EXERCISES TO RECOVER CLASSES PRESENT IN CLASSES

3-83 The weights and measures department of a state agricultural bureau measured the amount of grain sold
in 4-ounce packages and recorded the following data:

4.01 4.00 4.02 4.02 4.03 4.00 3.98 3.99 3.99 4.01
3.99 3.98 3.97 4.00 4.02 4.01 4.02 4.00 4.01 3.99

If the sample is representative of all types of granola sold by this manufacturer, what is the range of
weights for 95% of the packages?
^ 3-84 What reaction would you have if an American football fan told you the following? "The Rockland Raiders
average 3.6 yards rushing. Since they only need 10 yards to score and they have four opportunities to
do so, scoring is certain, as long as they maintain their way of playing on the ground."
^ 3-85 How would you respond to the following comment?: "Variability is not an important factor, because even
when
When the result is more uncertain, there is still an equal chance of falling above or below the median.
Consequently, on average, the result will be the same."
^ 3-86 Below are three parts of the one-year budget for defense; to each of them,
The US Congress allocated the same amount of funding:
a) Salary of officials (total).
b) Maintenance of the air fleet.
c) Food acquisitions (total).
Taking into account the distribution of possible outcomes for actual expenditures in each of these
areas, map each section to one of the curves in Figure 3-9. Support your answer.
^ 3-87 Ed's Sports Equipment Company stocks two categories of fishing line. The data about each category is as
follows:

Average test resistance (kg) Standard deviation

Master 40 Exact value unknown, but estimated to be very large

Super 30 Exact value unknown, but estimated to be very small

If you are going to fish for a type of fish whose average weight has been 25 kg this season, with
which of the two lines are you most likely to catch a greater number of fish?
3-88 The vice president of sales at Vanguard Products has been studying records pertaining to the performance of his
sales representatives. It has been realized that in the last two years, the pro level Average sales per rep has
remained the same, while the distribution of sales levels has widened. The sales levels of the company's agents
for that same period have significantly greater variations with respect to the average than in any other two-year
period prior to the one studied. What conclusions can you reach based on these observations?
3-89 New automobiles sold in December by eight Ford dealers located within 50 miles of Canton, Ohio, can be
described in the following data set:

200 156 231 222 96 289 126 308

a) Calculate the range, interquartile range, and standard deviation of this data.
b) Which of the three measures you calculated to answer part a) best describes the variability of the data?
3-90 Two economists study fluctuations in the price of gold. One examines the period corresponding to 1968-1972; the
other studies the one corresponding to 1975-1979. What differences would you expect to find in the variability
of your data?
3-91 The Downhill ski boot factory operates two assembly lines at its plants. The pro manager duction is interested in
improving the consistency of the line that has the greatest variation. The line number Group 1 produces a
monthly average of 11,350 units, with a standard deviation of 1,050. La 2 produces a monthly average of 9,935
units, with a standard deviation of 1,010. Which of the two neas has the greatest relative dispersion?
3-92 On June 30, 1992, the capitalization of nine Pacific and Asian stock markets was:

Capitalization

(in billions of dollars)

Cou
ntry
No table of contents entries found.
 Source: "Asian/Pacific Stock Markets," in The Chicago Tribune (December 14, 1992),
sec. 4, p. 3.

a) Find the arithmetic mean of the data.

b) Find the median of the data.
c) Find the mode of the data.
d) What is the best measure of the central tendency of the data set?
e) Find the standard deviation of the data. (The entire population is included in them.)
3-93 The Fish and Game station on Lake Wylie keeps records of fish caught in the lake and reports its findings to the
National Game Fishing Service. The catch in pounds for the last 20 days was:

101 132 145 144 130 88 156 188 169 13

90 140 130 139 99 100 208 192 165 21

Calculate the range, variance, and standard deviation for this data. In this case, is the range a good measure of
variability? Because?
3-94 The owner of Records Anonymous, a record retailer, uses two different formulas to forecast his monthly sales.
The first formula has an average failure of 700 disks, with a standard deviation of 35. The second, of 300
discs, with a standard deviation of 16. Which formula is relatively less precise?

3-95 Using the following population data, calculate the interquartile range, variance, and standard
deviation. What do you conclude from your answers about the behavior of the cost of heating
fuel?
Average cost per gallon of fuel for heating in eight states of the American Union

1.89 1.66 1.77 1.83 1.71 1.68 1.69 1.73

3-96 The following table presents the average number of male and female police officers of the New
York Police Department who were on duty each day between 8:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. in the
Manhattan neighborhood:
Monday 2,950 Wednesday 2,900 Friday 3,285 Sunday 2,975
Tuesday 2,900 Thursday 2,980 Saturday 3,430

a) Would the variance or standard deviation be a good measure of the variability of this data?
b) What did you find in the pattern of the number of police officers that caused your answer to
part a)?
3-97 A psychologist wrote a computer program to simulate how a person responds to a typical IQ
(intelligence quotient) test. To test the program, he gave the computer 15 different forms of an
IQ test and calculated his IQ score on each form.
IQ values

134 136 137 138

 a) Calculate the mean and standard deviation of the IQ results.
b) According to Chebyshev's theorem, how many values should be between 132.44 and
153.56?
How many values are actually in that interval?
3-98 Liquid Concrete delivers ready mix concrete in 40 trucks. The number of cubic yards
delivered by each truck on a certain day was as follows:
cubic yards

11.9 12.8 14.6 15.8 13.7 9.9 18.8 16.9 10.4 9.1
17.1 13.0 18.6 16.0 13.9 14.7 17.7 12.1 18.0 17.8
19.0 13.3 12.4 9.3 14.2 15.0 19.3 10.6 11.2 9.6
13.6 14.5 19.6 16.6 12.7 15.3 10.9 18.3 17.4 16.3

138 143 144 144

145 146 146 146
147 148 153

List the values in each decile; 8% of trucks delivered less than_____________________________

cubic yards.
^ 3-99 Attendance for the Baltimore Eagles' last 10 home games was as follows:
20,100 24,500 31,600 28,400
49,500 19,350 25,600 30,600 11,300
28,560
a) Calculate the range, variance, and standard deviation for this data.
b) Are some of the results you obtained in part a) an accurate reflection of the variability of the
match attendance data?
c) What other measure of variability could be better?
d) Calculate the value of the measurement you suggested in part c).
^ 3-100 Matthews, Young and Associates, a Chapell Hill consulting agency, has the following records
which indicate the number of days that each of your eight staff consultants was paid last year:
212 220 230 210 228 229 231 219 221 222
a) Without calculating the value of the measurements, which of them do you think would give
you the most information about
ca of this distribution: the range or the standard deviation?
b) Taking into account the difficulty and time to calculate each measurement that you reviewed
in part a), which
would you suggest as the best?
c) What would make you change your opinion about it?
^ 3-101 The following frequency distribution summarizes the price changes that occurred on May 24,
1993 in all companies that participated in the New York Stock Exchange and whose names begin
with L or R.
Number of companies with Number of companies
L with R
Change of price
-1.25 to -1.01 1 1
-1.00 to -0.76 1 1
-0.75 to -0.51 1 0
-0.50 to -0.26 7 5
-0.25 to -0.01 19 20
0.00 14 20
0.01 to 0.25 21 14
0.26 to 0.50 5 8
0.51 to 0.75 3 1
0.76 to 1.00 2 4
1.01a 1.25 1 0
Source: The Wall Street Journal (May 25, 1993): C4-C5.
a) Find the arithmetic mean of the two distributions.
b) Find your median.
c) Find your fashion.
 d) What is the best measure of central tendency for each distribution?
e) Find the standard deviation of the two distributions (each group is a complete population).
f) Use your coefficients of variation to determine which distribution has the least relative
variability. 3-102 Larsen Equipment Rental provides contractors with tools they need only for a few days,
such as concrete saws. When equipment breaks down while being rented, it should be considered out of
service until it is repaired. It's often done quickly, but sometimes it takes a while while parts arrive. It is
useful to do an analysis of lost time to plan inventory. The records of composures in the last year are:
Team Group days broken
1 2
2 19
3 14
4 21
5 5
6 7
7 11
Team group Days broken
8 8
9 29
10 6
11 0
12 4
13 4
14 10
a) What was the average breakdown time last year for the equipment groups?
b) What was the median?
3-103 'Larsen (see exercise 3-102) has just obtained the following additional information:
Team Group machinery parts Team Group machinery parts

1 1 8 5
2 3 9 8
3 1 10 2
4 4 11 2
5 2 12 6
6 1 13 1
7 1 14 1

a) What is the average breakdown time per piece of machinery?

b) What is the average breakdown time per piece of machinery for each group when classifying
them by group?
c) How many groups have a breakdown time above the average per piece of machinery?
3-104 Compare and contrast, broadly, the centrality and skewness of the reading level distributions, in
readership, by volume for all:
a) Monthly magazines.
b) Weekly news magazines.
c) Monthly medical journals, distributed nationally.
3-105 Compare and contrast, in general terms, the central tendency and skewness of distributions
concerning related to the amount of taxes (in dollars) paid by everyone
a) individuals claiming federal refunds in the United States, where the top tax bracket is 28%.
b) Individuals who pay state taxes in North Carolina, where the top tax bracket is 7%.
c) Individuals who pay airport fee taxes (included in the price of the airline ticket) at JFK
International Airport in New York City.
3-106 Allison Barrett performs statistical analysis for an automobile racing team. Below, we present the
figures in miles per gallon of the fuel consumption of their cars in real races. clients:
4.77 6.11 6.11 5.05 5.99 4.91 5.27 6.01
5.75 4.89 6.05 5.22 6.02 5.24 6.11 5.02

a) Calculate the median fuel consumption.

b) Calculate the average of the same consumption.
c) Group the data into five classes of equal size. What is the value of fuel consumption for the
modal class?
d) Which of the three measures of central tendency would best serve Allison when ordering fuel?
Explain your answer.
3-107 Clara Chávez, an analyst with the US Internal Revenue Service, was asked to describe the "average"
 taxpayer in the US in terms of annual gross income. Clara has summary data in which the taxpayer
is classified into different classes depending on the tax they pay. Which measure of central tendency
should you use?
3-108 Flower marketer Emmot Bulb Co. sells surprise bags with flower bulbs. Bags are sold by weight;
Consequently, the number of bulbs in each bag may vary, depending on the varieties included. The
number of bulbs in each bag of a sample of 20 are:
No table of contents entries found.

a) What are the mean and median number of bulbs per bag?
b) Based on your answer, what can you conclude about the shape of the distribution of the number
of bulbs per bag?
3-109 An engineer tested nine samples each of three support designs for a new electric lathe. The following
data corresponds to the number of hours it took each support to fail with the lathe motor running
continuously at maximum power, with a load equivalent to 1.9 times its layer. designed city.
Design
TO B c
16 18 31
16 27 16
53 23 42
15 21 20
31 22 18
17 26 17
No table of contents entries found.

a) Calculate the mean and median for each group.

b) Based on your answer, which design is best and why?
3-110 Table Spice Co. is installing a screen in a section of its new processing plant to to separate leaves, soil
and insects from an expensive kind of spice seed, which he receives in bulk from
the growers. The company can use a coarse 3.5 mm mesh or a finer 3 mm mesh. The finer mesh will retain
more useless matter, but will also remove more seeds. The more open mesh will let more debris
through and remove fewer seeds. The company has the following information taken from a sample
of the waste:
Waste size

1.0 less than 12

1.01-1.5 129

1.51-2.0 186
2.01-2.5 275
2.51-3.0 341
3.01-3.5 422
3.51-4.0 6,287
4.01-4.5 8,163
4.51-5.0 6,212
(in millimeters) Frequency
a) What is the median garbage size and modal class size?
b) Which mesh would you use, according to part a), if you want to eliminate at least half of the
garbage?
3-111 WordPerfect, the developer of popular word processing software, achieved large participation
market development through a business strategy that included free unlimited telephone technical
support. In 1993, the company reported the following summary statistics:

Average daily calls to support Average "on 16,500

hold" time Total calls answered 1 minute 36 seconds

5.01-5.5 2,416 3,976,951

greater than 5.5 1,019

Source: WordPerfect Report, Spring 1993.

Suppose they answer calls 365 days a year, is the reported "average" an arithmetic mean? Suppose a typical
technical representative can handle 165 calls per shift, does it make sense to schedule sea 100 people per
day?
3-112
The following are the average amounts (in dollars) each airline spends on food per pa sajero:
American 7.41
United 7.24
Northwest 5.15
TWA 5.09
Delta 4.61
Continental 2.77
USAir 2.68
American West 2.00
southwest 0.14
Source: "The Going Rate," The Wall Street Journal (June 23, 1995). BU.

What is the mean and median cost per passenger? What would be the best figure to use as an airline
develops its business plan?
3-113 Merrill Lynch, the largest stockbroking firm, commissioned a study of the wealth of American
families. Using US Census data for more than 38,000 families, Dr. Joseph Anderson concluded that
the median level of financial assets (funds for version, excluding real estate) was $1,000, and the
approximate median was $30,000. Since $1,000 is less than the minimum amount needed to invest
in securities, should the company's managers pay Would you like to stop selling shares to the
general public?