University of the West Indies
Department of Economics
ECON1005 - Introductory Statistics
Problem Set 3: Numerical Methods 1
Tutorial Questions
1. The following table gives the frequency distribution of total hours spent studying statistics during the second
semester of a given academic year for all 40 students enrolled in an introductory statistics course.
Hours of Study No. of Students
24 - < 40 3
40 - < 56 5
56 - < 72 10
72 - < 88 12
88 - < 104 5
104 - < 120 5
a) Calculate the mean, median and mode.
b) Using your calculations in part a), determine whether the distribution is right skewed, symmetric or left
skewed. Give reasons for your answer.
2. The table lists the 1995 profits (in millions of dollars) for a sample of seven airlines.
Airline Profit
Southwest 182.6
Continental 226.0
Northwest 342.1
Delta 510.0
U.S. Air 119.3
Air Jamaica 378.0
BWIA 54.8
a) Calculate the mean and median for this data set.
b) Using your calculations in part a), determine whether the distribution is right skewed, symmetric or left
skewed. Give reasons for your answer.
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ECON1005: INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS
PROBLEM SET 3
3. Seventy people were asked to do a certain task, after which the number of trials necessary to complete the
task was recorded:
Number of
Frequency
Trials
18 2
17 4
16 9
15 7
14 5
13 7
12 8
11 10
10 12
9 6
Total 70
a) Calculate the mean and median for the number of trials to complete the task.
b) Using your calculations in part a), determine whether the distribution is right skewed, symmetric or left
skewed. Give reasons for your answer.
4. At a health club, 80% of the members are men and 20% of the members are women. If the average age of the
men is 30 and the average age of the women is 40, what is the average age of all the members?
Extra Questions
1. The following summarizes the scores obtained by 100 students on a questionnaire designed to measure
managerial ability (a high score indicates a high level of ability).
Managerial Ability Frequency
2–3 5
4–5 15
6–7 20
8–9 25
10 – 11 15
12 – 13 10
14 – 15 5
16 – 17 5
a) Calculate the mean, median and mode for this data.
b) Using your calculations in part a), determine whether the distribution is right skewed, symmetric or left
skewed. Give reasons for your answer.
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ECON1005: INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS
PROBLEM SET 3
2. A sensible way of finding the average percentage increase in the price of the shopping basket might
be to weight the individual increases according to how much is spent on the items. Below is a
sample list of food items with their corresponding percentage increase and associated prices.
Item Percentage Increase Price
Bread 30% $ 200
Milk Powder 17% $ 130
Eggs 40% $ 250
Chicken 231% $1000
Brown Sugar (bulk) 17% $ 150
Calculate the average percentage increase in the price of the shopping basket. (HINT: the
percentages are not the weights).
3. The following are weekly rentals ($) for 45 apartments in a large metropolitan area:
Weekly Rentals ($) No. of Apartments
50 – 99 12
100 – 149 10
150 – 199 8
200 – 249 4
250 – 299 4
300 – 349 5
350 – 399 0
400 – 440 1
450 – 499 1
a) Calculate the mean, median and mode for this data.
b) Using your calculations in part a), determine whether the distribution is right skewed, symmetric or left
skewed. Give reasons for your answer.
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ECON1005: INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS
PROBLEM SET 3
4. The following table lists the 2009 total profits (rounded to millions of dollars) of the seven Fortune
500 companies in the Computers, Office Equipment category (Source: [Link]/magazines/
fortune/fortune500/2010/industries/8/[Link]).
Company Profit (in millions)
Hewlett-Packard 7666.0
Dell 1433.0
Apple 5704.0
Xerox 485.0
Sun Microsystems -2234.0
Pitney Bowes 423.4
NCR -33.0
a) Calculate the mean and the median for this data.
b) Using your calculations in part a), determine whether the distribution is right skewed, symmetric or left
skewed. Give reasons for your answer.
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ECON1005: INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS
PROBLEM SET 3
USE THE FOLLOWING TO ANSWER QUESTIONS 5 & 6: Below is a distribution of poverty rates for a
selection of countries. Also, it is known that Σfx2 = 35,437.8913.
Percent of population Number of countries
11.46 - 20.45 29
20.46 - 29.45 13
29.46 - 38.45 4
38.46 - 47.45 0
47.46 - 56.45 2
56.46 - 65.45 1
65.46 - 74.45 0
74.46 - 83.45 1
5. The mean poverty rate for this distribution is
A. 18.8350.
B. 23.3350.
C. 25.0000.
D. 27.8350.
6. The median poverty rate for this distribution is
A. 15.9550.
B. 19.2136.
C. 23.7136.
D. 25.0000.
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ECON1005: INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS
PROBLEM SET 3
The following are questions from the required text, Introductory Statistics by Mann.
8th Edition
Chapter
Question Page #
1.23 17
1.25 17
1
(these questions are geared to
1.27 18
the practice of calculating Σfx
and Σfx2)
1.29 18
Self Test Q7 21
3.11 88
3.13 88
3.15 89
3.31 91
3.35 91
3 3.63 (mean) 103
3.65 (mean) 104
3.123 122
3.125 122
3.138 124
3.142 a) 125
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ECON1005: INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS
PROBLEM SET 3