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U.S. Male Height Statistics Analysis

The document contains a series of statistics practice questions focused on analyzing heights of randomly selected U.S. men and women, including calculations for mean, standard deviation, and standard error. It also includes exercises on unit conversions, scientific notation, and probability. Additionally, it features graphical representations of data and discussions on statistical significance and sample size effects.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
18 views15 pages

U.S. Male Height Statistics Analysis

The document contains a series of statistics practice questions focused on analyzing heights of randomly selected U.S. men and women, including calculations for mean, standard deviation, and standard error. It also includes exercises on unit conversions, scientific notation, and probability. Additionally, it features graphical representations of data and discussions on statistical significance and sample size effects.

Uploaded by

dan0919xkha
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Statistics Practice Questions

Table 1 below shows the heights of 20 randomly selected U.S. men, age 20-29.2

Subject number Height (inches)


1 72.2
2 71
3 72.8
4 63.8
5 68.1
6 69.4
7 74.2
8 75.8
9 66.3
10 66.5
11 69.2
12 66.7
13 69.4
14 75.1
15 72.3
16 68.5
17 68.7
18 68
19 68.5
20 68.6

Table 1: Measured heights of 20 randomly selected U.S. males, age 20-29.

1) Calculate the mean and the standard deviation of the heights. You may use a calculator, but if
your calculator has a built-in functions for mean and standard deviation, do not use them.

2
All data in this set of questions are modified from the following source: National Health Statistics Reports,
Number 10, October 22, 2008. [Link]
2) Calculate the standard error.

3) Plot a histogram of the data.


10

0
58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80

Figure 1 shows the heights sampled from two other populations, U.S. women age 20-29 and U.S. women
age 60-69.

Females age 20-29, N=20


7

6
Number of Subjects

0
54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74
Height (inches)

Females age 60-69, N=20


7

6
Number of Subjects

0
54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74
Height (inches)

Figure 1: Heights sampled from two populations of U.S. females.

2
4) Estimate the mean and standard deviation from the graph for both samples in Figure 1 (you
should not need a calculator for this).

5) From your estimates, calculate the standard error of the mean for both samples.

6) Plot a bar graph showing the means and standard errors of all 3 populations (males in their 20s,
females in their 20s, females in their 60s)

100

80
Height (inches)

60

40

20

0
Males 20-29 Females 20-29 Females 60-69

7) Is there a statistically significant difference between the heights of females in their 20s and males
in their 20s? Between females in their 20s and females in their 60s? Explain your reasoning.

3
Figure 2 shows heights collected from the same 3 populations (males in their 20s, females in their 20s,
females in their 60s) but with sample sizes of 808, 1061, and 691 respectively.

Males age 20-29, N=808


200
Number of Subjects

150

100

50

0
56 60 64 68 72 76 80
Height (inches)

Females age 20-29, N=1061

200
Number of Subjects

150

100

50

0
56 60 64 68 72 76 80
Height (inches)

Females age 60-69, N=691


200
Number of Subjects

150

100

50

0
56 60 64 68 72 76 80
Height(inches)

Figure 2: Measured heights sampled from three populations.

8) From the graphs, estimate the means and standard deviations for each population, and calculate
the standard error.

4
9) Make a bar graph showing the means and standard errors for all 3 populations.

100

80
Height (inches)

60

40

20

0
Males 20-29 Females 20-29 Females 60-69

10) Is there a statistically significant difference between the heights of females in their 20s and males
in their 20s? Between females in their 20s and females in their 60s? Explain your reasoning.

11) What effect does increasing the sample size have on the standard error? What effect does
increasing the sample size have on the mean and standard deviation?

5
Calculating with Units Practice Questions
Useful unit conversions:

Time Weight
1 minute = 60 seconds 1 kg = 2.2 pounds (lbs)
1 hour = 60 minutes 1 lb = 16 ounces
1 day = 24 hours 1 ounce = 28.3 g
1 year = 365 days (non-leap year)
Volume
Distance 1 cup = 8 oz (fluid ounces)
1 mile = 1.61 km 1 pint = 2 cups
1 km = 1000 m = 103 m 1 quart = 2 pints
1 inch = 2.54 cm 1 gallon = 4 quarts
1 ft = 12 inches 1 gallon = 3.87 liters (L)
1 mile = 5280 ft
1 light year = 9.5 × 1015 m

Part 1: Practice with fractions:

1)
2 7
∙ =?
3 5
2)
2/3
=?
5
3)
2
=?
3/5
4)
*/+
=?
,
5)
-
=?
.//
6)
*/+
=?
,/-

6
Part 2: Time

What is:

1) 5 days, in hours?

2) 1 day, in seconds?

3) 2.5 hours, in seconds?

4) 10 minutes, in days?

5) 1 year, in minutes?

Part 3: Distance

What is:

1) 26.2 miles in km?

2) 100 meters in feet?

3) 5,000 miles in inches?

4) 5,000 miles in light years?

5) 5’2” (5 feet, 2 inches) in meters?

Part 4: Speed

What is:

1) 30 m/s in ft/s?

2) 600 miles per hour (mph) in miles per second?

3) 65 mph in m/s?

4) 3 × 108 m/s in miles per hour (mph)?

5) 3 × 108 m/s in light years per day?

Part 5: Area and Volume

1) Do units of ft2 describe length, area, or volume?

2) What is 500 ft2 in in2?

3) Do units of m3 describe length, area, or volume?

4) What is 55 m3 in in3?

7
5) A football field is 360 ft by 160 ft, including end zones. What is its area in cm2? In m2? In miles2?

Part 6: Back of the Envelope Units

1) If your heart beats an average of 60 times per minute, how many times does it beat in a week?
In a year?

2) If 20 NYC street blocks equal a mile (not avenue blocks), how far is Times Square from Butler
Library in miles? In km?

3) If Joe’s sells 30 cups of coffee in an hour, then how many cups of coffee do they sell in 4 hours?
How much coffee is that in gallons? In liters? Assume a typical cup of coffee is 12 oz. (You will
need to look up conversions for fluid ounces (oz.), gallons, and liters.)

4) If a golden retriever eats 3 cups of food per day, a cup of dog food weighs about 100 grams and
a 33 lb bag of dog food costs $40, then how much money does it cost to feed the dog each year?

5) If the average piano tuner works about 255 days per year for 8 hours a day, and one piano takes
about 2 hours to tune, and most piano owners have their pianos tuned about once per year, and
if we can expect a population to have about 1 piano per 100 people, and New York City is home
to 8 million people, then how many piano tuners are there in New York City?

8
Sense of Scale Practice Questions
Part 1: Practice with scientific notation

1) 123000 = 1.23 ×10?

2) 602 × 1056 = 6.02 ×10?

3) 0.00098 = 9.8 ×10?

4) 0.0022 × 109 = 2.2 × 10?

5) 160 × 10:56 = 1.60 ×10?

6) 0.000663 × 10:;< = 6.63 × 10?

7)

2
=?
3 ×10:6=

8)

2 ×10:6=
=?
3

9)

2 × 1056
=?
3 × 10;

10)

7 × 1056
=?
. 2 × 10:;

9
Part 2: Orders of magnitude

Give an order of magnitude estimate for the following. Do as many as you can from memory, and try to
guess those you don’t know.

1) Diameter of a proton

2) Diameter of a hydrogen atom

3) Thickness of a piece of paper

4) Height of a skyscraper

5) Distance to the Moon

6) Distance to the Sun

7) Distance to the closest star outside of our Solar system

8) Distance to the center of the Milky Way galaxy (our galaxy)

9) Diameter of the observable Universe

10) Number of years since the last ice age

11) Years since Tyrannosaurus rex went extinct

12) Age of the Earth

13) Age of the Universe

Part 3: Relative magnitude

How many times greater is (A) compared to (B)? How many orders of magnitude larger is (A) compared
to (B)?

1) A: Height of a person

B: Diameter of a proton

2) A: Distance to the closest star outside of our solar system

B: Height of a person

3) A: Thickness of a piece of paper

B: Diameter of a hydrogen atom

4) A: Distance to the Moon

10
B: Height of a skyscraper

5) A: Size of the observable Universe

B: Diameter of a proton

6) A: Age of the Universe

B: Age of the Earth

7) A: Age of the Earth

B: Years since T. rex walked the Earth

8) A: Years since T. rex walked the Earth

B: Years since the last ice age

Part 4: Log plots

1) Label all of the ticks on the log-log plot below

100

10

1
-1 0 1 2 3 4
10 10 10 10 10 10

11
2) Record the values for the following data point on the table below. The first one has been done
for you

100

B
C
10 F
H
D
J
I
G
A
1
-1 0 1 2 3 4
10 10 10 10 10 10

Point x-value y-value


A 0.2 2
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K

12
3) Heglund, et al. (1974) measured the mass of several animals and their stride frequency at the
transition from “trot” to “gallop”.‡ The data they collected are shown in the Table below:

Animal Mass (kg) Stride frequency (min-1)


Mouse 0.01 533
0.03 444
0.04 434
Rat 0.41 269
Dog 1.18 255
9.65 198
28.14 156
30.91 153
Horse 700.4 117

Plot the data on a linear scale:

600

500
Stride frequency (min )
-1

400

300

200

100

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Mass (kg)


Heglund, N. C., Taylor, C. R., and McMahon, T. A. (1974). Scaling stride frequency and gait to animal size: Mice to
horses. Science, 186, 1112-1113.

13
4) Plot the data on a semi-log scale:

600

500
Stride frequency (min )
-1

400

300

200

100

0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
Mass (kg)

14
Probability Practice Questions
1) On the first day of your Frontiers of Science (FoS) seminar, you choose your seat randomly and sit
between two students you have never met before. What is the probability that the student sitting
on your right was born on July 4th?

2) What is the probability that this student was born on July 4th OR February 14th?

3) What is the probability that this student was born on July 4th AND February 14th?

4) What is the probability that this student has the same birthday as you?

5) What is the probability that this student has the same birthday as you and is female?

6) What is the probability that both the student on your right and the student on your left have the
same birthday as you?

7) What is the probability that at least one other student in your FoS seminar has the same birthday as
you? (Assume that there are 20 students in your seminar.)

8) What is the probability that at least one other student currently taking FoS has the same birthday as
you? (Assume that 500 students are currently taking FoS.)

9) Everyone in your seminar randomly picks a number between 1 and 50. Assuming your selections
were truly random, is the probability that someone else has picked the same number as you?

Often the probability of an event occurring is estimated from the occurrence rate of that event in the
past. The National Weather Service estimates that about 400 people in the U.S. were struck by
lightening in 2011.§ The population of the U.S. in 2011 is estimated at 310 million.

10) From these data, estimate the probability of being struck by lightning in a given year. In other
words, what is the occurrence rate of lightning strikes per person per year?

11) What is the probability (occurrence rate) of being struck by lightning in a given day?

12) What is the probability of being struck by lightning at least once in 10 days?

13) What is the probability of being struck by lightning at least once in a typical lifetime (80 years)?

§
[Link]

15

Common questions

Powered by AI

When estimating the costs of feeding a pet, such as a dog, over a year, one should consider factors including daily consumption (in cups or weight), cost per weight unit of pet food, and any potential seasonal fluctuations in food consumption or costs. Calculating daily requirements (3 cups of food weighing 100 grams per cup) and annualizing that, coupled with the cost of a 33 lb dog food bag ($40), lets us compute the annual expense by scaling daily consumption to yearly estimates and adjusting for bag size pricing .

Increasing the sample size generally decreases the standard error of the mean. This is because the standard error is calculated by dividing the standard deviation by the square root of the sample size. As the sample size increases, the variation among sample means (standard error) reduces, making the sample mean a more accurate estimate of the population mean. This influence is crucial in statistical analyses as it affects the confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, often increasing the precision and robustness of the conclusions drawn from the data .

To estimate the probability of an independent event occurring at least once over multiple trials, one employs the complement rule: calculate the probability of the event not happening in a single trial, raise this to the power equal to the number of trials, and subtract the result from 1. This is useful for calculating occurrences such as the probability of a specific birthday match in a room of people or lightning striking over a given number of days .

Understanding unit conversions is crucial in scientific calculations as they ensure that different measurements are comparable and results are in the correct units for analysis. This understanding avoids errors that can arise from mixing incompatible units. Practically, conversions are necessary for daily activities like determining traveling distances (miles to kilometers), cooking (ounces to cups), and shopping (pounds to kilograms), among others. They enable proper resource planning and decision-making aligned with standardized measurements .

To determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the heights of females in their 20s and those in their 60s, we would perform a statistical hypothesis test, such as a t-test, assuming normal distribution of heights. We need to calculate the means and standard deviations of both groups. Using these, we calculate the test statistic to compare against a critical value from the t-distribution. If the p-value is less than the significance level, we reject the null hypothesis that their means are equal, concluding a statistically significant difference exists. The document comparison shows substantial difference potential due to apparent decreases with age .

Age, distance, and size estimates are central to understanding astronomical scales and the universe's history. These parameters affect calculations of light travel time, gravitational influences, and cosmological dynamics. Accurate distance measures, like using the parallax method for stars or redshift for galaxies, help map the universe. Estimations influence theoretical models, our conceptions of cosmic structure, expansion, and observational limits defined by technology, enhancing our grasp of our cosmic environment and universal laws .

Increasing the sample size stabilizes the estimate of the population mean because of the law of large numbers, which implies that as a sample size grows, its mean will get closer to the average of the entire population. However, the sample mean itself may not change significantly with increased size unless there's a significant bias or change in the sample's representation. Meanwhile, the standard deviation describes data variability; more samples provide a better representation of the population, thus reducing the standard deviation's estimation variability but not necessarily its value .

Probability estimates from past events provide a statistical framework for predicting future occurrences, informing risk analyses in areas like weather forecasting or public safety. By calculating occurrence rates (e.g., lightning strikes), decision-makers can prioritize resources, develop preventive strategies, and inform public advisories. These estimations derive from historical data, adjusted for changing parameters, enhancing planning accuracy and effectiveness in mitigating adverse impacts .

Reasoning about environmental conditions, such as climate, humidity, and meteorological patterns, alongside human activity density (e.g., urban versus rural areas), helps predict lightning strike occurrence. Historical data can inform probabilities; however, changes in climate patterns could affect these numbers. Thus, ongoing research and data collection are crucial to maintain accurate probability estimations per population and to adapt safety measures accordingly .

Converting a city's distance measurements to internationally recognized units involves applying specific conversion factors for length, such as miles to kilometers or feet to meters. This process requires the understanding and use of consistent conversion ratios (e.g., 1 mile = 1.61 kilometers), making measurements universally accessible and comparable. This standardization allows for integration with global data systems and facilitates cooperation or comparison in research involving geographical information .

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