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Coding data
Question Paper 1
Level A Level
Exam Board Edexcel
Subject Mathematics
Module Mechanics and Statistics
Topic ocation and s ad
Sub-Topic Coding data
Booklet Question paper 1

Time Allowed: minutes

Score: /
Percentage: /100

Grade Boundaries:

A* A B C D E U

>85% 77.5% 70% 62.5% 57.5% 45% <45%

1
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1. A company manager is investigating the time taken, ​t minutes, to complete an aptitude test.
The human resources manager produced the table below of coded times, ​x minutes, for a
random sample of 30 applicants.

Coded time Coded time

Frequency (f​​ ​)
(​​x ​ minutes) midpoint (​​y ​ minutes)
0≤x<5 3 2.5
5 ≤ x < 10 15 7.5
10 ≤ x < 15 2 12.5
15 ≤ x < 25 9 20
25 ≤ x < 35 1 30

(You may use ∑fy = 355 and ∑f y2 = 5675)

(a) Use linear interpolation to estimate the median of the coded times.
(2)

(b) Estimate the standard deviation of the coded times.

(2)

The company manager is told by the human resources manager that he subtracted 15
from each of the times and then divided by 2, to calculate the coded times.

(c) Calculate an estimate for the median and the standard deviation of ​t .
(3)

The following year, the company has 25 positions available. The company manager
decides not to offer a position to any applicant who takes 35 minutes or more to complete the
aptitude test.

The company has 60 applicants.

(d) Comment on whether or not the company manager’s decision will result in the company
being able to fill the 25 positions available from these 60 applicants. Give a reason for
your answer.
(2)

(Total marks)

2
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. The marks, x, of 45 students randomly selected from those students who sat a mathematics
examination are shown in the stem and leaf diagram below.

Mark Totals Key (3|6 means 36)

3 699 (3)
4 012234 (6)
4 56668 (5)
5 023344 (6)
5 556779 (6)
6 00001344 (9)
6 4556789 (6)
7 1233 (4)

The mean and standard deviation of the marks of all the students who sat the examination
were 55 and 10 respectively. The examiners decided that the total mark of each
student should be scaled by subtracting 5 marks and then reducing the mark by a further
10 %.
Find the mean and standard deviation of the scaled marks of all the students.
(4)

(Total 4 marks)

3
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. The labelling on bags of garden compost indicates that the bags weigh 20 kg. The
weights of a random sample of 50 bags are summarised in the table below.

Weight in kg Frequency
14.6 – 14.8 1
14.8 – 18.0 0
18.0 – 18.5 5
18.5 – 20.0 6
20.0 – 20.2 22
20.2 – 20.4 15
20.4 – 21.0 1

Using the coding y = 10(weight in kg – 14), find an estimate for the mean and
standard deviation of the weight of a bag of compost.
(6)

(Total 6 marks)

4
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. The following table summarises the times, t minutes to the nearest minute, recorded for a
group of students to complete an exam.

Time (minutes) t 11 – 20 21 – 25 26 – 30 31 – 35 36 – 45 46 – 60
Number of students f 62 88 16 13 11 10
[You may use Κft 2
= 134281.25]

(a) Estimate the mean and standard deviation of these data.

(5)

(b) Use linear interpolation to estimate the value of the median.

(2)

(c) Show that the estimated value of the lower quartile is 18.6 to 3 significant figures.
(1)

(d) Estimate the interquartile range of this distribution.

(2)

The person timing the exam made an error and each student actually took 5 minutes less
than the times recorded above. The table below summarises the actual times.

Time (minutes) t 6 – 15 16 – 20 21 – 25 26 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 55
Number of students f 62 88 16 13 11 10

(e) Without further calculations, explain the effect this would have on each of the
estimates found in parts (a), (b), (c) and (d).
(3)

(Total 13 marks)

5
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. The mark, x, scored by each student who sat a statistics examination is coded using

y = 1.4x – 20

The coded marks have mean 60.8 and standard deviation 6.60

Find the mean and the standard deviation of x.

(4)

(Total 4 marks)

. An estate agent recorded the price per square metre, p £/m2, for 7 two-bedroom houses.
p–a
He then coded the data using the coding q = , where a and b are positive constants.
b
His results are shown in the table below.

p 1840 1848 1830 1824 1819 1834 1850

q 4.0 4.8 3.0 2.4 1.9 3.4 5.0

Find the value of a and the value of b

(2)

(Total marks)