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6.5: Practice Problems

  • Page ID
    188103
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    Practice Problems for the Chapter

    1. A group of diners were asked how much they would pay for a meal. Their responses were: $7.50, $8.25, $9.00, $8.00, $7.25, $7.50, $8.00, $7.00.
      1. Find the mean
      2. Find the median
      3. Write the 5-number summary for this data
    2. You recorded the time in seconds it took for 8 participants to solve a puzzle. The times were: 15.2, 18.8, 19.3, 19.7, 20.2, 21.8, 22.1, 29.4.
      1. Find the mean
      2. Find the median
      3. Write the 5-number summary for this data
      4. Find the standard deviation of this data
    3. A group of adults were asked how many children they have in their families. The graph below shows the number

      of adults who indicated each number of children.

      Screenshot 2026-01-05 at 2.31.54 PM.png
      1. Compute the mean number of children for the group surveyed
      2. Compute the median number of children for the group surveyed
      3. Write the 5-number summary for this data.
      4. Create box plot.
    4. The box plot below shows salaries for Actuaries and CPAs. Kendra makes the median salary for an Actuary. Kelsey makes the first quartile salary for a CPA. Who makes more money? How much more?
      Stacked boxplots. The horizontal axis is labeled Salary in thousands of dollars.  The first boxplot is labeled CPA and has left whisker at 30, left box at 40, middle divider at 75, right box at 90, and right whisker at 100.  The second boxplot is labeled Actuary and has left whisker at 40, left box at 75, middle divider at 90, right box at 95, and right whisker at 105.
    5. Referring to the box plot above, what percentage of actuaries makes more than the median salary of a CPA?
    6. Studies are often done by pharmaceutical companies to determine the effectiveness of a treatment program. Suppose that a new AIDS antibody drug is currently under study. It is given to patients once the AIDS symptoms have revealed themselves. Of interest is the average length of time in months patients live once starting the treatment. Two researchers each follow a different set of 40 AIDS patients from the start of treatment until their deaths. The following data (in months) are collected
      - Researcher 1: 3; 4; 11; 15; 16; 17; 22; 44; 37; 16; 14; 24; 25; 15; 26; 27; 33; 29; 35; 44; 13; 21; 22; 10; 12; 8; 40; 32; 26; 27; 31; 34; 29; 17; 8; 24; 18; 47; 33; 34
      - Researcher 2: 3; 14; 11; 5; 16; 17; 28; 41; 31; 18; 14; 14; 26; 25; 21; 22; 31; 2; 35; 44; 23; 21; 21; 16; 12; 18; 41; 22; 16; 25; 33; 34; 29; 13; 18; 24; 23; 42; 33; 29
      Create and compare box plots of the data. Draw the two box plots using the same number line, as shown in the comparison examples, so that you can build a strong argument for the comparison of these box plots.
    7. Make up three data sets with 5 numbers each that have:
      1. the same mean but different standard deviations.
      2. the same mean but different medians.
      3. the same median but different means.
    8. In your class, design a poll on a topic of interest to you and give it to the class.
      1. Summarize the data, computing the mean and five-number summary.
      2. Create a box plot of the data.
      3. Write several sentences about the topic, using your computed statistics as evidence in your writing.

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