8 Scatter graphs

Conalder
• 'Young people buy moro magazinClN than oldtir
• 'People with Jarse hand• 1.1lso have lorae foet.'
, 'The !urger the car the fewer miles it dooa on
petrol.'
AsHertions like these aro commonplace.
How can you find out if there ia any truth in lllly
statements?
f, You should be able to solue this problem after you haue worked through
\ ..·,<.c. ,, ..,, •. '" ...,; .,.. ·-•;,.; ::cc·;;\ :.c. • ~,.

Without evidence, or proof, any assertion is called a hypothe1i1.

In order to judge the truth of any one of the hypotheses ljiven above,
we need to start by gathering some euidence. For the first statement,
we need information relating the age of a person to the number of
magazines bought in, say, the last week, and we need this for several
people.

1 Discuss what information is needed before you can assess the

truth or otherwise of each of these hypotheses.
a 'Not eating green vegetables makes people unhealthy.'
h Students spend more in the school canteen in the later part of
a week than they do at the beginning of the week.
2 To find out if younger people spend more time using electronic
devices than older people, Mary asked several people their age
and the number of hours they spent using electronic devices
yesterday. She then arranged this information in two lists, each
in order of size:
Age: 10, 12, 13, 14, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 35, 47, 60
Number of hours: 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 4
Discuss why these lists will not help Mary with her
investigation.
3 Pradesh wants to find out if there is a relationship between the
ages of students and acceptance of wearing school uniform.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each of the
following methods of collecting the information shown below.

l 160
 ,, Mld11ll 1.1aeh lmllvld\1"1 to t\11 In • lhrm, I.ti,
~'\l'IOt 111\mll

Whicl\ w\1101)1 yoar a1' you in? 'l'kk OI\Cl ofthoa1.1 bo1u,1.

m W lil II
&ihonl unit\)rm la • rood ldu,

~,
-
'l'kk tlw box th11t m111tt cl011t1\y m11t~hllil you1• opln.lon.

••!:II
Scatter graphs
~:.,,h <1ftlw st"t0-menta loobd at in~• ah.ati\tr Inv,!.,,.. two .,a._ ofin~a'1Qn
•lio 11 t mw individ11at (The teohn!Oll naJMll Wwrla"' dalia,) Th• patr1 otaata be
"""l'""XI 1\w ~t>,'t)n.\l lndiYidualL
llisnis:<i,,11 of th;, oxample1 abo,,. ahowa ~t
: 1'. is vitnl that t'Or1-01:1pondin, itln\ l otlnftlrmation I NI lc:ep\ \olethtf.
1
"" snnµlost wt~• of collectina two it.ma of'lrdbrn\at.ion about al\ Uldividual ·Iii QII • •
0 11
hs ' ~•ntion shoot. Uk('! the one in qu11tion 3, part b.
C(\\ISi(\ 1'
''~ t 11s hypothosia: 'Tall peopla ha-,. la.raw tlt.t than lhort poopl-.'
l'his is
' n lXll11111onpla0t, bclitif. but how tN• II it?
llo..'t\it 1111, 1111 ,. • .. .
~it\)·111 . , •01' t'Xl\mpll\\, that if my' friend and J are. U\I! MllUll nlUint , - \ab th• aam~
~h\Jlls't

191
rpMaths 8· . , ·. · · · t t)ult;, tb•" is not tJJUCh relationship
od• tho"' not much .,.tb ,n tbe. state'°'"
. •d'
. 7 ' sheet gives the heights (in
T}lis
between a person's height and shoe size.
,.,tun•""')
weeon trY to,nd
findth• by g,thonng
out,hoe ,;,es of 12"""""
remales ence·
4 5
. which
in tb• order ,n . tbey were .,ked
6 1 e 9 10 11 12

160 5 158 167 161

2 174 166 165 164 16/l
1 166

:;6 :;a 4-0 :;1 :;1 :;I} 42 41

Th"";, no on!" in oith" th• boigh""' tho ,hoe ,;,es and, as it is

patton', •• will """"" the ;nfonnation so that th• b.,;gbt, •" in
sure that each shoe size is kept with its corresponding he·
158 160 161 163 164 166
37 36 38 39 37 40 38
::.7"
and:.:.""om~• that shoo ,i,o does t,nd ro get )o,gor" J,.,;ght in,,,,.,,a However, the
not got tho 1- " '"""' "''"' i, not• direct ,elation between b.,;ght

We get a clearer picture ifwe plot these points on a graph.

43

-X

X
····- •. X

36 X -

155 160 165

Thepofilmdoootollfit on a straight 1. ~""'""' "' m

ow we can see me. A gra .
he;ghl
N that istoll,,
ond shoo,;., p~plo on
not ,tron g ough w,,,.
this ;, ealJ' d a oealter .......)'
t.nd to ha.a ph lilrefoot
to justify the ori' but
· althe relationshiP betw .
gm statement.
I I II In the example above this exercise, we state that ~fonnation
has been collected from 12 people, all of whom we;e fe~le.
Why is it important to say this?

b The axes for the scatter graph above h~ve zig-zag Jines near ·
zero. Why?

I 2 This graph illustrates information relating the ages and

prices of some second-hand cars. The cars are all the same
model.

Age (years)

a Does this evidence support t h e statement below?

'The price of a second-hand car gets lower as the age
increases?'

h Apart from age, what other factors dO You think affect the
Price of a car?

c ls it true to say that a five-year-o Id car is always cheaper

than a two-year-old car?

163
 STPMathl 8

!I 0
l
3
Lim saw this headline in a paper:
'TALL CHILDREN GET BETTER GRADES
AT GCSE THAN SHORT CHILDREN.'
He did not read any further and, because he was sh~rt for his'
age, decided that his school career was doomed to failure.
This scatter graph shows the heights and grades obtained in end-
of-year exams by a group ofYear 8 students.

190 T

180
X
l\<
i ---1----t-·
- * - '.
170
;5 X ; )i( 1
f 160 -----:-- *·::.--~------:----r ~--- x---rlj

l tJ ·' t t 1
).C I ).( J I

150

0 A B C D E F
Grade

a Does the evidence here support the claim in the newspaper?

b Discuss whether end-of-year exam grades are good at
predicting GCSE results.
c What does the evidence here show about the relationship
between heights and results in end-of-year exams?
d Only a very small number of students are represented in
this graph. We will assume that these students have been
chosen randomly. Suppose you chose the students with a
particular result in mind, draw sketches showing the
scatter graphs it would be possible to get. (This is called
biasing the results.)
e Discuss whether you should believe everything you read in
newspapers (or books - even this one).

Note: Keep the graphs drawn for questions 4 to 7: you will need them
for the next exercise.

4 The table gives the French mark and the maths mark of each of
20 students in an end-of-term examination.
76 76
French 45 56 58 58 59 60 64 64 65 65 66 70 71 73 73 75
82 77
Maths 50 38 45 48 56 65 60 58 70 75 60 79 64 80 85 69

164
 ,1 Show this information on 8 ll'aph• 1 ac...,.,..
on each axis. Mark the horizo tal' • •cale of! cni r,
86
mark and the vertical &Jtia fron llXi1 &om 40 to fi or! mark.a
b John is good at French. la he tike315 to 90 for the rna~r \French
y to be &OOd 111&ra.
5 'This table shows the heights and . at m1tha?
we1ght. of 12 l)eOplo
H t (CJW 150 152 155 158 '
168 160
t 66 62 63 163 185 170
" ~ 85 rn 1n 1~
a Show this information on 8 KTa h· . 65 70 67
for each 5 cm of height and mart ;~se a _horizon ta] acale of 2 cm
8
vertical scale of 2 cm for each 5 kg daxta &om 145 to 185. Uae a
75. an mark thi1 llld1 from 55 to
b Carlos weighs 65 kg. Ia he likely to be tall?
6 This table shows the number of rooms and th
in each of 15 houses. e number of people livillf

7 7 8 8
5 3 2 6
a Show this information by plotting the po:"ts on h
. on each axis. "'
scale of 1 cm for one urut a il'llP ; use •
b Cheryl lives in a house with five other people. Is the house likely
to have more than four rooms?
7 This table shows the number of pens and pencils and the number of
books that each of 10 students has in a maths lesson.
Numberof~ ' 2 3 5 6 6 12 15 20 25
Number ofl,oou ,c: 4 5 0 3 1 4 6 2 l 5
a Show this information by plotting the points on a gTaph; use a
horizontal scale of 1 cm for two pens and pencils and a vertical
scale of 1 cm for one book.
b Is the number of pens and pencils brought by a student a reliable
indication of how many books that student has brought?
c Collect corr~sponding information for the students in your maths
class and make a scatter graph from it.
 31

-A·----ss____
36
o-l- 1.,.60_ _ _ _1..,6S
_ _ _ _ _110,..- - - - <11s

0 1 Heisht (cm}

The less scatter there is about the line, the stronPr is the relationship between the two
quantities. We use the word correlation for the relationship between the two ,man1t.it:iAR.··
In the diagntm above, the line slopes upwards, that is, shoe si1e tends to increase with
height. We call this positive comilation.
This scatter graph, from question i in Exercise Sa, shows that the price of cars tends ti,
decrease as their age increase& 6000 ·
The line of best fit slopes downwards, and we say x
that there is negativf! correlation, sooo
S 4000 X
l 3000

2000

If the points are close to the line, we say that there

is a strong correlation.

Strong positive correlation

166
 Use the scatter graphs that you drew for questions 4 to 7 of Exercise
Sa. For each one, draw the line of best fit, if you think there is one;
Describe the correlation between the two quantities in each case.
2 Describe the correlation you would expect between these quantities.
You are not asked to provide any evidence for your answers.
a The number of pages and the number of advertisements in a
newspaper.
b The length and width of a cucumber.
c The weight of tomatoes produced by a tomato plant and its height.,
d The number of miles a car will travel on one gallon of petrol and
the capacity of its engine. .
e The score on each dice when a red dice and a blue dice are thrown
together.
f The number of games a player wins in the first set of a tennis
match and the number of games the player wins in the second set
of the match. ·
g The number of days a student is away from school and the
number of days the student is late in handing in a technology
project.
h The age of a student and that student's feeling about ha~ng to
wear school uniform.
 STPMaths8
'

Il
!
Collecting information
Up to now, the information that you have been asked to
collect can be measured or counted, for example, heights,
weights, times, numbers of heads when three coins are
tossed, numbers of brothers and sisters. In this chapter,
we have introduced quantities that are not so easily
measured or counted, such as shoe size. Some quantities
cannot be measured, such as exam grades, eye colour,
opinions and so on. At some stage, you will have to
collect such information yourself; you will need to plan in
advance, anticipate some of the problems that might arise
and decide how you are going to solve them.

1 Suppose that information is to be collected about the shoe sizes of students

in your year.
a How many categories do you need? Should you stick to the whole
number sizes?
b Will you ask for continental sizes or English sizes?
c If you decide on whole number sizes, what should you do about a
student who insists that all her shoes are size 3½?
d What should you do about someone whose left shoe is size 3 and whose
right is size 4?
e Some people are shy about giving their shoe size. What can you do
about this?
f If you ask people to write their shoes sizes on a piece of paper
anonymously, what could go wrong?
2 Information is to be collected about the eye colour of students in your year.
a State the categories you would use. Why are categories needed?
b List the problems you might meet as you collect the information.
3 Information is to be collected about the time spent by students on maths
homework last night.
a Jack decided to use these categories:
Less than 15 minutes
15 to 30 minutes
30 minutes to I hour
What problems might he have with his choice of categories?
b Erin used these categories:
Less than 15 minutes
15 to 30 minutes
30 minutes to 45 minutes
More than 45 minutes

168
 Why are these ca.._.., __ i... ••__ .1. __ J
• llck's?
"'15"'~ . . _ _ - u i
ii These cate&orles are still notidee} u _ ·
improved? · now C&n_th~ be
What other problems might there be if you ·ask
c long they spent on their homework? - - :, students how

4 Evidence is needed about students• attitudes to Starti. _- the

school day earlier and finishing earlier. ng
Describe the problems with these attempts to get evidence.
a I like getting to school early.
Tick one of these boxes. · fii Ill
b The school day should start earlier and finish earlier. Tick the
box that most closely matches Your opinion.
,-'·~---,..,-1 ii.,~- ~ "':ii
r~ a __
c The school day should start at 8 a:m. and'end at 2 P.Ill.
Tick the box that most closely matches your opinion.

tS::1}
d I would like to finish the school day at 2 p.m.
Tick one of these boxes. M Bl
Discuss how YoU would tackle gathering the evidence.

5 Seema decided to collect information for question 4 by asking

several students questions directly. ·
She asked James ifhe liked the idea of getting to school earlier
and finishing earlier.
She then asked Charlotte if she thought that getting to school
earlier and finishing earlier was a good idea.
She next approached Rafique and said, 'I don't want to have to
get to school at 8 o'clock. Do you?'
Seema Carried on like this, asking different questions of different.
students.
Describe the problems caused by this approach.

Questionnaires
. ;~,
l'he =0rmation required sometimes concerns opm1on
• • on severa!_
liirerent Points. In questions 4 and 5 in the last exercise for example,
'ou tnay have come to the conclusion that more than one queS tion
needed to find out students' attitudes to a change in tbe timing ·
' the schOoI d ay. In cases like
1 . this,
. a s h eet of questions for each
. - _
erson• llllght
IU
• .
be more useful. A set of questions f this sort JS called a
0
estion.naire.

t69
 -----
1 I 1
·o
(\
i
t
1

! 1 Oopy and complete this

questionnaire. .
Notico tho dilTerenH ype• of .
and form • of anawer. I
1. How tall are you? cm
I!
2. Do you consider yourself to be
I
Tall Average Small
1
(Underline your answer.)

3. Do you like being the height you are?

Underline your answer.
Love It Like it Don't mind Dislike it Hate it

4. I want to grow taller 0 2 3

(O means 'not at all', 3 means 'very much')
Ring the number that represents your answer.

5. I am male/female. (Cross out the unwanted word.)

2 Consider the questionnaire above.

a Why is question 5 needed?
b Question 3 could have had an answer in a different form, such as:
2 1 0 -1 -2
Ring the number which represents your liking.
What is the problem when the question is put in this form or in
the form used for item 4?
3 There are several things wrong with the wording of the following
questions and choice of responses. List them, giving reasons.
a Do you like mathematics? 0 1 2 3 4
b What colour is your hair?
c How many people are there in your family?
d Don't you agree that it is wrong to lie?
4 Two different groups conducted a survey on attitudes to making the
town centre pedestrian access only.
Group 1 asked these questions:
Do cars cause pollution?

l
Is crossing the roads dangerous because of the traffic?
Should the town centre be made pedestrian access only?

170
 a Scatter or•P,!!!

. P 2 asked theee quMtiona: ·

(,f\)U ••
would you find 1t difficult to ll'll to thl) 11hopa if tlw town centre wcn.1
pedfljltrian acce11 only?
can you mana,e to carry your 11hoppln1 to ouYiide the town centre?
Should the town centro be made pedeatriM •ccau only?
The last qut!l!ltion in each group is the iaame, Di11cu1111 what you think the
pur!l08e oft.he first two question• In each rroup.
Write 8 questionnaire on a topic ofyou.r own choico, u.elng different
6
t)'pl'S of question. Sometimes the w~rding cen be ~iaundontood: try bhll
qut•stion out on a few people and adju11t the wording whore neccssnry,

consider again
• 'Young people buy more maguinos thnn oldor people,'
• •Poople with large bands also have large feet.'
• "fhe lnrger the car the fewer miles it does on (me litre
How can you find out if there is any t.r uth in any of these
atatemente?
Give a description of what you need to do, but do not coiluct any
e,•idence.

! Practical work

C'onsider this assertion:

'Not cnting green vegetables makes people unhealthy.'
Find out how much truth you thin.k there is in thia statement.
You should include in your answer:
• how you measured the quantity of green vegetables people eat
• how you decided what conatitutea a pcl'll<>n'a state of health
• how you collected any evidonce and who you collected it from
• nny diagrams illustrating your eviden!:9
• your conclusions
• any assumptions that you made
• how rc-liablc you think your oonclu1ion1 are.

171