 ii 5–9 iii 25–29
c In Woodport, are there more males or females in the age group:
i 15–19? ii 45–49?
d Find approximately how many children in Woodport are:
i less than 5 years old ii less than 10 years old
e Find approximately how many people in Woodport are aged 85 and over.

■ Consolidation
4 The graph shows the stopping distance for a car being driven at various speeds. Each bar is
divided into two parts: the reaction distance and the braking distance.
The reaction distance is the distance travelled by the car while the driver’s brain
responds to the signal to apply the brakes.
The braking distance is the distance travelled from the time the brakes are applied to
the time the car comes to a stop.
Stopping distance at various speeds

100

90

80

70
Initial speed (in km/h)

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Distance (in metres)
a How far does the car travel until the brakes are applied at 50 km/h?
b How far does the car travel after the brakes are applied at 50 km/h?
c Find the total stopping distance when the car is travelling at:
i 50 km/h ii 80 km/h iii 100 km/h
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324 Mathscape 10 Extension

d How much greater is the reaction distance when the car is travelling at 80 km/h than
when it is travelling at 60 km/h?
e How much greater is the total stopping distance when the car is travelling at
100 km/h than when it is travelling at 60 km/h?
5 The mean monthly temperatures for Alice Springs and Darwin are shown in the table
below.
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Alice Springs 36.0 34.8 32.4 27.9 22.8 19.8 19.3 22.3 26.5 30.6 33.4 35.3
Darwin 31.9 30.9 31.4 32.3 31.3 29.9 29.8 30.8 32.2 32.9 33.3 32.6
a For each city, calculate the mean, median, range and interquartile range.
b The residents of Alice Springs claim that Darwin is a much hotter city than their own.
Is this statement correct? Explain.
6 These box-and-whisker plots summarise Simone’s Simone’s Mathematics results
progress in Mathematics from years 7 to 10.
In which year was: 100
a the highest mark scored?
b the lowest mark scored? 80
Mark

c the median mark greatest? 60

d the lower quartile 55? 40
e the range of marks greatest?
f the interquartile range 20? 20
0
Year Year Year Year
7 8 9 10
7 Three patients in hospital had their temperatures
taken every 4 hours over a period of 3 days. 44
Temperature (°C)

Which patient had:

42
a the highest temperature?
b the lowest temperature? 40
c the lowest median temperature? 38
d the greatest temperature range?
36

Bob Sam Ros

8 These box-and-whisker plots show the
results obtained by the same group of ELLA results—years 7 and 8
students on the ELLA tests, when they
Year 7
were in years 7 and 8.
a Construct a five-point summary for Year 8
each data set.
b Calculate the interquartile range for 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
each data set. Test score
c Comment on the change that can be
seen in the students’ results.
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 325

9 The scores obtained by 24 players in the first two rounds of a golf tournament are given
below.
First round Second round
73 75 79 69 70 72 70 76 71 72 65 73
78 84 68 75 78 80 75 79 73 74 67 70
72 72 74 77 70 76 71 67 77 85 82 79
83 67 72 75 81 74 76 71 67 74 78 75
a Organise the data into a back-to-back First round Second round
stem-and-leaf plot. 6(5)
b Find the mean, median and mode for each 7(0)
round of scores. 7(5)
c Which measure of location is the most 8(0)
appropriate to compare the scores in each 8(5)
round? Why?
d In which round did the players play better, on average?
(Lower scores are better in golf.)

10 The table below shows the number of days on which it rained in two towns, over a 12 month
period.
Month J F M A M J J A S O N D
Castledon 11 3 7 6 7 7 5 6 8 6 3 5
Renville 3 1 4 8 10 11 10 5 9 7 7 5
a Draw a box-and-whisker plot for each data set, on the same scale.
b Find the standard deviation for each data set, correct to 1 decimal place.
c The residents of Renville claim that their town has many more rainy days than
Castledon. Does the data support this argument?

11 A football coach analysed the team’s defensive First half Second half
performance in the previous season by considering 8 8 8 6 6 4 0 4 8
the number of points that were scored against them 8 5 4 2 2 1 0 1 0 6 6 8 9
in each game. 6 6 5 4 2 2 2 4 6 7 8 8
a How many games were played during the season? 2 0 3 4 4 5 6 8
b Find, correct to 2 decimal places, the mean and 4 2 6
standard deviation for:
i the first half ii the second half.
c Find the standard deviation of each data set, correct to 1 decimal place.
d Draw box-and-whisker plots for both data sets, on the same scale.
e What conclusions can you draw about the team’s defensive performance throughout the
season?
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326 Mathscape 10 Extension

■ Further applications
12 Consider the following histograms.
A B C
8 8 8

Frequency
Frequency

Frequency
MATHEMATICALLY

6 6 6
4 4 4
2 2 2
0 0 0
5 6 7 8 9 5 6 7 8 9 5 6 7 8 9
Score Score Score
a Comment on the means of these distributions, without the use of a calculator.
b Without using a calculator, determine which distribution has:
i the highest standard deviation ii the lowest standard deviation
c Find the mean and standard deviation of each distribution by using a calculator and
verify your answers to parts a and b.

0FF
MATICALLY

OCUS ON
O R K I N M I CAAL LL LYY
O C U S O N W 0 R K I N G M AATTHHEEMMAATTI C
G W
THE IMPRISONMENT OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
F O C U S O N W O R K I HNE G
MAT WORKING
FOCUS ON
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 327

Introduction
The 1992 National Prison Census showed that 14% of the total prison population of 15 559
were Indigenous people. The figures showed that Aboriginal people were in prison at 13 times
the rate of non-Aboriginal people. Since that time the rate of imprisonment of Aboriginal
people has increased. Despite a Royal Commission into deaths in custody, public apologies to

FOCUS ON WORKING MATHEMATICALLY

the stolen generation, and millions of dollars spent on health and education, the situation of
Australia’s Indigenous people is still considered a national disgrace. The riots in February 2004
in Redfern, following the death of an Aboriginal teenager, were a symptom of the underlying
anger and despair felt by Aboriginal people.
In this exercise we will see how a mathematical analysis can help clarify the extent of the issue.

2L EARNING ACTIVITIES

1 How many people in Australia identify as Aboriginal? What is this as a proportion of the
entire population? Use the census data below to estimate the answer as a %.
Census data for the number of Aboriginal people in Australia 1996 and 2001

ICALLY
Census year Number of Aboriginal people Total population
1996 352 763 17 892 423
2001 410 003 18 972 350
2 The table below shows the number of Indigenous prisoners and the imprisonment rates per

MATHEMAT
100 000 Indigenous people aged 18 years and over from 1992 to 1998. Which is the most
useful for comparison, the number of prisoners or the rate of imprisonment? Choose a
graph to represent the data and draw it. What statistics might be useful? What conclusions
can you make?
Number of Indigenous prisoners and imprisonment rates per 100 000 Indigenous people
aged 18 years and over 1992–1998
Year Number of prisoners Rate per 100 000

WORKING
1992 2223 1112
1994 2800 1340
1996 3273 1517
1998 3750 1557
3 In June 2003 the total number of people in prison was 23 555. Of these, 4818 were
Indigenous people. What percentage is this? What is the increase since 1992 (see
ON

introduction)? Given that the percentage of Indigenous people in the Australian community
was roughly 2% at the time, what conclusion can you draw?
FOCUS

4 The table on the next page shows the number of times an Indigenous young person was
more likely to be held in juvenile custody than a non-Indigenous young person in 1993.
What statistics could you use and what graph would you draw to describe the data?
What do you conclude? How do you account for such large interstate differences?
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328 Mathscape 10 Extension

Over-representation of Indigenous 10–17 year-olds in juvenile custody 1993

State Times more likely
NSW 20.8
Vic 37.2
MATHEMATICALLY

Qld 26.5
WA 48.4
SA 23.6
NT 4.0
All states 24.2

8C HALLENGE ACTIVITIES

Activity 1
The table below shows the age distribution of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous prison
population on prison census night 30th June 1998. The data for each age group is shown as a
percentage.
MATICALLY

Age composition as a % of Indigenous and non-Indigenous prisoners in Australia 1998

Age group Midpoint Indigenous % Non-indigenous %
17–19* 18 9 5
20–24 22 28 20
25–29 26 22
F O C U S O N W O R K I HNE G

30–34 18 16
35–39 11 13
40–44 5 9
MAT

45–49 2 6
50–54 1 5
55–59 0 2
WORKING

60–64 0 1
≥ 65# 65 0 1
Total 100% 100%
* The lowest age groups were collapsed to 17–19 with a class width of 3.
# This is an open interval with no midpoint. For calculations assume it is 65.
ON

1 Copy the table and complete the column showing the midpoint of each class.
2 Look down the columns to compare the two groups of prisoners. What do you immediately
FOCUS

notice?
3 Write down the modal class for each group of prisoners.
4 Find the age group in which the median for each group of prisoners would lie.
Mathscape 10 ext. - Ch08 Page 329 Friday, October 14, 2005 8:00 AM

Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 329

5 Find the range of the ages for each group of prisoners. Assume the oldest non-Indigenous
person is 65.
6 Use the class centres to estimate the mean age of each group of prisoners.
7 What would be the best way to display the data on the same graph? What graph would you

FOCUS ON WORKING MATHEMATICALLY

draw? If you do not have a graphics calculator or access to a spreadsheet you can draw it
now in your workbook. Otherwise go to the next question.
8 Type the data into a graphics calculator or spreadsheet. Compare the data by drawing a
double histogram. What do you notice?
9 Now draw a box-and-whisker plot for each group and compare them. What do you notice?
10 Compare the age distributions of Indigenous and non-Indigenous prisoners and make a
conclusion. How do you account for the differences?
Calculator instructions
If you have a CASIO CFX-9850G or GB Plus, enter STAT mode. Our objective is to compare
the data for each group by drawing a box-and-whisker plot for each one and then view them
simultaneously.

ICALLY
1 Enter the midpoints into list 1, the percentages for the Indigenous group into list 2 and the
percentages for the non-Indigenous group into list 3.
2 Select GRPH(F1) followed by SET(F6) to determine
the type of graph. To set the first graph Statgraph1,

MATHEMAT
scroll down to Graph Type to highlight it. Now press F6
followed by F2 to select MedBox (a Median Box Plot).

3 Scroll down to XList and check that it is List 1.

If not press F1 to select it.
4 Scroll down to Frequency and select List 2 (F3).

WORKING
5 Scroll down to Graph Colour. Select blue, orange or green.
6 Return to the top and press F2 to select Statgraph2.
Scroll down and set the Graph Type to MedBox,
Xlist to List 1 and frequency to List 3 (F4). Select a
different Graph Colour for the display.
ON

7 Press EXIT and then the F4 (SEL) key to draw both

graphs at the same time. Turn StatGraph1 and
FOCUS

StatGraph2 on, using F1. Press F6 DRAW.

8 Trace the Graphs (SHIFT F1) to record and compare the
5 statistics MinX, Q1, Med (Median), Q3 and MaxX.
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330 Mathscape 10 Extension

Activity 2
The table below compares the number of indigenous and non-indigenous prisoners who had
completed secondary school before entering prison. The ratios in the far right column are
calculated from the base rate for non-indigenous prisoners who completed secondary school.
Since this is 17, the ratio for non-indigenous prisoners who did not complete secondary school
MATHEMATICALLY

is 176/17 = 10 (nearest whole number). This means that those non-indigenous people who did
not complete secondary school are 10 times more likely to be in prison than those who did
complete secondary school. Other ratios are calculated in the same way.
Educational Attainment of Prisoners, by Aboriginality, Australia, 30 June 1992
Prisoners Prison rate per Relative over-
at 30.6.92 100 000 persons representation
aged 15+ ratios
Indigenous people
Completed school 88 164 10
Not completed 1394 2217 130
Non-indigenous people
Completed school 918 17 1
MATICALLY

Not completed 5229 176 10

Sources: Walker & Salloom 1993; ABS 1992.
Note: Table excludes NSW as no data were available on educational status of prisoners.

Complete the following statements:

1 Indigenous prisoners who did not complete secondary school are … times more likely to
F O C U S O N W O R K I HNE G

be in prison than those non-indigenous prisoners who completed school.

2 Indigenous prisoners who completed secondary school are … times more likely to be in
prison than those non-indigenous prisoners who completed secondary school.
MAT

3 Indigenous prisoners who did not complete secondary school are … times more likely to
be in prison than those indigenous prisoners who did complete secondary school.
4 Make a conclusion about the effect of education on the likelihood that a person will
WORKING

someday serve a prison sentence.

Activity 3
In this activity the employment of prisoners prior to arrest is compared for indigenous and
non-indigenous people. The table below is taken from the same 1992 data source. The base for
comparison is the prison rate of employed non-indigenous people prior to arrest.
For example, unemployed non-indigenous people are 720/25 = 29 times more likely to be in
ON

prison than employed non-indigenous people.

FOCUS
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 331

Prior Employment Status of Prisoners, by Aboriginality, Australia, 30 June 1992

Prisoners Prison rate per Relative over-
at 30.6.92 100 000 persons representation
aged 15+ ratios
Indigenous people

FOCUS ON WORKING MATHEMATICALLY

Unemployed 1143 6495 259
Other 328 332 13
Non-indigenous people
Unemployed 4163 720 29
Other 1923 25 1
Sources: Walker & Salloom 1993; ABS 1992.
Notes: “Other” includes employed, running a business, in full or part-time education, occupied with “home
duties”, or retired. Table excludes NSW as no data were available on employment status of prisoners.

Copy and complete:

1 Unemployed indigenous people are … times more likely to be in prison than
non-indigenous people who were employed before arrest.
2 Employed indigenous people are … times more likely to be in prison than non-indigenous

ICALLY
people who were employed before arrest.
3 Unemployed indigenous prisoners are … times more likely to be in prison than indigenous
prisoners who were employed.
4 Make a conclusion about the effect of unemployment on the likelihood that a person will

MATHEMAT
serve a prison sentence.

E L ET’S COMMUNICATE

The over-representation of Indigenous people in prison is a striking social issue. List the factors
that the data analysis in this activity suggests are vitally important for governments to address.
List other factors that you think are important. Use the internet to find out what is being done

WORKING
about it.

%R EFLECTING

Mathematics can make an important contribution to the development of social policy. Reflect
ON

on the data gathering techniques and analysis that can be used to inform debate on social issues,
such as the plight of Indigenous people or the effects of addictive substances like alcohol and
tobacco on the health of the nation.
FOCUS
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332 Mathscape 10 Extension

1 Explain as simply as you can the meaning data plural noun facts or information: I’m gathering data
of: for a report on schools in Australia.
a a box and whisker plot Although data is plural in form (its singular is
b the mean and standard deviation of a datum), you can use a singular or plural verb with it:
set of scores When the computer crashed all the data was lost.
(singular) The data have been collected from all over
c a skewed distribution Australia. (plural)
d a symmetrical distribution. database noun a collection of information stored in a
2 Read the Macquarie Learners Dictionary computer and organised in a meaningful structure of
entries for data and database: categories.
What is the difference between them?

1 The data below shows the times, to the 2 The stem-and-leaf plot below shows the
nearest second, recorded by 30 swimmers heights, in cm, of the nurses at a small
over 100 m. private hospital.
CHAPTER RE

58 56 62 59 61 63
60 57 58 58 62 61 Stem Leaf
59 58 58 59 62 63 14 89
57 59 61 62 60 58 15 0268
56 60 59 59 57 58 16 113569
a Organise the data into a frequency 17 23334789
distribution table with score (x), tally, 18 0223469
frequency (f), cumulative frequency
a How many nurses work at the
and fx columns.
hospital?
b Draw a frequency histogram and
b What are the heights of the shortest
polygon for the data.
and tallest nurses?
c How many swimmers had a time
c How many nurses are 1.8 m or taller?
under 1 minute?
d What is the average height of these
d What percentage of swimmers had a
nurses? Answer correct to the
time of 59 seconds?
nearest mm.
VIEW

e What was the slowest time?

f What was the most common time?

CHAPTER REVIEW
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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 333

VIEW
3 The number of students who were absent 6 The histogram shows the ages of the
each day during February and March at a students from a certain school that took
certain high school is shown below. part in the annual Red Cross appeal.
38 43 41 35 37 36 36 Red Cross appeal
50 42 42 36 37 38 38

Number of students
39 40 43 37 36 39 38 8
42 38 35 36 36 37 41 6

CHAPTER RE
43 37 37 39 36 37 36
4
38 39 38 36 37 38 36
a Represent the data on a dot plot. 2
b Are there any clusters? If so, what are 0
they? 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
c Are there any outliers? If so, what are Age (years)
they? a How many 14-year-olds took part in
4 Find the mean, median, mode, range and the appeal?
standard deviation for each set of scores. b What was the age of the oldest
Answer correct to 1 decimal place, where student who took part?
necessary. c How many students took part?
a 9, 18, 4, 21, 15, 18, 13 d What percentage of the students were
b 42, 59, 37, 65, 15, 80, 59, 12, 45 13 years old?
c 33, 30, 37, 30, 36, 37, 39, 34 e What is the modal age?
d 5.2, 6.7, 3.3, 7.1, 4.8, 5.0 f Find the median age?
g Calculate the mean age, correct to
5 Find the mean, median, mode, range and 1 decimal place.
standard deviation for each set of scores. 7 The range of a set of scores is 35.
Answer correct to 1 decimal place where a If the lowest score is 47, find the
necessary. highest score.
a x 1 2 3 4 5 b If the highest score is 89, find the
lowest score.
f 3 1 2 8 9

b x 21 23 27 32 36
f 15 25 17 13 11

CHAPTER REVIEW
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334 Mathscape 10 Extension

CHAPTER RE

8 Day trip to Kiama b What is the modal class?

c How many students scored less than
12 70%?
d Use the frequency table to find the
Number of people

10 mean and standard deviation, correct

8 to 1 decimal place.
6 10 a A set of 14 scores has a mean of 8.
4
What is the sum of the scores?
b The mean of a set of scores is 27 and
2 their sum is 864. How many scores
0 are there?
70 71 72 73 74 11 The mean of four scores is 18.5. If three
Age (years)
of the scores are 27, 32 and 15, what is the
The cumulative frequency histogram and fourth score?
ogive below show the ages of a group of 12 A set of scores has a mean of 60. What is
senior citizens who travelled to Kiama for the effect on the mean if the following
VIEW

a day out. scores are:

a How many people went on the trip? i added to the set?
b How many 72-year-olds were there? ii taken out of the set?
c What is the range of the ages? a 82 b 35 c 60
d What is the median age?
13 A set of 47 scores has a mean of 71. Find
e What is the modal age?
the new mean, correct to 1 decimal place,
f Calculate the mean age, correct to
after a score of:
1 decimal place.
a 30 is added to the set
g Find the standard deviation of their
b 52 is taken out of the set
ages, correct to 1 decimal place.
14 Peddar has an average of 76% after three
9 The scores obtained by a group of Year 10
tests. What mark does she need to score in
students on their Statistics test are shown
the next test to raise her average to 80%?
below. The test was marked out of 30.
15 The mean of a set of 14 scores is 35. After
18 24 13 21 25 28
a new score is added, the mean rises to 36.
16 19 19 22 27 25
Find the score that was added.
22 24 17 14 20 21
23 11 6 15 17 23
3 28 27 25 24 20
a Organise the data into a grouped data
frequency distribution table with
class (x), class centre (cc), tally,
frequency (f), and (f × cc) columns.
Use classes of 1–5, 6–10, …

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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 335

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16 This box-and- Spelling quiz 19 This cumulative frequency histogram and
whisker plot ogive shows the number of Smarties per
shows the scores box.
obtained by a Smarties
group of boys on 0 2 4 6 8 10
Score
a spelling quiz. 24
a Find:

Number of boxes
20

CHAPTER RE
i the extreme scores
ii the median 16
iii the range 12
iv the lower quartile 8
v the upper quartile
vi the interquartile range 4
b Find the percentage of scores that lie 0
between: 43 44 45 46 47 48
i 1 and 3 ii 3 and 6 Number of Smarties
iii 3 and 8 iv 8 and 9 a What is the median?
17 For each set of scores below: b Find the upper and lower quartiles.
i find the median c What is the interquartile range?
ii find the lower and upper quartiles 20 If every score in a distribution is 5, what
iii find the interquartile range would be the standard deviation?
iv draw a box-and-whisker plot A 0 B 1
a 4, 6, 7, 10, 14, 15, 18 C 2.5 D 5
b 21, 23, 26, 30, 35, 21 Which of the following is NOT a measure
36, 39, 43, 45, 47 of spread?
c 52, 54, 55, 55, 58, 60, A range
61, 62, 64, 67, 67, 69, B mean
73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 81, C standard deviation
84, 85, 87, 90, 91, 96 D interquartile range
18 Find the upper and lower quartiles and the
interquartile range for this set of scores.
x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
f 5 9 13 20 3 14 4

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336 Mathscape 10 Extension

CHAPTER RE

22 Two cricket teams scored the following 26 The table shows the mean and standard
innings totals in the first four games of deviation for the Year 11 report marks in
the season. Physics and Chemistry.
Petersham
x σn
195 198 265 223 248 301 154 211
Manly Physics 70 8
252 375 136 300 258 294 103 224 Chemistry 63 10
a Find the mean and standard deviation
for each team. a Find the mark in Physics that
b Which team was the more consistent corresponds to a mark in Chemistry
during the first four games? Why? of:
i 73 ii 43
23 The students in Year 10 had a mean of 50
b Find the mark in Chemistry that
and a standard deviation of 12 on their
corresponds to a mark in Physics of:
mid-year History exam. Write down the
i 66 ii 90
mark that is:
a 1 standard deviation above the mean 27 A group of people took part in an IQ test.
The mean of this group was found to be
VIEW

b 2 standard deviations below the mean

c 0.5 standard deviations above the 120 and the standard deviation was 9.
mean If the distribution of the IQ scores is
d 1.5 standard deviations below the approximately normal, find the
mean percentage of people in this group that
we expect to have an IQ that is:
24 Gerard scored 66 on a Maths test in which
a between 111 and 129
the class mean was 78. His mark was
b between 102 and 138
2 standard deviations below the mean.
c between 93 and 147
What was the standard deviation?
d between 120 and 129
25 For each of the following, use the mean e between 102 and 111
and standard deviation to determine f above 138
which is the better mark. 28 Two hundred people were asked their
a Mark x σn ages as part of a survey. The mean age is
42 and the standard deviation of the ages
Test 1 90 80 5 is 13. If the ages of the survey group are
Test 2 92 84 8 normally distributed, find the number of
people who should be aged:
b Mark x σn a between 29 and 55
b between 16 and 68
Test 1 61 75 7
c under 16 and over 68
Test 2 59 68 6

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Chapter 8: Data analysis and evaluation 337

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29 State whether each display is 30 The scores obtained by the boys and girls
symmetrical, positively skewed or in class 10C on a fitness test are shown in
negatively skewed? this back-to-back stem and leaf plot.
a The higher the score, the greater is the
Frequency

student’s level of fitness.

Boys Girls
4 6(0) 123

CHAPTER RE
766 6(5) 557
Score 4321 7(0) 0344
b 8765 7(5) 667
Frequency

43 8(0) 12
97 8(5) 7
a Find the mean, median and standard
deviation for each group.
Score b Which group is fitter, the boys or the
c girls?
Frequency

Score

CHAPTER REVIEW