Exercise 2.

Self-Check Exercises
SC 2-1 Here are the ages of 50 members of a country social service program:

83 51 66 61 82 65 54 56 92 60
65 87 68 64 51 70 75 66 74 68
44 55 78 69 98 67 82 77 79 62
38 88 76 99 84 47 60 42 66 74
91 71 83 80 68 65 51 56 73 55
Use these data to construct relative frequency distributions using 7 equal intervals and 13 equal intervals. State policies on
social service programs require that approximately 50 percent of the program participants be older than 50.
(a) Is the program in compliance with the policy?
(b) Does your 13-interval relative frequency distribution help you answer part (a) better than your 7-interval distribution?
(c) Suppose the Director of Social Services wanted to know the proportion of program participants between 45 and 50 years
old. Could you estimate the answer for her better with a 7- or a 13-interval relative frequency distribution?
SC 2-2 Using the data in Table 2-1 on page 12, arrange the data in an array from highest to lowest high school GPA. Now arrange
the data in an array from highest to lowest college GPA. What can you conclude from the two arrays that you could not from
the original data?

Applications
2-9 Transmission Fix-It stores recorded the number of service tickets submitted by each of its
20 stores last month as follows:
823 648 321 634 752
669 427 555 904 586
722 360 468 847 641
217 588 349 308 766

The company believes that a store cannot really hope to break even financially with fewer than 475 service actions a month.
It is also company policy to give a financial bonus to any store manager who generates more than 725 service actions a
month. Arrange these data in a data array and indicate how many stores are not breaking even and how many are to get
bonuses.
2-10 Use the data from Transmission Fix-It in Exercise 2-9. The company financial VP has set up what she calls a “store watch
list,” that is, a list of the stores whose service activity is low enough to warrant additional attention from the home office.
This category includes stores whose service activity is between 550 and 650 service actions a month. How many stores
should be on that list based on last month’s activity?
2-11 The number of hours taken by transmission mechanics to remove, repair, and replace transmissions in one of the
Transmission Fix-It stores one day last week is recorded as follows:
4.3 2.7 3.8 2.2 3.4
3.1 4.5 2.6 5.5 3.2
6.6 2.0 4.4 2.1 3.3
6.3 6.7 5.9 4.1 3.7
Construct a frequency distribution with intervals of 1.0 hour from these data. What conclusions can you reach about the
productivity of mechanics from this distribution? If Transmission Fix-It management believes that more than 6.0 hours is
evidence of unsatisfactory performance, does it have a major or minor problem with performance in this particular store?
2-12 The Orange County Transportation Commission is concerned about the speed motorists are driving on a section of the main
highway. Here are the speeds of 45 motorists:
15 32 45 46 42 39 68 47 18
31 48 49 56 52 39 48 69 61
44 42 38 52 55 58 62 58 48
56 58 48 47 52 37 64 29 55
38 29 62 49 69 18 61 55 49

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 Use these data to construct relative frequency distributions using 5 equal intervals and 11 equal intervals. The U.S.
Department of Transportation reports that, nationally, no more than 10 percent of the motorists exceed 55 mph.
(a) Do Orange County motorists follow the U.S. DOT’s report about national driving patterns?
(b) Which distribution did you use to answer part (a)?
(c) The U.S. DOT has determined that the safest speed for this highway is more than 36 but less than 59 mph. What
proportion of the motorists drive within this range? Which distribution helped you answer this question?
2-13 Arrange the data in Table 2-2 on page 12 in an array from highest to lowest.
(a) Suppose that state law requires bridge concrete to withstand at least 2,500 lb/sq in. How many samples would fail this
test?
(b) How many samples could withstand a pressure of at least 2,497 lb/sq in. but could not withstand a pressure greater than
2,504 lb/sq in.?
(c) As you examine the array, you should notice that some samples can withstand identical amounts of pressure. List these
pressures and the number of samples that can withstand each amount.
2-14 A recent study concerning the habits of U.S. cable television consumers produced the following data:
Number of Channels Number of Hours Spent
Purchased Watching Television per Week

25 14

18 16

42 12

96 6

28 13

43 16

39 9

29 7

17 19

84 4

76 8

22 13

104 6

Arrange the data in an array. What conclusion(s) can you draw from these data?
2-15 The Environmental Protection Agency took water samples from 12 different rivers and streams that feed into Lake Erie.
These samples were tested in the EPA laboratory and rated as to the amount of solid pollution suspended in each sample.
The results of the testing are given in the following table:
Sample 1 2 3 4 5 6

Pollution Rating (ppm) 37.2 51.7 68.4 54.2 49.9 33.4

Sample 7 8 9 10 11 12

Pollution Rating (ppm) 39.8 52.7 60.0 46.1 38.5 49.1

(a) Arrange the data into an array from highest to lowest.

(b) Determine the number of samples having a pollution content between 30.0 and 39.9, 40.0 and 49.9, 50.0 and 59.9, and
60.0 and 69.9.
(c) If 45.0 is the number used by the EPA to indicate excessive pollution, how many samples would be rated as having
excessive pollution?
(d) What is the largest distance between any two consecutive samples?
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2-16 Suppose that the admissions staff mentioned in the discussion of Table 2-1 on page 12 wishes to examine the relationship
between a student’s differential on the college SAT examination (the difference between actual and expected score based on
the student’s high school GPA) and the spread between the student’s high school and college GPA (the difference between
the college and high school GPA). The admissions staff will use the following data:
H.S. GPA College GPA SAT Score H.S. GPA College GPA SAT Score

3.6 2.5 1,100 3.4 3.6 1,180

2.6 2.7 940 2.9 3.0 1,010

2.7 2.2 950 3.9 4.0 1,330

3.7 3.2 1,160 3.2 3.5 1,150

4.0 3.8 1,340 2.1 2.5 940

3.5 3.6 1,180 2.2 2.8 960

3.5 3.8 1,250 3.4 3.4 1,170

2.2 3.5 1,040 3.6 3.0 1,100

3.9 3.7 1,310 2.6 1.9 860

4.0 3.9 1,330 2.4 3.2 1,070

In addition, the admissions staff has received the following information from the Educational Testing Service:
H.S. GPA Avg. SAT Score H.S. GPA Avg. SAT Score

4.0 1,340 2.9 1,020

3.9 1,310 2.8 1,000

3.8 1,280 2.7 980

3.7 1,250 2.6 960

3.6 1,220 2.5 940

3.5 1,190 2.4 920

3.4 1,160 2.3 910

3.3 1,130 2.2 900

3.2 1,100 2.1 880

3.1 1,070 2.0 860

3.0 1,040

(a) Arrange these data into an array of spreads from highest to lowest. (Consider an increase in college GPA over high
school GPA as positive and a decrease in college GPA below high school GPA as negative.) Include with each spread the
appropriate SAT differential. (Consider an SAT score below expected as negative and above expected as positive.)
(b) What is the most common spread?
(c) For this spread in part (b), what is the most common SAT differential?
(d) From the analysis you have done, what do you conclude?

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Exercise 2.4

Self-Check Exercises
SC 2-3 High Performance Bicycle Products Company in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, sampled its shipping records for a certain day
with these results:
Time from Receipt of Order to Delivery (in Days)

4 12 8 14 11 6 7 13 13 11

11 20 5 19 10 15 24 7 19 6

Construct a frequency distribution for these data and a relative frequency distribution. Use intervals of 6 days.
(a) What statement can you make about the effectiveness of order processing from the frequency distribution?
(b) If the company wants to ensure that half of its deliveries are made in 10 or fewer days, can you determine from the
frequency distribution whether they have reached this goal?
(c) What does having a relative frequency distribution permit you to do with the data that is difficult to do with only a
frequency distribution?
SC 2-4 Mr. Frank, a safety engineer for the Mars Point Nuclear Power Generating Station, has charted the peak reactor temperature
each day for the past year and has prepared the following frequency distribution:

Temperatures in °C Frequency

Below 500 4

501–510 7

511–520 32

521–530 59

530–540 82

550–560 65

561–570 33

571–580 28

580–590 27

591–600 23

Total 360

List and explain any errors you can find in Mr. Franks’s distribution.

Applications
2-17 Universal Burger is concerned about product waste, so they sampled their burger waste record from the past year with the
following results:
Number of Burgers Discarded During a Shift

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 2 16 4 12 19 29 24 7 19

22 14 8 24 31 18 20 16 6

Construct a frequency distribution for these data and a relative frequency distribution. Use intervals of 5 burgers.
(a) One of Universal Burger’s goals is for at least 75 percent of shifts to have no more than 16 burgers wasted. Can you
determine from the frequency distribution whether this goal has been achieved?
(b) What percentage of shifts have waste of 21 or fewer burgers? Which distribution did you use to determine your answer?
2-18 Refer to Table 2-2 on page 18 and construct a relative frequency distribution using intervals of 4.0 lb/sq in. What do you
conclude from this distribution?
2-19 The Bureau of Labor Statistics has sampled 30 communities nationwide and compiled prices in each community at the
beginning and end of August in order to find out approximately how the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has changed during
August. The percentage changes in prices for the 30 communities are as follows:
0.7 0.4 –0.3 0.2 –0.1 0.1 0.3 0.7 0.0 –0.4

0.1 0.5 0.2 0.3 1.0 –0.3 0.0 0.2 0.5 0.1

–0.5 –0.3 0.1 0.5 0.4 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.4

(a) Arrange the data in an array from lowest to highest.

(b) Using the following four equal-sized classes, create a frequency distribution: –0.5 to –0.2, –0.1 to 0.2, 0.3 to 0.6, and 0.7
to 1.0.
(c) How many communities had prices that either did not change or that increased less than 1.0 percent?
(d) Are these data discrete or continuous?
2-20 Sarah Anne Rapp, the president of Baggit, Inc., has just obtained some raw data from a marketing survey that her company
recently conducted. The survey was taken to determine the effectiveness of the new company slogan, “When you’ve given
up on the rest, Baggit!” To determine the effect of the slogan on the sales of Luncheon Baggits, 20 people were asked how
many boxes of Luncheon Baggits per month they bought before and after the slogan was used in the advertising campaign.
The results were as follows:
Before/After Before/After Before/After Before/After

4 3 2 1 5 6 8 10

4 6 6 9 2 7 1 3

1 5 6 7 6 8 4 3

3 7 5 8 8 4 5 7

5 5 3 6 3 5 2 2

(a) Create both frequency and relative frequency distributions for the “Before” responses, using as classes 1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–
8, and 9–10.
(b) Work part (a) for the “After” responses.
(c) Give the most basic reason why it makes sense to use the same classes for both the “Before” and “After” responses.
(d) For each pair of “Before/After” responses, subtract the “Before” response from the “After” response to get the number
that we will call “Change” (example: 3 – 4  –1), and create frequency and relative frequency distributions for “Change”
using classes –5 to –4, –3 to –2, –1 to 0, 1 to 2, 3 to 4, and 5 to 6.
(e) Based on your analysis, state whether the new slogan has helped sales, and give one or two reasons to support your
conclusion.
2-21 Here are the ages of 30 people who bought video recorders at Symphony Music Shop last week:
26 37 40 18 14 45 32 68 31 37

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 20 32 15 27 46 44 62 58 30 42

22 26 44 41 34 55 50 63 29 22

(a) From looking at the data just as they are, what conclusions can you come to quickly about Symphony’s market?
(b) Construct a 6-category closed classification. Does having this enable you to conclude anything more about Symphony’s
market?
2-22 Use the data from Exercise 2-21.
(a) Construct a 5-category open-ended classification. Does having this enable you to conclude anything more about
Symphony’s market?
(b) Now construct a relative frequency distribution to go with the 5-category open-ended classification. Does having this
provide Symphony with additional information useful in its marketing? Why?
2-23 John Lyon, owner of Fowler’s Food Store in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has arranged his customers’ purchase amounts last
week into this frequency distribution:
$ Spent Frequency $ Spent Frequency $ Spent Frequency

0.00–0.99 50 16.00–18.99 1,150 34.00–36.99 610

1.00–3.99 240 19.00–21.99 980 37.00–39.99 420

4.00–6.99 300 22.00–24.99 830 40.00–42.99 280

7.00–9.99 460 25.00–27.99 780 43.00–45.99 100

10.00–12.99 900 28.00–30.99 760 46.00–48.99 90

13.00–15.99 1,050 31.00–33.99 720

John says that having 17 intervals each defined by 2 numbers is cumbersome. Can you help him simplify the data he has
without losing too much of their value?
2-24 Here are the midpoints of the intervals for a distribution representing minutes it took the members of a university track team
to complete a 5-mile cross-country run.
25 35 45

(a) Would you say that the team coach can get enough information from these midpoints to help the team?
(b) If your answer to part (a) is “no,” how many intervals do seem appropriate?
2-25 Barney Mason has been examining the amount of daily french fry waste (in pounds) for the past 6 months at Universal
Burger and has created the following frequency distribution:
French Fry Waste in Pounds Frequency

0.0–3.9 37
4.0–7.9 46
8.0–11.9 23
12.0–16.9 27
17.0–25.9 7
26.0–40.9 0

180

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 List and explain any errors you can find in Barney’s distribution.
2-26 Construct a discrete, closed classification for the possible responses to the “marital status” portion of an employment
application. Also, construct a 3-category, discrete, open-ended classification for the same responses.
2-27 Stock exchange listings usually contain the company name, the high and low bids, the closing price, and the change from the
previous day’s closing price. Here’s an example:
Name High Bid Low Bid Closing Change

System Associates 111⁄2 107⁄8 111⁄4 +1⁄2

Is a distribution of all (a) stocks on the New York Stock Exchange by industry, (b) closing prices on a given day, and (c)
changes in prices from the previous day
(1) Quantitative or qualitative?
(2) Continuous or discrete?
(3) Open-ended or closed?
Would your answer to part (c) be different if the change were expressed simply as “higher,” “lower,” or “unchanged”?
2-28 The noise level in decibels of aircraft departing Westchester County Airport was rounded to the nearest decibel and grouped
in a frequency distribution having intervals with midpoints at 100 and 130. Under 100 decibels is not considered loud at all,
and anything over 140 decibels is almost deafening. If Residents for a Quieter Neighborhood is gathering data for its lawsuit
against the airport, is this distribution adequate for its purpose?
2-29 Use the data from Exercise 2-28. If the lawyer defending the airport is collecting data preparatory to going to trial, would she
approve of the midpoints of the intervals in Exercise 2-28 for her purposes?
2-30 The president of Ocean Airlines is trying to estimate when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is most likely to rule
on the company’s application for a new route between Charlotte and Nashville. Assistants to the president have assembled
the following waiting times for applications filed during the past year. The data are given in days from the date of
application until an FAA ruling.
34 40 23 28 31 40 25 33 47 32
44 34 38 31 33 42 26 35 27 31
29 40 31 30 34 31 38 35 37 33
24 44 37 39 32 36 34 36 41 39
29 22 28 44 51 31 44 28 47 31

(a) Construct a frequency distribution using 10 closed intervals, equally spaced. Which interval contains the most data
points?
(b) Construct a frequency distribution using 5 closed intervals, equally spaced. Which interval contains the most data
points?
(c) If the president of Ocean Airlines had a relative frequency distribution for either (a) or (b), would that help him estimate
the answer he needs?
2-31 For the purpose of performance evaluation and quota adjustment, Ralph Williams monitored the auto sales of his 40
salespeople. Over a 1-month period, they sold the following number of cars:
7 8 5 10 9 10 5 12 8 6

10 11 6 5 10 11 10 5 9 13

8 12 8 8 10 15 7 6 8 8

5 6 9 7 14 8 7 5 5 14

(a) Based on frequency, what would be the desired class marks (midpoints of the intervals)?
(b) Construct a frequency and relative frequency distribution having as many of these marks as possible. Make your
intervals evenly spaced and at least two cars wide.
(c) If sales fewer than seven cars a month is considered unacceptable performance, which of the two answers, (a) or (b),
helps you more in identifying the unsatisfactory group of salespeople?
2-32 Kessler’s Ice Cream Delight attempts to keep all of its 55 flavors of ice cream in stock at each of its stores. Their marketing-
research director suggests that keeping better records for each store is the key to preventing stockouts. Don Martin, director

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 of store operations, collects data to the nearest half gallon on the daily amount of each flavor of ice cream that is sold. No
more than 20 gallons of any flavor are ever used on one day.
(a) Is the flavor classification discrete or continuous? Open or closed?
(b) Is the “amount of ice cream” classification discrete or continuous? Open or closed?
(c) Are the data qualitative or quantitative?
(d) What would you suggest Martin do to generate better data for market-research purposes?
2-33 Doug Atkinson is the owner and ticket collector for a ferry that transports people and cars from Long Island to Connecticut.
Doug has data indicating the number of people, as well as the number of cars, that have ridden the ferry during the past 2
months. For example,
JULY 3 NUMBER OF PEOPLE, 173 NUMBER OF CARS, 32

might be a typical daily entry for Doug. Doug has set up six equally spaced classes to record the daily number of people, and
the class marks are 84.5, 104.5, 124.5, 144.5, 164.5, and 184.5. Doug’s six equally spaced classes for the daily number of
cars have class marks of 26.5, 34.5, 42.5, 50.5, 58.5, and 66.5. (The class marks are the midpoints of the intervals.)
(a) What are the upper and lower boundaries of the classes for the number of people?
(b) What are the upper and lower boundaries of the classes for the number of cars?

Exercise 2.5

Self-Check Exercises
SC 2-5 Here is a frequency distribution of the weight of 150 people who used a ski lift a certain day. Construct a histogram for these
data.
Class Frequency Class Frequency

75–89 10 150–164 23

90–104 11 165–179 9

105–119 23 180–194 9

120–134 26 195–209 6

135–149 31 210–224 2

(a) What can you see from the histogram about the data that was not immediately apparent from the frequency distribution?
(b) If each ski lift chair holds two people but is limited in total safe weight capacity to 400 pounds, what can the operator do
to maximize the people capacity of the ski lift without exceeding the safe weight capacity of a chair? Do the data support
your proposal?
SC 2-6 Central Carolina Hospital has the following data representing weight in pounds at birth of 200 premature babies.
Class Frequency Class Frequency

0.5–0.9 10 2.5–2.9 29

1.0–1.4 19 3.0–3.4 34

1.5–1.9 24 3.5–3.9 40

2.0–2.4 27 4.0–4.4 17

Construct an ogive that will help you answer these questions:

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 (a) What was the approximate middle value in the original data set?
(b) If premature babies under 3.0 pounds are normally kept in an incubator for several days as a precaution, about what
percentage of Central’s premature babies will need an incubator?

Applications
2-34 Here is a frequency distribution of the length of phone calls made by 175 people during a Labor Day weekend. Construct a
histogram for these data.
Length in Minutes Frequency

1– 7 45

8–14 32

15–21 34

22–28 22

29–35 16

36–42 12

43–49 9

50–56 5

(a) Describe the general shape of the histogram. Does there appear to be a pattern?
(b) Suppose all the people were making their calls from a room that had 10 different phones, and each person knew which
time class the call would belong to. Suggest an ordering so that all calls can be completed as fast as possible.
(c) Does the order affect the length of time to complete all calls?
2-35 Golden Acres is a homeowners’ association that operates a trailer park outside Orlando, Florida, where retirees keep their
winter homes. In addition to lot rents, a monthly facility fee of $12 is charged for social activities at the clubhouse. One
board member has noted that many of the older residents never attend the clubhouse functions, and has proposed waiving the
fee for association members over age 60. A survey of 25 residents reported the following ages:
66 65 96 80 71

93 66 96 75 61

69 61 51 84 58

73 77 89 69 92

57 56 55 78 96

Construct an ogive that will help you answer these questions:

(a) Roughly what proportion of residents would be eligible for no fee?
(b) Approximately what fee would the board have to charge to the remaining (fee-paying) residents to cover the same total
cost of running the clubhouse?
2-36 Homer Willis, a fishing boat captain from Salter Path, North Carolina, believes that the break-even catch on his boats is
5,000 pounds per trip. Here are data on a sample of catches on 20 fishing trips Homer’s boats have made recently:
6,500 6,700 3,400 3,600 2,000

7,000 5,600 4,500 8,000 5,000

4,600 8,100 6,500 9,000 4,200

4,800 7,000 7,500 6,000 5,400

Construct an ogive that will help you answer these questions:

(a) Roughly what proportion of the trips breaks even for Homer?
(b) What is the approximate middle value in the data array for Homer’s boats?
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 (c) What catch do Homer's boats exceed 80 percent of the time?
2-37 The Massachusetts Friends of Fish has the following data representing pollutants (in parts per million) at 150 sites in the
state:
Pollutants (in ppm) Frequency Pollutants (in ppm) Frequency

5.0– 8.9 14 25.0–28.9 16

9.0–12.9 16 29.0–32.9 9

13.0–16.9 28 33.0–36.9 7

17.0–20.9 36 37.0–40.9 4

21.0–24.9 20

Construct an ogive that will help you answer the following questions:
(a) Below what value (approximately) do the lowest one-fourth of these observations fall?
(b) If the Friends of Fish heavily monitor all sites with more than 30 ppm of pollutants, what percentage of sites will be
heavily monitored?
2-38 Before constructing a dam on the Colorado River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers performed a series of tests to measure
the water flow past the proposed location of the dam. The results of the testing were used to construct the following
frequency distribution:
River Flow (Thousands of Gallons per Minute) Frequency

1,001–1,050 7

1,051–1,100 21

1,101–1,150 32

1,151–1,200 49

1,201–1,250 58

1,251–1,300 41

1,301–1,350 27

1,351–1,400 11

Total 246

(a) Use the data given in the table to construct a “more-than” cumulative frequency distribution and ogive.
(b) Use the data given in the table to construct a “less-than” cumulative frequency distribution and ogive.
(c) Use your ogive to estimate what proportion of the flow occurs at less than 1,300 thousands of gallons per minute.
2-39 Pamela Mason, a consultant for a small local brokerage firm, was attempting to design investment programs attractive to
senior citizens. She knew that if potential customers could obtain a certain level of return, they would be willing to risk an
investment, but below a certain level, they would be reluctant. From a group of 50 subjects, she obtained the following data
regarding the various levels of return required for each subject to invest $1,000:
Indifference Point Frequency Indifference Point Frequency

$70–74 2 $ 90– 94 11

75–79 5 95– 99 3

80–84 10 100–104 3

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 85–89 14 105–109 2

(a) Construct both “more-than” and “less-than” cumulative relative frequency distributions.
(b) Graph the 2 distributions in part (a) into relative frequency ogives.
2-40 At a newspaper office, the time required to set the entire front page in type was recorded for 50 days. The data, to the nearest
tenth of a minute, are given below.
20.8 22.8 21.9 22.0 20.7 20.9 25.0 22.2 22.8 20.1

25.3 20.7 22.5 21.2 23.8 23.3 20.9 22.9 23.5 19.5

23.7 20.3 23.6 19.0 25.1 25.0 19.5 24.1 24.2 21.8

21.3 21.5 23.1 19.9 24.2 24.1 19.8 23.9 22.8 23.9

19.7 24.2 23.8 20.7 23.8 24.3 21.1 20.9 21.6 22.7

(a) Arrange the data in an array from lowest to highest.

(b) Construct a frequency distribution and a “less-than” cumulative frequency distribution from the data, using intervals of
0.8 minute.
(c) Construct a frequency polygon from the data.
(d) Construct a “less-than” ogive from the data.
(e) From your ogive, estimate what percentage of the time the front page can be set in less than 24 minutes.
2-41 Chien-Ling Lee owns a CD store specializing in spoken-word recordings. Lee has 35 months of gross sales data, arranged as
a frequency distribution.
Monthly Sales Frequency Monthly Sales Frequency

$10,000–12,499 2 $20,000–22,499 6

12,500–14,999 4 22,500–24,999 8

15,000–17,499 7 25,000–27,499 2

17,500–19,999 5 27,500–29,999 1

(a) Construct a relative frequency distribution.

(b) Construct, on the same graph, a relative frequency histogram and a relative frequency polygon.
2-42 The National Association of Real Estate Sellers has collected these data on a sample of 130 salespeople representing their
total commission earnings annually:
Earnings Frequency

$ 5,000 or less 5

$ 5,001–$10,000 9

$10,001–$15,000 11

$15,001–$20,000 33

$20,001–$30,000 37

$30,001–$40,000 19

$40,001–$50,000 9

Over $50,000 7

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 Construct an ogive that will help you answer these questions.
(a) About what proportion of the salespeople earns more than $25,000?
(b) About what does the “middle” salesperson in the sample earn?
(c) Approximately how much could a real estate salesperson whose performance was about 25 percent from the top expect
to earn annually?
2-43 Springfield is a college town with the usual parking problems. The city allows people who have received tickets for illegally
parked cars to come in and make their case to an administrative officer and have the ticket voided. The town’s administrative
officer collected the following frequency distribution for the time spent on each appeal:
Minutes Spent on Appeal Frequency Minutes Spent on Appeal Frequency

Less than 2 30 8–9 70

2–3 40 10–11 50

4–5 40 12–13 50

6–7 90 14–15 30

400

(a) Construct a “less-than” cumulative frequency distribution.

(b) Construct an ogive based on part (a).
(c) The town administrator will consider streamlining the paperwork for the appeal process if more than 50 percent of
appeals take longer than 4 minutes. What is the percentage taking more than 4 minutes? What is the approximate time for the
200th (midpoint) appeal?

● Chapter Concepts Test

Circle the correct answer or fill in the blank. Answers are in the back of the book.
TF 1. In comparison to a data array, the frequency distribution has the advantage of representing data in compressed form.
TF 2. A ‘‘more-than’’ ogive is S-shaped and slopes down and to the right.
TF 3. A histogram is a series of rectangles, each proportional in width to the number of items falling within a specific class of data.
TF 4. A single observation is called a data point, whereas a collection of data is known as a tabular.
TF 5. The classes in any relative frequency distribution are both all-inclusive and mutually exclusive.
TF 6. When a sample contains the relevant characteristics of a certain population in the same proportions as they are included in that
population, the sample is said to be a representative sample.
TF 7. A population is a collection of all the elements we are studying.
TF 8. If we were to connect the midpoints of the consecutive bars of a frequency histogram with a series of lines, we would be graphing a
frequency polygon.
TF 9. Before information is arranged and analyzed, using statistical methods, it is known as preprocessed data.
TF 10. One disadvantage of the data array is that it does not allow us to easily find the highest and lowest values in the data set.
TF 11. Discrete data can be expressed only in whole numbers.
TF 12. As a general rule, statisticians regard a frequency distribution as incomplete if it has fewer than 20 classes.
TF 13. It is always possible to construct a histogram from a frequency polygon.
TF 14. The vertical scale of an ogive for a relative frequency distribution marks the fraction of the total number of observations that falls into
each class.
TF 15. A data array is formed by arranging raw data in order of time of observation.
TF 16. A ‘‘less-than’’ ogive is S-shaped and slopes down and to the right.

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 TF 17. One advantage of a histogram in comparison with a frequency polygon is that it more clearly shows each separate class in the
distribution.
TF 18. A baseball player’s batting average is computed using a sample.
TF 19. A frequency distribution organizes data into groups of values describing one or more characteristics of the data.
TF 20. A series of rectangles, each proportional in width to the range of values within a class and proportional in height to the number of items
falling in the class, is called a frequency polygon.
TF 21. The class widths of a frequency distribution are of equal size.
ABCD 22. Which of the following represents the most accurate scheme of classifying data?
(a) Quantitative methods.
(b) Qualitative methods.
(c) A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.
(d) A scheme can be determined only with specific information about the situation.
ABCD 23. Which of the following is NOT an example of compressed data?
(a) Frequency distribution.
(b) Data array.
(c) Histogram.
(d) Ogive.
ABCDE 24. Which of the following statements about histogram rectangles is correct?
(a) The rectangles are proportional in height to the number of items falling in the classes.
(b) There are generally five rectangles in every histogram.
(c) The area in a rectangle depends only on the number of items in the class as compared to the number of items in all other classes.
(d) All of these.
(e) (a) and (c) but not (b).
ABCDE 25. Why is it true that classes in frequency distributions are all-inclusive?
(a) No data point falls into more than one class.
(b) There are always more classes than data points.
(c) All data fit into one class or another.
(d) All of these.
(e) (a) and (c) but not (b).
ABCD 26. When constructing a frequency distribution, the first step is
(a) Divide the data into at least five classes.
(b) Sort the data points into classes and count the number of points in each class.
(c) Decide on the type and number of classes for dividing the data.
(d) None of these.
ABCD 27. As the numbers of observations and classes increase, the shape of a frequency polygon
(a) Tends to become increasingly smooth.
(b) Tends to become jagged.
(c) Stays the same.
(d) Varies only if data become more reliable.
ABCD 28. Which of the following statements is true of cumulative frequency ogives for a particular set of data?
(a) Both ‘‘more-than’’ and ‘‘less-than’’ curves have the same slope.
(b) ‘‘More-than’’ curves slope up and to the right.
(c) ‘‘Less-than’’ curves slope down and to the right.
(d) ‘‘Less-than’’ curves slope up and to the right.
ABCDE 29. From an ogive constructed for a particular set of data
(a) The original data can always be reconstructed exactly.
(b) The original data can always be approximated.

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 (c) The original data can never be approximated or reconstructed, but valid conclusions regarding the data can be drawn.
(d) None of these.
(e) (a) and (b) but not (c).
ABCDE 30. In constructing a frequency distribution for a sample, the number of classes depends on
(a) The number of data points.
(b) The range of the data collected.
(c) The size of the population.
(d) All of these.
(e) (a) and (b) but not (c).
ABCDE 31. Which of the following statements is true?
(a) The size of a sample can never be as large as the size of the population from which it is taken.
(b) Classes describe only one characteristic of the data being organized.
(c) As a rule statisticians generally use between 6 and 15 classes.
(d) All of these.
(e) (b) and (c) but not (a).
ABCDE 32. As a general rule, statisticians tend to use which of the following number of classes when arranging data?
(a) Fewer than five.
(b) Between one and five.
(c) More than 30.
(d) Between 20 and 25.
(e) None of these.
ABCDE 33. Which of these is NOT a test for usability of data?
(a) Source.
(b) Contradiction of other evidence.
(c) Missing evidence.
(d) Number of observations.
(e) None of these.
ABCDE 34. A relative frequency distribution presents frequencies in terms of
(a) Fractions.
(b) Whole numbers.
(c) Percentages.
(d) All of the above.
(e) Both (a) and (c).
ABCDE 35. Graphs of frequency distributions are used because
(a) They have a long history in practical applications.
(b) They attract attention to data patterns.
(c) They account for biased or incomplete data.
(d) They allow for easy estimates of values.
(e) Both (b) and (d).
ABCD 36. Continuous data are differentiated from discrete data in that
(a) Discrete data classes are represented by fractions.
(b) Continuous data classes may be represented by fractions.
(c) Continuous data take on only whole numbers.
(d) Discrete data can take on any real number.
37. Double counting is a result of __________________ or __________________ data.
38. It is found that 50 of 1,000 customers in a survey contain the relevant characteristics of all customers in the survey. The 50 customers
are a ____________sample.

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39. The __________________ and the__________________ are two methods of data arrangement.
40. A __________________ is a collection of all the elements in a group. A collection of some, but not all, of these elements is a
__________________.
41. Dividing data points into similar classes and counting the number of observations in each class will give a
___________________distribution.
42. If data can take on only a limited number of values, the classes of these data are called _____________. Otherwise, the classes are
called______________________
43. A relative frequency distribution presents frequencies in terms of _______________ or _______________.
44. A graph of a cumulative frequency distribution is called a ___________________.
45. If a collection of data is called a data set, a single observation would be called a __________________.

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