GE 1 – Mathematics in the Modern World Module

Author: Engr. Ida E. Esquierdo Section 2: Mathematics as a Tool

Data Management
Overview
Statistical tools derived from mathematics are useful in processing and
managing numerical data in order to describe a phenomenon and predict values. If
you invest in financial markets, you may want to predict the price of a stock in six
months from now on the basis of company performance measures and other
economic factors. As a college student, you may be interested in knowing the
dependence of the mean starting salary of a college graduate, based on your GPA.
These are just some examples that highlight how statistics are used in our modern
society.
The purpose of this module is to introduce you to the subject of statistics as a
science of data. There is data abound in this information age; how to extract useful
knowledge and gain a sound understanding in complex data sets has been more of a
challenge.
The lessons of this module will focus on the overview of descriptive and
inferential statistics. These include the basic concept of statistics, measures of central
tendency, measures of dispersion, and measures of relative position.

Learning Outcomes
After working on this module, you will be able to:
1. define statistics;
2. differentiate descriptive and inferential statistics;
3. evaluate the different measures of the average;
4. explain the appropriate measure of the average to use in a given data set;
5. use a variety of statistical tools to process and manage numerical data, and
6. appreciate the use of statistical data in making important decisions.

Activities To Do
Watch the video on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo

Question To Ponder
What is the importance of data in understanding and dealing with various aspects of the past
and our present-day living?

Statistics and Its Importance

Statistics defined in its plural sense is a set of numerical data, while in its singular sense
refers to the scientific discipline consisting of theory and methods in processing numerical
information that one can use when making decisions in the face of uncertainty. Others define
statistics as the art and science of collecting, presenting, analyzing, and interpreting data.
Statistics aids in decision making, summarizes or describes data, helps forecast or predict
future outcomes, aids in making inferences, and helps in comparisons or establishing relationships.
In education, for instance, statistical techniques and methods are used to get information on
enrolment, finance, physical facilities, dropout rate, proficiency level, and many others. In
researches, statistical tools are used to test differences, effectiveness, impact, relationships or
interdependence of variables. In management, statistics is used in decision making such as labour
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relations, human resource allocation, performance assessment, and many others. In economics, it
determines trends, helps financial analysts make investment decisions. These are among the many
uses of statistics.

Areas of Statistics

Descriptive and Inferential Statistics

Descriptive statistics is concerned with collecting, describing, and

analyzing a set of data without drawing conclusions (or inferences) about a
large group.

Inferential statistics is concerned with the analysis of a subset of data

leading to predictions or inferences about the entire set of data.

1 The following are examples of descriptive and inferential statistics

Descriptive: - class average of examination
Example

- range of student scores

- average salary
- means of managerial satisfaction
- average return of investment
- number of students weighing at least 50 kg
- increase number of students during the past five years as cited by the
University Registrar
Inferential:- determine whether the impact of the new advertisement of various age groups
is significant or not
- whether there is significant relationship between job satisfaction and
performance of employees
- whether the use of module is significantly effective than the traditional
method
- determine the efficacy of brand X vaccine to COVID-19 survivors and non-
COVID-19 patients

In inferential statistics, the conclusions on the important characteristics apply to a large

group of data is called the population. The population or universe represents the entire group of
units which is the focus of the study. A population could also consist on non-human units such as
farms, houses or business establishments. On the other hand, the subset or a representative group
of the population is called the sample.

A descriptive measure of the population is called a parameter. Examples of parameter are

population mean, population standard deviation, and population variance. A descriptive measure
of a sample is called a statistic. Examples of test statistics are sample mean, sample variance, and
sample standard deviation.

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Classification of Variables

A variable is any characteristics, number, or quantity that can be measured or counted. A

variable may also be called a data item. Age, sex, business income and expenses, country of birth,
capital expenditure, class grades, eye color and vehicle type are examples of variables.

Qualitative and Quantitative Variables

Qualitative variable are variables that yield observations by which

individuals can be categorized according to some characteristic or quality.

Quantitative variable provides information in which a count or

quantity is most important.

2 The following are examples of qualitative and quantitative variables.

Qualitative - gender Quantitative - weight
Example

- marital status - height

- political affiliation - systolic blood pressure
- blood type - number of students
- student number
- GSIS Number

Discrete and Continuous Variables

Quantitative variable could either be discrete or continuous. Discrete

variables are variables or data that can be counted. Continuous quantitative
variables are variables or data that can be measured.

3 The following are examples of discrete and continuous variables.

Discrete - number of patients Continuous - weight
Example

- number of students - height

- number of dropouts - systolic blood
- body temperature

Levels of Measurement

Nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio data are the different levels of measurement. They only
differ in the property of numbers (identity, order, additivity) that they possess.

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Levels of Measurement

Nominal scale is the lowest level of measurement and is most often

used with variables that are qualitative in nature, rather than quantitative.

Ordinal scale possesses the property of identity and order. It can rank
or order the objects to whether they possess more, less or the same amount
of the variables being measured.

Interval scale possesses the properties of identity, order and

additivity but do not have the absolute zero property.

Ratio scale possesses the properties of identity, order, equality of

scale and absolute zero. Ratio scale doesn’t have a negative number, unlike
interval scale because of the absolute zero or zero point characteristic.

4 The following are examples of nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio level of measurement
Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio
Example

gender, eye color, level of educational Celsius scale weight, height, time
smoking status, attainment, military measurement of spent in watching
nationality ranks, academic temperature and television, number of
ranks, class standing intelligence score students

Measures of Central Tendency

Measures of center, or, more colloquially, averages, is the most well-known measures of
numeric data. They are single values, intended as representatives, which can neatly characterize
the whole group. In other words, a measure of the center is any single value that is used to identify
the center of the given set of data. It is often referred to as the average. Thus, trade unions, when
negotiating pay increases, often use an ‘average wage’ as a standard on which to base those
increases. There are three most commonly used measure of the center, namely, mean, median, and
mode.

The Mean

Mean for the Ungrouped Data:

Arithmetic mean or simply the
mean is the most popular measure of Population Mean:
center. It is a sum of a set of measurements
divided by the total number of Sample Mean:
measurements in the set. It is given by the
formula,

Mean for the Grouped Data:

is the number of occurrence or frequency

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5
1. The numbers of employees at 5 different gift shops are 4, 8, 10, 12, and 6. Find the mean
Example
number of employees for the 5 stores.
2. Scores in the Math 120 first long quiz for a sample of 10 students are as follows: 84, 75,
90, 98, 88, 79, 95, 86, 93, and 89.
Solution:

1. x 
 x  4  8  10  12  6  40  8
n 5 5

The mean number of employees for the 5 stores is 8.

2. x 
 x  84  75  90  98  88  79  95  86  93  89  877  87.7
n 10 10

The average score is 87.7.

6
The following data relates to the number of successful sales made by the salesmen employed
Example

by a large microcomputer firm in a particular quarter. Calculate the average number of sales.

No. of sales 0–4 5–9 10 – 14 15 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 29

No. of salesmen 1 14 23 21 15 6

Solution:
Since the given problem is presented in terms of number of salesmen for each range of
number of sales, we can use the formula for the mean of the grouped data. That is,

x
 fx , where: f is the number of salesmen and x is the midpoint between each
n
number of sales and n is the total number of salesmen.

2  1  7  14  12  23  17  21  22  15  27  6
x
80
2  98  276  357  330  162
x
80
1225
x
80
x  15.31

Therefore, the average number of sales is 15.31.

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Weighted Mean

A weighted mean is a kind of average. Instead of each data point contributing equally to the
final mean, some data points contribute more “weight” than others. If all the weights are equal, then
the weighted mean equals the arithmetic mean. The formula is given by:

x
 wx
wT

The following example will show how the weighted mean is used in computing the grade
point average (GPA).

7
A university uses 4 – point grading system, A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1 and F = 0. Dillon’s 2nd
Example

semester grades are as follows. Find his GPA .

Course Course Grade No of Units

English B 4
History A 3
Chemistry D 3
Algebra C 4
Solution:
To compute Dillon’s grade point average, the formula for weighted mean is use below
where x is the grade of every subject, w is the number of units and wT is the total number
of units.

x
 wx  3  4  4  3  1  3  2  4  35
wT 14 14
x  2.5

Dillon’s grade point average for the second semester is 2.5.

Properties of the Mean

 The mean may not be an actual value of observation in the data set because it could be
the median or the mode that would give the actual value of the average depending on the
extreme values of the data set.
 It can be applied in at least an interval level of measurement.
 It is easy to compute.
 Every observation contributes to the value of the mean.
 Subgroup mean can be combined to come up with a group mean.
 The mean is easily affected by extreme values.

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The Median
Median is the middle value of a set of observations arranged in increasing or decreasing
order of magnitude. It is the middle value when the number of observations is odd. It is the
arithmetic mean of the two middle values when the number of observations is even, i.e., it is the
value such that half of the observations fall above it and half below it.

Median may also be computed using the formula for the grouped data.

where: L is the lower limit

F is the cumulative frequency
f is the frequency within the median class
n is the sample size
i is the class interval.

Properties of the Median

 The median may not be an actual observation in the data set.

 It can be applied in at least ordinal level.
 A positional measure; may not be affected by extreme values.

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8
1. Find the median for the data in the following lists.
Example

a. 4, 8, 1, 14, 9, 21, 12
b. 46, 23, 92, 89, 77, 108

2. The median of the ranked list 3, 4, 7, 11, 17, 29, 37 is 11. If the maximum value 37 is
increased to 55, what effect will this have on the median?

3. Find the median in the given set of data.

No. of sales 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29
No. of salesmen 1 14 23 21 15 6

Solution:
1. The data given must be arranged either increasing or decreasing,
then get the middle value for the value of the median.
a. The number of observation is 7, therefore the middle value is 9
when arranged in increasing order. Therefore, the median is 9.
b. Since the number of observation is 6, there are two middle values,
77+89
77 and 89. The arithmetic mean: 2 = 83. Therefore, the
median is 83.
2. The median will remain the same because 11 will still be the middle
number in the rank list.
3. To compute the median of the given set of data, we can use the formula for the grouped
data given by:
n 
 F  No. of No. of Sales
Md  L 2 i Salesmen f F
 f 
  0–4 1 1
 
5–9 14 15
Table 1 shows the no. of salesmen and the
10 – 14 23 38
no. of sales. Therefore, from the formula, 15 – 19 21 59
n 20 – 24 15 74
 40 , F is the cumulative frequency 25 – 29 6 80
2
preceding the median class whose value is i 5 n  80
38, f is the frequency within the median
Table 1
class equals 21, L is the lower limit within
the median class (the true lower limit is
L  0.5  14  0.5  13.5 ).
n 
 F 
Md  L  2 i  13.5   40  38 5
 f   21 
 
 
M d  13.5  0.48
M d  13.98
Therefore, the median of the number of sales is 13.98

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The Mode

The mode is the value that appears the most number of times or that value with the
greatest frequency. The mode may not exist, and even if it does exist it may not be unique. A
distribution having only one mode is called unimodal.

Properties of the Mode

 Can be used for qualitative as well as quantitative data.

 May not be unique.
 Not affected by extreme values.

9
Find the mode for the data in the following lists.
Example

1. 18, 15, 21, 16, 15, 14, 15, 21

2. 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 4, 7, 23
3. 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 8
4. 12, 34, 12, 71, 48, 93, 71
Solution:
1. The value that appears the most number of times is 15 in the given data set. Therefore,
the mode is 15.
2. In this case, the given data set has no mode because no data value that appears more
than once.
3. The value that appears four times than the other is 3. Therefore, the mode is 3.
4. 12 and 71 appear the same number of times. Therefore, the mode is 12 and 17.

Data that has two modes is called bimodal. On the other hand, data that has three modes
is called trimodal.

The mean, the median, and the mode are all averages; however, they are generally not equal.
The mean of a set of data is the most sensitive of the averages. A change in any of the numbers
changes the mean, and the mean can be changed drastically by changing an extreme value.
In contrast, the median and the mode of a set of data are usually not changed by changing an
extreme value. When a data set has one or more extreme values that are very different from the
majority of data values, the mean will not necessarily be a good indicator of an average value.
In the following example, we compare the mean, the median, and the mode for the salaries
of 5 employees of a small company.

Salaries: ₱370,000 ₱60,000 ₱36,000 ₱20,000 ₱20,000

The sum of the 5 salaries is ₱506,000. Hence the mean is:

506,000
= 101,200
5
The median is the middle number, ₱36,000. Because the ₱20,000 salary occurs the most, the
mode is ₱20,000. The data contain one extreme value that is much larger than the other values. This
extreme value makes the mean considerably larger than the median. Most of the employees of this
company would probably agree that the median of ₱36,000 better represents the average of the
salaries than does either the mean or the mode.
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Self-Assessment Activity 1
I. Identify whether the following statements is a descriptive or inferential statistics.
_________________ 1. Last semester, the ages of students at a certain college ranged from 16 to
25 years old.
_________________ 2. Based on the survey conducted by the National Statistics Office, it is
estimated that 24% of unemployed people are women.
_________________ 3. A survey says that 1 out of 10 Filipinos is a member of a fitness center.
_________________ 4. A recent study showed that eating garlic can lower blood pressure.
_________________ 5. After studying the effects of the gradual increase in dosage of a certain
drug on cancer patients, a scientist concludes that the drug can arrest
cancer cell growth at increased quantities in all cancer patients.

II. Classify the following variables as qualitative or quantitative. If the variable is quantitative,
identify if it is discrete or continuous. Then, identify further whether each variable is
nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio.
__________________________________________________ 1. Room temperature
__________________________________________________ 2. Color of cellular phone casing
__________________________________________________ 3. Number of dining customers
__________________________________________________ 4. Serial number of car motors
__________________________________________________ 5. Flavor of ice cream
__________________________________________________ 6. Height of mercury level in a barometer
__________________________________________________ 7. Educational attainment of teachers

III. Answer the following problems comprehensively.

1. Find the mean, the median, and the mode in each of the following list of data.
a. 8, 3, 3, 17, 9, 22, 19
b. 11, 8, 2, 5, 17, 39, 52, 42
c. 101, 88, 74, 60, 12, 94, 74, 85
2. A professor grades students on 5 tests, a project, and a final examination. Each test
counts as 10% of the course grade. The project counts as 20% of the course grade. The
final examination counts as 30% of the course grade. Samantha has test scores of 70, 65,
82, 94, and 85. Samantha’s project score is 92. Her final examination score is 80. Use the
weighted mean formula to find Samantha’s average for the course. Hint: The sum of all
the weights is 100%.
3. A salesperson records the following daily expenditures during a 10-day trip. ₱185.34
₱234.55, ₱211.86, ₱147.65, ₱205.60, ₱216.74, ₱1345.75, ₱184.16, ₱320.45, ₱88.12.
In your opinion, does the mean or the median of the expenditures best represent the
salesperson’s average daily expenditure? Explain your reasoning.
4. If exactly one number in a set of data is changed, will this necessarily change the mean
of the set? Explain.
5. If exactly one number in a set of data is changed, will this necessarily change the median
of the set? Explain.
6. If a set of data has a mode, then must the mode be one of the numbers in the set?
Explain.

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Measures of 1Dispersion
Machine Machine 2
9.52 8.01 In the preceding section we introduced three types of
6.41 7.99
10.07 7.95
average values for a data set—the mean, the median, and the
5.85 8.03 mode. Some characteristics of a set of data may not be evident
8.15 8.02 from an examination of averages.
x  8.0 x  8.0
For instance, consider a soft-drink dispensing machine
Table 2. Soda Dispensed
that should dispense 8 oz of your selection into a cup. Table 2
shows data for two of these machines.

Activity
Compare the dispensed of soda of both machine in Table
2. Explain the variation of data. What effect would this
make to any of the machines?
A measure of dispersion is
the statistical name for the spread or variability of data. This measure determines whether the set
of observations tend to be quite similar (homogeneous) or whether they vary considerably
(heterogeneous). To measure the spread or dispersion of data, we must introduce statistical values
known as the range and the standard deviation.

Range
The range of a set of data values is the difference between the greatest data
value and the least data value.

10
Find the range of the numbers of ounces dispensed by Machine 1 in Table 2
Example

Solution:
The greatest number of ounces dispensed is 10.07 and the least is 5.85. The range of the
numbers of ounces dispensed is 10.07 − 5.85 = 4.22 𝑜𝑧.

Standard Deviation

The range of a set of data is easy to compute, but it can be deceiving. The range is a measure
that depends only on the two most extreme values, and as such it is very sensitive. A measure of
dispersion that is less sensitive to extreme values is the standard deviation. The standard deviation
of a set of numerical data makes use of the individual amount that each data value deviates from
the mean.
The standard deviation indicates how closely the values of a given data are set clustered
around the mean. A lower value of the standard deviation means that the values of that given data
set are spread over a smaller range around the mean. On the other hand, a larger value of the
standard deviation means that the values of the data set are spread over a larger range around the
mean.

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Standard Deviation

Population Standard Deviation:

Sample Standard Deviation:

You may question why a denominator of 𝑛 − 1 is used instead of 𝑛 when we compute a

sample standard deviation. The reason is that a sample standard deviation is often used to estimate
the population standard deviation, and it can be shown mathematically that the use of 𝑛 − 1 tends
to yield better estimates.
To calculate the standard deviation, the following procedure may apply.

Procedure for Computing Standard Deviation:

1. Determine the mean of the 𝑛 numbers.
2. For each number, calculate the deviation (difference) between the
number and the mean of the numbers.
3. Calculate the square of each of the deviations and find the sum of these
squared deviations.
4. If the data is a population, then divide the sum by 𝑛. If the data is a
sample, then divide the sum by 𝑛 − 1.
5. Find the square root of the quotient in Step 4.

The following examples illustrate how the standard deviation should be computed following
the procedure.

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11
The following numbers were obtained by sampling a population.
Example

2, 4, 7, 12, 15.
Find the standard deviation of the sample.
Solution:

2  4  7  12  15
Step 1: Calculate the mean: x  8
5
Step 2: Calculate the deviation between the number and the mean.

𝒙 𝒙−𝒙 ̅
2 2 − 8 = −6
4 4 − 8 = −4
7 7 − 8 = −1
12 12 − 8 = 4
15 15 − 8 = 7

Step 3: Calculate the square of each deviation in Step 2, and find the sum of these squared
deviation

𝒙 𝒙−𝒙 ̅ ̅) 𝟐
(𝒙 − 𝒙
2
(−6) = 36
2 2 − 8 = −6
4 4 − 8 = −4 (−4)2 = 16
7 7 − 8 = −1 (−1)2 = 1
12 12 − 8 = 4 (4)2 = 16
15 15 − 8 = 7 (7)2 = 49
Sum of the squared deviations
118

Step 4: Divide the sum of the squared deviations by 𝑛 − 1, where 𝑛 = 5.

118
= 29.5
4
Step 5: The standard deviation of the sample is: 𝑠 = √29.5 = 5.43

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12
A consumer group has tested a sample of 8 size-D batteries from each of 3 companies. The
Example

results of the tests are shown in the following table. According to these tests, which company
produces batteries for which the values representing hours of constant use have the smallest
standard deviation?

Company Hours of constant use per battery

EverSoBright 6.2, 6.4, 7.1, 5.9, 8.3, 5.3, 7.5, 9.3
Dependable 6.8, 6.2, 7.2, 5.9, 7.0, 7.4, 7.3, 8.2
Beacon 6.1, 6.6, 7.3, 5.7, 7.1, 7.6, 7.1, 8.5
Solution:
The mean and standard deviation were computed for each company: EverSoBright,
Dependable, and Beacon. The results are given below:

EverSoBright : 𝑥̅ = 7 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠, 𝑠 = 1.328 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟

Dependable : 𝑥̅ = 7 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠, 𝑠 = 0.719 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟

Beacon : 𝑥̅ = 7 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠, 𝑠 = 0.877 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟

From the result, the batteries from Dependable have the smallest standard deviation.
According to these results, the Dependable company produces the most consistent batteries
with regard to life expectancy under constant use.

The Variance

Variance
A statistic known as the variance is also used as a measure of dispersion. The
variance for a given set of data is the square of the standard deviation of the
data.

If the population and sample standard deviation is denoted by 𝜎 and 𝑠, respectively,

population and sample variance is also denoted by 𝜎 2 and 𝑠 2 .

13
The following numbers were obtained by sampling a population.
Example

2, 4, 7, 12, 15.
Find the variance of the sample.
Solution:
Since the standard deviation has been computed in Example 2 whose value is 𝑠 = 5.43, the
variance is 𝑠 2 = (5.43)2 = 29.48

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Self-Assessment Activity 2
1. Find the range, the standard deviation, and the variance for the given samples. Round non-
integer results to the nearest tenth.
a. 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 19, 22
b. 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 12, 15, 16
c. 2.1, 3.0, 1.9, 1.5, 4.8
d. 5.2, 11.7, 19.1, 3.7, 8.2, 16.3
2. A mountain climber plans to buy some rope to use as a lifeline. Which of the following would
be the better choice? Explain why you think your choice is the better choice.
Rope A: Mean breaking strength: 500 lb; standard deviation of 100 lb
Rope B: Mean breaking strength: 500 lb; standard deviation of 10 lb
3. Evaluate the accuracy of the following statement: When the mean of a data set is large, the
standard deviation will be large. Explain.

Measures of Relative Position

There are times when we want to know the position of a value relative to the other
observations in a data set. For instance, you took a 100 – item test. You might want to know how
your score of 88 compares to the scores of the other.

Z - Score

Consider an Internet site that offers movie downloads. Based on data kept by the site, an
estimate of the mean time to download a certain movie is 12 min with a standard deviation of 4
min. When you download this movie, the download takes 20 min, and you think that is an unusually
long time for the download. On the other hand, when your friend downloads the movie, the
download takes only 6 min, and your friend is pleasantly surprised at how quickly she receives the
movie. The point here is that, in each case, a data value far from the mean is unexpected.
Measuring the distance of a data value from the mean in standard deviation units instead in
the units of the data (minutes in this example) is quite useful. The number of standard deviations a
data value is from the mean is known as its 𝒛-score or standard score.

𝒁-Score
The 𝒛-score for a given data value 𝑥 is the number of standard deviations that
𝑥 is above or below the mean of the data. The following formulas show how to
calculate the 𝑧-score for a data value 𝑥 in a population and in a sample.

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If the 𝑧 - score is positive, the score is above the mean. If the 𝑧 - score is 0, the score is the
same as the mean. If the 𝑧 – score is negative, the score is below the mean. For instance, a 𝑧 - score
of 3 for a data value 𝑥 means that 𝑥 is 3 standard deviations above the mean and a 𝑧 - score of - 1
for a data value 𝑥 means that 𝑥 is 1 standard deviation below the mean.
The following examples illustrate the computation of the z – score and its corresponding
interpretation.
14
Raul has taken two tests in his math class. He scored 72 on the first test, for which the mean
Example

of all scores was 65 and the standard deviation was 8. He received a 60 on a second test, for
which the mean of all scores was 45 and the standard deviation was 12. In comparison to
the other students, did Raul do better on the first test or the second test?
Solution:
Find the z – score for each test:

72  65 60  45
First test: z   0.875 Second test: z   1.25
8 12
Raul scored 0.875 standard deviation above the mean on the first test and 1.25 standard
deviations above the mean on the second test. These 𝑧 - scores indicate that, in comparison
to his classmates, Raul scored better on the second test than he did on the first test.

15
Which of the following exam grades has better relative position?
Example

A grade of 43 on an Algebra test with 𝑥̅ = 40 and 𝑠 = 3

or
A grade of 75 on a Geometry test with 𝑥̅ = 72 and 𝑠 = 5?
Solution:
Find the 𝑧 – score for each exam:

43  40 75  72
Algebra: z  1 Geometry: z   0.6
3 5

Since, the score z - score for Algebra test is larger, the position in the Algebra test is higher
that the position in the Geometry test.

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16
A consumer group tested a sample of 100 light bulbs. It found that the mean life expectancy
Example

of the bulbs was 842 h, with a standard deviation of 90. One particular light bulb from the
DuraBright Company had a 𝑧 - score of 1.2. What was the life span of this light bulb?
Solution:
Substitute the given values into the z - score equation. Here, z  1.2 , x  842 , and s  90 .

x  842
1 .2 
90
x  842  108 Solve for x .
x  108  842
x  950

The light bulb had a life span of 950 h.

Percentile

Most standardized examinations provide scores in terms of percentiles, which are defined
as follows:

Percentile
A percentile, p, is a measure used to indicate the value below which a given
percentage of observation fall.

For example, the 90th percentile indicates the value below which 90% of observation may
be found. And it is also the value above which 10% of the observations may be found. The
following example illustrates how this will be done.

17
The median annual salary for a physical therapist is ₱ 3,724,000. If the 90th percentile for
Example

the annual salary of a physical therapist was ₱ 5,295,000, find the percent of physical
therapists whose annual salary is
a. more than ₱ 3,724,000.
b. less than ₱ 5,295,000.
c. between ₱ 3,724,000 and ₱ 5,295,000.
Solution:
a. By definition, the median is the 50th percentile. Therefore, 50% of the physical
therapists earned more than ₱ 3,724,000 per year.
b. Because ₱ 5,295,000 is the 90th percentile, 90% of all physical therapists made less
than ₱ 5,295,000.
c. From parts a and b, 90% − 50% = 40% of the physical therapists earned between
₱ 3,724,000 and ₱ 5,295,000.

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Percentile Rank for a Given Data Value

The percentile rank, PR, of a value (𝑥) in a data set gives the percentage of values
in the set that are smaller than :
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑥
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑥, 𝑃𝑅 = × 100
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑡

18
Find the percentile rank of a test score of 49 in the data set: 12, 28, 35, 42, 47, 49, 50.
Example

Solution:
Arrange the data in order from lowest to highest. Notice that there are 5 values of
scores that is less than 49. Then substitute in the formula.

(𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 49)

𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑒 = × 100
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠
5
Percentile  100
7
Percentile  71.4th

71.4 or approximately 71th, this means that 71% of the scores in the distribution are
less than 49 or 29% of the scores in the distribution are greater than 49.

Quartiles

A quartile is a measure of relative standing. Let 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 , … . 𝑥𝑛 be a set of 𝑛 measurements

arranged in order of magnitude. The first quartile, 𝑄1 , is the value of 𝑥 that exceeds one-fourth of
the measurements and is less than the remaining three-fourths. The second quartile, 𝑄2 , is the
median. The third quartile 𝑄3 , is the value of 𝑥 that exceeds three-fourths of the measurement and
is less than one-fourth.
For instance, for the data set below, the values 𝑄1 = 11, 𝑄2 = 29, and 𝑄3 = 104 are the
quartiles of the data.

2, 5, 5, 8, 11, 12, 19, 22, 23, 29, 31, 45, 83, 91, 104, 159, 181, 312, 354

𝑄1 𝑄2 𝑄3

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The following method of finding quartiles makes use of medians.

The Median Procedure for Finding Quartiles

1. Rank the data.

2. Find the median of the data. This is the second quartile, 𝑄2 .
3. The first quartile, 𝑄1, is the median of the data values less than 𝑄2 . The third
quartile, 𝑄3 , is the median of the data values greater than 𝑄2 .

Box-and-Whisker Plot

A box-and-whisker plot (sometimes called a box plot) is often used to provide a visual
summary of a set of data. A box-and-whisker plot shows the median, the first and third quartiles,
and the minimum and maximum values of a data set. See the figure below.

Figure 1 A box – and – whisker plot

Construction of a Box-and-Whisker Plot

1. Draw a horizontal scale that extends from the minimum data value to
the maximum data value.
2. Above the scale, draw a rectangle (box) with its left side at and its
right side at .
3. Draw a vertical line segment across the rectangle at the median, .
4. Draw a horizontal line segment, called a whisker, that extends from
to the minimum and another whisker that extends from to the
maximum.

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19
Construct a box-and-whisker plot for the data set in Example 18.
Example

Solution:
For the data set in Example 6, we determined that Q1  39 , Q2  43 , and Q3  51.5 . The
minimum data value for the data set is 26, and the maximum data value is 73. Thus the box-and-
whisker plot is as shown below.

Stem-and-Leaf Diagrams

The relative position of each data value in a small set of data can be graphically displayed by
using a stem-and-leaf diagram.

Construction of a Stem-and-Leaf Diagram

1. Determine the stems and list them in a column from smallest to largest
or largest to smallest.
2. List the remaining digit of each stem as a leaf to the right of the stem.
3. Include a legend that explains the meaning of the stems and the leaves.
Include a title for the diagram.

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20
Consider the following history test scores:
Example

65, 72, 96, 86, 43, 61, 75, 86, 49, 68, 98, 74, 84, 78, 85, 75, 86, 73
Solutions:
In the stem-and-leaf diagram at the right, we have
organized the history test scores by placing all of the scores
that are in the 40s in the top row, the scores that are in the
50s in the second row, the scores that are in the 60s in the
third row, and so on. The tens digits of the scores have been
placed to the left of the vertical line. In this diagram, they
are referred to as stems. The ones digits of the test scores
have been placed in the proper row to the right of the
vertical line. In this diagram, they are the leaves. It is now
easy to make observations about the distribution of the
scores. Only two of the scores are in the 90s. Six of the
scores are in the 70s, and none of the scores are in the 50s.
The lowest score is 43, and the highest is 98.

The choice of how many leading digits to use as the stem will depend on the particular data
set. For instance, consider the following data set, in which a travel agent has recorded the amount
spent by customers for a cruise.

₱3600 ₱6200 ₱3800 ₱4500 ₱4700 ₱5900 ₱4900

₱2900 ₱7200 ₱2100 ₱5400 ₱3700 ₱2100 ₱4100
₱5400 ₱3700 ₱5700 ₱5200 ₱3100 ₱4800 ₱4400
₱7300 ₱3100 ₱4800 ₱9400 ₱6200 ₱4500 ₱2400

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One method of choosing the stems is to let each

thousands digit be a stem and each hundreds digit be a leaf.
If the stems and leaves are assigned in this manner, then
the notation 2 | 1, with a stem of 2 and a leaf of 1,
represents a cost of ₱2100, and 5 | 4 represents a cost of
₱5400. A stem-and-leaf diagram can now be constructed
by writing all of the stems in a column from smallest to
largest to the left of a vertical line and writing the
corresponding leaves to the right of the line. See the
diagram on the right.

Sometimes two sets of data can be

compared by using a back-to-back stem-and-leaf
diagram, in which common stems are listed in the
middle column of the diagram. Leaves from one
data set are displayed to the right of the stems,
and leaves from the other data set are displayed
to the left. For instance, the back-to-back stem-
and-leaf diagram on the left shows the test scores
for two classes that took the same test. It is easy to
see that the 8 a.m. class did better on the test
because it had more scores in the 80s and 90s and
fewer scores in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. The number
of scores in the 70s was the same for both classes.

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Self-Assessment Activity 3
1. A data set has a mean of 𝑥̅ = 75 and a standard deviation of 11.5. Find the 𝑧 − 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 for each
of the following.
a. 𝑥 = 85
b. 𝑥 = 95
c. 𝑥 = 50
d. 𝑥 = 75
2. A blood pressure test was given to 450 women ages 20 to 36. It showed that their mean
systolic blood pressure was 119.4 mm Hg, with a standard deviation of 13.2 mm Hg.
a. Determine the z-score, to the nearest hundredth, for a woman who had a systolic blood
pressure reading of 110.5 mm Hg.
b. The 𝑧 - score for one woman was 2.15. What was her systolic blood pressure reading?
3. The following data give the scores of 18 students in a Statistics class:

84 92 87 77 98 58 63 97 82
94 84 90 68 64 92 78 75 84

a. Calculate the values of the three quartiles.

b. Find the percentile of a score of 82.
4. On a reading test, Shaylen’s score of 455 was higher than the scores of 4256 of the 7210
students who took the test. Find the percentile, rounded to the nearest percent, for Shaylen’s
score.
5. The following table shows the number of prescriptions a doctor wrote each day for a 36-day
period.
Use the median procedure for finding quartiles to find the first, second, and third quartiles
for the data.

Number of Prescriptions Written per Day

8 7 11 9 10 14 12 14 12
14 14 10 14 10 8 15 8 9
10 7 14 12 7 15 9 11 13
10 12 10 16 16 10 8 15 12

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Summary
This module served as a review of SHS Math 2 (Statistics and Probability). We have
discussed the differences between descriptive and inferential statistics. We have learned to
classified variables as qualitative and quantitative (discrete and continuous); levels of
measurement; measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode); measures of dispersion
(range; standard deviation, and variance); and measures of relative position (z-score, percentile,
and quartile).

Mean for the Ungrouped Data:

Population Mean:

Sample Mean:

Mean for the Grouped Data:

is the number of occurrence or frequency

where: L is the lower limit

F is the cumulative frequency
f is the frequency within the median class
n is the sample size
i is the class interval.

Standard Deviation

Population Standard Deviation:

Sample Standard Deviation:

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References
Aufmann, R., Lockwood, J., et.al, Mathematics in the Modern World, Rex Bookstore, Inc., 2018.
Lerner, K.L., Lerner, B.W., Real-life Math, Vol. 2, Thomson Gale, 2006.
Nocon, R., Nocon, E., Essential Mathematics for the Modern World, C & E Publishing, Inc. 2018.
Post, T.R., The Role of Manipulative Materials in the Learning Mathematical Concepts.
Retrieved from: http://www.cehd.umm.edu/ci/rationalnumberproject/81_4.html

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