CH 2
CH 2
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Which of the following variables is an example of a categorical variable?
3. What is the correct ranking of data from weakest or lowest type to strongest or higher
type?
11
Chapter 2
5. The length of time it takes to assemble a particular electronic component varies from an
employee to another. Management has collected the time (in minutes) it took 20 different
employees to assemble the component. The information is summarized in the following
frequency distributions generated by Excel.
6. Consider the following frequency distributions generated by Excel. What is the missing
cumulative % value identified by asterisk?
A) 60.00%
B) 5.00%
C) 100%
D) 90%
ANSWER: D
7. Consider the following frequency distribution generated by Excel. What is the missing
frequency value identified by asterisk?
A) 3
B) 15
C) 16
D) 25
ANSWER: B
12
Describing Data: Graphical
8. Data on the monthly expenses (in $) submitted by 15 people on a firm’s sales staff are
summarized in the following stem-and-leaf display.
Stem-and-leaf
Dollars N = 25
Leaf Unit = 10.0
2 2 57
(7) 3 1145678
5 4 22459
1 5 1
Stem-and-leaf
Dollars N = 30
Leaf Unit = 10.0
2 5 048
5 6 002459
(11) 7 0 0 2 2 3 3 5 5 7 7 8
6 8 002378
3 9 227
1 10 0
What percentage of these men spent more than $900 on professional attire?
A) 87.7%
B) 13.3%
C) 16.7%
D) 83.3%
ANSWER: B
10. Professor Anderson graduated from the University of Michigan with a code value = 1
while Professor Jackson graduated from Michigan State with a code value = 2. The scale
of measurement likely represented by this information is:
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio
ANSWER: A
13
Chapter 2
11. Consider the following frequency distribution generated by Excel. What proportion of
these values are less than 63?
A) 25%
B) 60%
C) 65%
D) 35%
ANSWER: A
12. Companies are often interested in knowing how customers learned about their products.
They often solicit this information on mail-in warranty cards. The customers’ responses
for a particular product were gathered and the data are presented in the pie chart below.
7% Friend
12% 25%
Magazine
TV
17% Internet
39% Other
What percentage of respondents learned about the product through television or the
Internet?
A) 12%
B) 39%
C) 51%
D) 100%
ANSWER: C
13. Pareto’s result is applied to a wide variety of behavior over many systems. It is
sometimes referred to as the
A) “20-80” Rule
B) “80-20” Rule
C) “10-90” Rule
D) “90-10” Rule
ANSWER: B
14
Describing Data: Graphical
A) 0.620
B) 0.305
C) 0.510
D) 0.543
ANSWER: D
15. What percentage of the respondents were unmarried people from the Midwest?
A) 0.195
B) 0.543
C) 0.464
D) 0.359
ANSWER: A
16. What percentage of the respondents were single people from the Northeast?
A) 0.543
B) 0.073
C) 0.475
D) 0.134
ANSWER: B
17. What percentage of the respondents were married people from the South?
A) 0.114
B) 0.169
C) 0.352
D) 0.078
15
Chapter 2
ANSWER: D
18. What percentage of the consumers found their detergent fair or good?
A) 0.49
B) 0.41
C) 0.39
D) 0.29
ANSWER: B
A) 0.203
B) 0.167
C) 0.230
D) None of the above
ANSWER: A
20. Of the customers who were given Brand A, what percentage rated it poor?
A) 0.125
B) 0.024
C) 0.116
D) 0.189
ANSWER: C
16
Describing Data: Graphical
22. In rating the service provided by a waiter/waitress, the following responses are possible:
excellent, above average, average, below average, and poor. The responses are coded
from 1 to 5 with 5 being excellent. The scale of measurement these represent is:
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio
ANSWER: B
23. An automobile insurance agent believes that company A is more reliable than company
B. Which scale of measurement does this information represent?
A) Nominal
B) Ordinal
C) Interval
D) Ratio
ANSWER: B
24. Which of the following best describes the data: zip codes for students attending college in
the state of California?
A) Qualitative data
B) Numerical data
C) Quantitative data
D) Time-series data
ANSWER: A
25. Which of the following best describes the data: grade point averages for athletes?
A) Categorical data
B) Quantitative data
C) Qualitative data
D) Relative frequency data
ANSWER: B
26. Consider the following data: like, no preference, or dislike. Which of the following best
describes these data?
A) Qualitative data
B) Numerical data
C) Quantitative data
D) Attitude data
ANSWER: A
27. At a large company, the majority of the employees earn from $20,000 to $30,000 per
year. Middle management employees earn between $30,000 and $50,000 per year while
top management earn between $50,000 and $100,000 per year. A histogram of all
salaries would have which of the following shapes?
A) Symmetrical
B) Uniform
C) Skewed to right
D) Skewed to left
ANSWER: C
17
Chapter 2
A) Pareto diagram is a bar graph with the bars arranged from the most numerous
categories to the least numerous categories.
B) Pareto diagram includes a line graph displaying the cumulative percentages and
counts for the bars.
C) A Pareto diagram of types of defects will show the ones that have the greatest effect
on the defective rate in order of effect. It is then easy to see which defects should be
targeted in order to most effectively lower the defective rate.
D) None of the above.
ANSWER: D
29. Which of the following statements is false?
A) Discrete data
B) Continuous data
C) Categorical data
D) Ordinal data
ANSWER: C
A) The histogram
B) The scatterplot
C) The time series plot
D) The contingency table
ANSWER: A
A) histogram.
18
Describing Data: Graphical
B) scatter plot.
C) Pareto diagram.
D) pie chart.
ANSWER: B
19
Chapter 2
True-False Questions
35. A histogram is the best graphical tool to display qualitative data.
ANSWER: F
36. It is necessary for a discrete numerical variable to have a finite number of values.
ANSWER: F
37. Ordinal data indicate the rank ordering of items, and similar to nominal data – the values
are words that describe responses.
ANSWER: T
38. An interval scale indicates rank and distance from a natural zero measured in unit
intervals.
ANSWER: F
39. Ratio scale data do indicate both rank and distance from a natural zero, with ratios of two
measures having meaning.
ANSWER: T
40. Bar charts and pie charts are commonly used to describe categorical data.
ANSWER: T
44. Histograms may not be “mathematically correct” since they often cannot be scaled on the
vertical axis.
ANSWER: T
45. A stem-and-leaf displays an exploratory data analysis (EDA) graph that is an alternative
to the line graph.
ANSWER: F
46. In real life, there are not situations in which we need to describe relationships between
categorical or ordinal variables.
ANSWER: F
47. All graphic representations of sets of data need to be completely self-explanatory. That
includes a descriptive meaningful title, and identification of the vertical and horizontal
scales.
ANSWER: T
48. The stem-and-leaf display for summarizing numerical data is a combination of a graphic
technique and a sorting technique.
ANSWER: T
20
Describing Data: Graphical
49. The histogram of a sample should have a distribution shape very similar to that of the
population from which the sample was drawn.
ANSWER: T
51. One possible error in constructing a histogram is to make the heights of the rectangles,
and not the areas of the rectangles, proportional to the frequencies.
ANSWER: T
53. ATP singles rankings for tennis players is an example of an interval scale.
ANSWER: F
55. When a variable is measured, a numerical value is assigned to it, and the result will be in
one of four levels of measurement – nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio.
ANSWER: T
56. Every ogive starts on the left with a cumulative relative frequency of zero at the lower
class boundary of the first class and ends on the right with a cumulative relative
frequency of 100% at the upper class boundary of the last class.
ANSWER: T
21
Chapter 2
ANSWER:
International
Other
8%
10% International
Florida
Florida
16%
Michigan California
36% Michigan
California Other
30%
ANSWER:
40 36
35 30
30
Frequecny
25
20 16
15 10
10
8
5
0
International Florida California Michigan Other
22
Describing Data: Graphical
2.8 4.9 0.5 13.2 14.2 8.9 3.7 15.2 11.2 13.4
5.5 10.2 1.1 14.2 7.8 4.5 10.9 8.8 18.2 17.1
ANSWER:
STEM LEAF UN
0 5
1 1
60.
ANSWER: 2
Construct a frequency distribution of the data.
Time(in hours)
0 but < 3.5
Frequency
3
8
3 7
3.5 but < 6.5 4
6.5 but < 9.5 3
9.5 but < 12.5 3
12.5 but < 15.5 5
15.5 but < 18.5 2
4 59
5 5 23
Chapter 2
61. Construct cumulative frequency and cumulative percentage distributions of the data.
ANSWER:
Time (in hours Cumulative Frequency Cumulative %
< 3.5 3 15%
< 6.5 7 35%
< 9.5 10 50%
< 12.5 13 65%
< 15.5 18 90%
< 18.5 20 100%
62. Use your answer to Question 60 to construct an appropriate histogram of the data.
ANSWER:
4
Frequency
0
3.5 6.5 9.5 12.5 15.5 18.5
Interval Times
63. Determine the percentage of time it takes an employee at most 12.5 hours to process an
order at the plumbing wholesaler.
ANSWER:
65%
ANSWER:
Bins Frequency
2.0 1
4.5 4
7.0 0
9.5 1
12.0 4
24
Describing Data: Graphical
ANSWER:
4
Frequency
0
2.0 4.5 7.0 9.5 12.0
Bins
66. The sales manager for a local commercial waste disposal company has tracked the
yearly dollar value (in $1000) of contracts made by both internal sales people and
external sales people. The data are presented below. Graph the data with a time plot.
What possible conclusions or actions might the firm consider?
ANSWER:
800
It appears that internal sales have been falling while external sales have been increasing
slowly over the period.
25
Chapter 2
23 35 42 28 29 17 38 21 49 52
46 37 25 49 37 25 28 13 29 43
ANSWER:
STEM LEAF UN
1 37
68. Construct a frequency distribution of the data.
ANSWER:
Number of People Frequency
10 but < 17 1
17 but < 24 3
2 13558
24 but < 31 6
31 but < 38 3
38 but < 45 3
45 but < 52 3
52 but < 59 1
3 5778
69. Construct cumulative frequency and cumulative percentage distributions of the data.
ANSWER:
Number of people Cumulative Frequency Cumulative %
10 but < 17 1 5%
17 but < 24 4 20%
4 23699
24 but < 31 10 50%
31 but < 38 13 65%
38 but < 45 16 80%
45 but < 52 19 95%
52 but < 59 20 100%
5 2
26
Describing Data: Graphical
ANSWER:
Executive
Technical
20% 10%
Executive
Professional
15% Professional
Clerical
Administrative
Administrative
Clerical Technical
30%
25%
ANSWER:
35 30
30 25
25
Frequency
20
20 15
15 10
10
5
0
Executive
Professional
Clerical
Administrative
Technical
27
Chapter 2
ANSWER:
A Pareto diagram, named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, is a bar chart that
displays the frequency of defect causes. The bar at the left indicates the most frequent
cause and bars to the right indicate causes with decreasing frequencies. A Pareto
diagram is used to separate the “vital few” from the “trivial many”.
73. A company has determined that there are seven possible defects for one of its product
lines. Construct a Pareto diagram for the following defect frequencies:
ANSWER:
200 100
80
150
60
Percent
Count
100
40
50
20
0 0
Defective Code D B C A E Other
Count 90 70 15 10 8 7
Percent 45.0 35.0 7.5 5.0 4.0 3.5
Cum % 45.0 80.0 87.5 92.5 96.5 100.0
QUESTIONS 74 AND 75 ARE BASED ON THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:
The data in the next table indicate the number of degrees awarded from 1998 to 2005 by degree
type at a four-year university in Illinois.
ANSWER:
525
450
375
Number of degrees
300
Bachelor
Graduate
Law
225
150
75
0
75. What possible conclusions or actions might the university consider?
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
ANSWER: Year
The number of law and graduate degrees awarded is increasing. The number of bachelor
degrees awarded declined from 1999 to 2004 with a slight increase in 2005. Enrollment
restrictions may be in order if class sizes are becoming too large or if crowding conditions
occur.
24.3 13.6 19.7 25.0 31.0 21.8 24.9 31.5 20.2 25.9
29
Chapter 2
33.2 28.3 20.6 39.8 30.6 19.0 20.6 37.1 24.8 29.9
31.1 32.6 49.9 31.1 38.3
ANSWER:
Histogram
10
8
Frequency
0
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Returns
77. Construct an ogive to describe the data.
30
Describing Data: Graphical
ANSWER:
100%
78. Draw a stem-and-leaf display to describe the data.
ANSWER:
Stem-and-Leaf
90% D
QUESTIONS 79 AND 80 ARE BASED ON THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:
The time (in hours) that a sample of 20 students studied for a statistics test are shown below
80%
Stem unit: 10
6.5 5.8 4.5 6.2 4.8 7.3 4.6 3.9 4.4 5.5
5.2 6.7 3.0 2.4 5.0 3.6 2.9 4.0 2.8 3.6
ANSWER:
Stem-and-Leaf D
ge
70% 31
Chapter 2
80. Describe graphically the time (in hours) that students studied for the test
ANSWER:
Histogram
7
6
Frequency
5
4
3
2
1
0
3 4.5 6 7.5
QUESTIONS 81 AND 82 ARE BASED ON THE FOLLOWING
Tim e in hours INFORMATION:
A statistics professor has developed the cross table presented below, that compares students’
class standing with their final grades.
Year A B C D F Total
Freshman ∗ 17 28 8 3 69
Sophomore 14 23 17 10 1 ∗
Junior 17 19 10 2 1 49
Senior 5 8 4 0 ∗ 17
Total ∗ 67 59 20 5 ∗
81. Calculate the missing values identified by asterisks. What patterns do you see in this
table?
ANSWER:
Year A B C D F Total
Freshman 13 17 28 8 3 69
Sophomore 14 23 17 10 1 65
Junior 17 19 10 2 1 49
Senior 5 8 4 0 0 17
Total 49 67 59 20 5 200
It appears that the earlier a student is in his or her college career, the worse they will do
in class.
32
Describing Data: Graphical
82. Convert the data to percentages. What patterns do you see in this table?
ANSWER:
Year A B C D F Total
Freshman 6.5% 8.5% 14.0% 4.0% 1.5% 34.5%
Sophomore 7.0% 11.5% 8.5% 5.0% 0.5% 32.5%
Junior 8.5% 9.5% 5.0% 1.0% 0.5% 24.5%
Senior 2.5% 4.0% 2.0% 0.0% 0.0% 8.5%
Total 24.5% 33.5% 29.5% 10% 2.5% 100%
The percentages of students failing the class for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and
seniors are 1.5%, 0.5%, 0.5% and 0.0%, respectively. It appears that the earlier a student
is in his or her college career, the worse they will do in class.
83. In completing a survey, respondents use the following numbers to indicate marital status.
1 = Single (never married),
2 = Married,
3 = Divorced,
4 = Widowed
Is this data qualitative or quantitative? Explain.
ANSWER:
Even though marital status is coded by number, the data is qualitative as it categorizes
each individual respondent. Also, the average of single and divorced is meaningless.
84. A consumer goods company has been studying the effect of advertising on total profits.
As part of this study, data on advertising expenditures ($1000s) and total sales ($1000s)
were collected for a five-month period and are as follows: (15, 150), (22.5, 300), (10.5,
120), (18, 180), and (21, 225), where the first number is advertising expenditures and the
second is total sales. Graphically display the data, and state any conclusion that you
might draw from the graph.
ANSWER:
Scatter Plot
350
300
250
Total Sales
200
150
100
50
0
5 10 15 20 25
Advertising Expenditures 33
Chapter 2
Clearly the is a positive relationship between advertising expenditures and total sales.
85. In completing a survey, respondents use the following numbers to indicate ages.
1 = Age 19 years and under,
2 = 20 to 29 years of age
3 = 30 to 39 years of age,
4 = Age 40 years and older
Is this data qualitative or quantitative? Explain.
ANSWER:
This is quantitative data; an average age.
86. Explain the difference between the terms “variable” and “data.” Include an illustration that
demonstrates this difference.
ANSWER:
Variable: a characteristic of interest about each individual element of a population or a
sample
Data: refer to the value or values of the variable of interest
Illustration: The age of a person when first attends professional sporting event would be
characteristic of interest about each person and is a variable. Jim was 17 when he first
attended a professional sporting event; 17 is the value of the variable for Jim and is data).
If a circle graph is constructed for these data, what would be the percentage of the graph
for each major?
ANSWER:
Major % of Majors
Mathematics 51.5
Computer Science 22.7
Actuarial Science 15.5
Statistics 10.3
34
Describing Data: Graphical
180 1
0.8
120
0.6
Percent
Count
0.4
60
0.2
0 0
Blem Scratch Chip Bend Dent Others
Defect type
ANSWER:
180 defects
ANSWER:
Percent of chip = (50/180) ⋅ 100% = 15.56%
90. Find the cumulative % for bend, and explain what that value means.
ANSWER:
[(61+50+28+17) /180] ⋅ 100% = (156/180) ⋅ 100% = 86.67%. The value 86.67% is the sum
of the percentages for all defects that occurred more often than Bend, including Bend.
91. Management has given the production line the goal of reducing their defects by 50%.
What two defects would you suggest they give special attention to in working toward this
goal? Explain.
ANSWER:
The two defects, Blemish and Scratch, total 61.67%. If they can control these two
defects, the goal should be within reach.
ANSWER:
35
Chapter 2
100 100
80 80
Percent
60 60
Count
40 40
20 20
0 0
Unwanted Presens Teddy Bears Chocolate J ewelry Flowers Other
Count 45 25 15 12 3
Percent 45.0 25.0 15.0 12.0 3.0
Cum% 45.0 70.0 85.0 97.0 100.0
93. If you want to be 80% sure you did not get your valentine something unwanted, what
should you avoid buying? How does the Pareto diagram show this?
ANSWER:
Teddy bears, chocolates, jewelry; these are listed first in the Pareto diagram.
94. 400 adults are to be surveyed, what frequencies would you expect to occur for each
unwanted item listed on the snapshot?
ANSWER:
The frequencies are 180, 100, 60, 48, and 12 for teddy bears, chocolates, jewelry,
flowers, and don’t know, respectively.
95. The students at small community college in Iowa apply to study either English or
Business. Some administrators at the college are concerned that women are being
discriminated against in being allowed admittance, particularly in the business program.
Below, you will find two contingency tables that show the percentage of students
admitted by gender to the English program and the Business school. The data has also
been presented graphically. What do the data and graphs indicate?
M ma
al
al
No Yes
Fe
No
e
e
Fe
Yes
m
al
e
le
36
Describing Data: Graphical
ANSWER:
These data indicate that a smaller percentage of women are being admitted to the
business program. Only 30.8% of women are being admitted to the business program
compared to 35.9% for men. However, it is also important to note that only 34.6% of all
applicants (women and men) are admitted to the business program compared to 46.5%
for the English program. Maybe the males should say something about being
discriminated against in being admitted to the English program.
96. Of those in the sample who went partying the weekend before the final exam, what
percentage of them did well in the exam?
ANSWER:
22 out of 75, or 29.33%
97. Of those in the sample who did well on the final exam, what percentage of them went
partying the weekend before the exam?
ANSWER:
22 out of 82, or 26.83%
98. What percentage of the students in the sample went partying the weekend before the
final exam and did well in the exam?
ANSWER:
22 out of 150, or 14.67%
99. What percentage of the students in the sample spent the weekend studying and did well
in the final exam?
ANSWER:
60 out of 150, or 40%
100. What percentage of the students in the sample went partying the weekend before the
final exam and did poorly on the exam?
ANSWER:
53 out of 150, or 35.33%
101. If the sample is a good representation of the population, what percentage of the students
in the population should we expect to spend the weekend studying and do poorly on the
final exam?
ANSWER:
15 out of 150, or 10%
37
Chapter 2
102. If the sample is a good representation of the population, what percentage of those who
spent the weekend studying should we expect to do poorly on the final exam?
ANSWER:
15 out of 75, or 20%
103. If the sample is a good representation of the population, what percentage of those who
did poorly on the final exam should we expect to have spent the weekend studying?
ANSWER:
15 out of 68, or 22.06%
104. Of those in the sample who went partying the weekend before the final exam, what
percentage of them did poorly in the exam?
ANSWER:
53 out of 75, or 70.67%
105. Of those in the sample who did well in the final exam, what percentage of them spent the
weekend before the exam studying?
ANSWER:
60 out of 82, or 73.17%
106. The data in the time series plot below represents monthly sales for two years of beanbag
animals at a local retail store (Month 1 represents January and Month 12 represents
December). Do you see any obvious patterns in the data? Explain.
525
450
375
Sales
300
225
150
75
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
O bs ervation Num ber
ANSWER:
38
Describing Data: Graphical
107. The 2005 mobile phone manufacturers' global market shares were as follows: Nokia
26.9%, Motorola 16.9%, Ericson 10.5%, Samsung 6.2%, Panasonic 5.5%, others
(Siemens, Alcatel, Mitsubishi, Philips, NEC, and more) 34.0%. Present this information in
a pie chart.
ANSWER:
Nokia
Others 27%
33%
Panasonic Motorola
6% 17%
Samsung Ericson
6% 11%
108. Create a time-series line graph showing U.S. federal government deficits (-) or surpluses
(+) for 1975-1999 (in billions of dollars):
ANSWER:
39
Chapter 2
150
100
50
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
-250
-300
-350
40