BUSINESS STATISTICS (DESCRIPTIVE)

EXERCISES 1 FOR CLASS DISCUSSION (4th August 2025)

1. Prashanth and Revati are supervisors at a shopping mall. Each was given the task of
estimating the mean distance that shoppers live from the mall. They each randomly
surveyed 100 shoppers. The samples yielded the following information.

Prashanth Revati
𝑥̅ 6.0 Km 6.0 Km
s 4.0 Km 4.0 Km

a. How can you determine which survey was correct?

b. Explain what the difference in the results of the surveys implies about the data.
c. If the two histograms depict the distribution of values for each supervisor, which one
depicts Revati's sample? How do you know?

2. We are interested in the number of years students in a particular elementary statistics class
have lived in Hyderabad. The information in the following table is from the entire section.

a. What is the IQR?

b. What is the mode?
c. Is this a sample or entire population.

3. Twenty-five randomly selected students were asked the number of movies they watched
the previous week. The results are as follows
 a. Find the sample mean 𝑥̅
b. Find the approximate sample standard deviation, s

4. Forty randomly selected students were asked the number of pairs of sneakers they owned.
Let X = the number of pairs of sneakers owned. The results are as follows

a. Find the sample mean 𝑥̅

b. Find the sample standard deviation, s
c. Construct a histogram of the data.
d. Complete the columns of the chart.
e. Find the first quartile.
f. Find the median.
g. Find the third quartile.
h. What percent of the students owned at least five pairs?
i. Find the 40th percentile.
j. Find the 90th percentile.
k. Construct a line graph of the data
l. Construct a stemplot of the data

5. One hundred teachers attended a seminar on mathematical problem solving. The attitudes
of a representative sample of 12 of the teachers were measured before and after the
seminar. A positive number for change in attitude indicates that a teacher's attitude toward
math became more positive. The 12 change scores are as follows: 3; 8; –1; 2; 0; 5; –3; 1; –
1; 6; 5; –2
a. What is the mean change score?
b. What is the standard deviation for this population?
c. What is the median change score?
d. Find the change score that is 2.2 standard deviations below the mean

6. From the following figure, determine which of the following are true and which are false.
Explain your solution to each part in complete sentences
 a. The medians for both graphs are the same.
b. We cannot determine if any of the means for both graphs is different.
c. The standard deviation for graph b is larger than the standard deviation for graph a.
d. We cannot determine if any of the third quartiles for both graphs is different

7. In a recent issue of the IEEE Spectrum, 84 engineering conferences were announced. Four
conferences lasted two days. Thirty-six lasted three days. Eighteen lasted four days.
Nineteen lasted five days. Four lasted six days. One lasted seven days. One lasted eight
days. One lasted nine days. Let X = the length (in days) of an engineering conference.
a. Organize the data in a chart.
b. Find the median, the first quartile, and the third quartile.
c. Find the 65th percentile.
d. Find the 10th percentile.
e. The middle 50% of the conferences last from _______ days to _______ days.
f. Calculate the sample mean of days of engineering conferences.
g. Calculate the sample standard deviation of days of engineering conferences.
h. Find the mode.
i. If you were planning an engineering conference, which would you choose as the
length of the conference: mean; median; or mode? Explain why you made that
choice.
j. Give two reasons why you think that three to five days seem to be popular lengths of
engineering conferences

8. A survey of enrollment at 35 community colleges across the United States yielded the
following figures: 6414; 1550; 2109; 9350; 21828; 4300; 5944; 5722; 2825; 2044; 5481;
5200; 5853; 2750; 10012; 6357; 27000; 9414; 7681; 3200; 17500; 9200; 7380; 18314;
6557; 13713; 17768; 7493; 2771; 2861; 1263; 7285; 28165; 5080; 11622
a. Organize the data into a chart with five intervals of equal width. Label the two
columns "Enrollment" and "Frequency."
b. Construct a histogram of the data.
c. If you were to build a new community college, which piece of information would be
more valuable: the mode or the mean?
d. Calculate the sample mean.
e. Calculate the sample standard deviation.
f. A school with an enrollment of 8000 would be how many standard deviations away
from the mean?

9. Suppose that a publisher conducted a survey asking consumers above age of 18 the
number of fiction paperback books they had purchased in the previous month. The results
are summarized below.
 a. Are there any outliers in the data? Use an appropriate numerical test involving the
IQR to identify outliers, if any, and clearly state your conclusion.
b. If a data value is identified as an outlier, what should be done about it?
c. Are any data values further than two standard deviations away from the mean? In
some situations, statisticians may use this criteria to identify data values that are
unusual, compared to the other data values. (Note that this criteria is most
appropriate to use for data that is mound-shaped and symmetric, rather than for
skewed data.)
d. Do parts a and c of this problem give the same answer?
e. Examine the shape of the data. Which part, a or c, of this question gives a more
appropriate result for this data?
f. Based on the shape of the data which is the most appropriate measure of center for
this data: mean, median or mode?

10. Listed are 29 ages for Academy Award winning best actors in order from smallest to largest.
18; 21; 22; 25; 26; 27; 29; 30; 31; 33; 36; 37; 41; 42; 47; 52; 55; 57; 58; 62; 64; 67; 69; 71;
2; 73; 74; 76; 77
a. Find the 40th percentile.
b. Find the 78th percentile

11. Answer the following questions

a. What is the geometric mean of the data set given? 5, 10, 20
b. What is the geometric mean of the data set given? 9.000, 15.00, 21.00
c. What is the geometric mean of the data set given? 7.0, 10.0, 39.2
d. What is the geometric mean of the data set given? 17.00, 10.00, 19.00
e. What is the average rate of return for the values that follow? 1.0, 2.0, 1.5
f. What is the average rate of return for the values that follow? 0.80, 2.0, 5.0
g. What is the average rate of return for the values that follow? 0.90, 1.1, 1.2
h. What is the average rate of return for the values that follow? 4.2, 4.3, 4.5

12. Use the following information to answer the next three exercises: State whether the data
are symmetrical, skewed to the left, or skewed to the right
a. (i) 1; 1; 1; 2; 2; 2; 2; 3; 3; 3; 3; 3; 3; 3; 3; 4; 4; 4; 5; 5, (ii) 16; 17; 19; 22; 22; 22; 22;
22; 23, (iii) 87; 87; 87; 87; 87; 88; 89; 89; 90; 91
b. When the data are skewed left, what is the typical relationship between the mean
and median?
c. When the data are symmetrical, what is the typical relationship between the mean
and median?
d. What word describes a distribution that has two modes?