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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

True/False Questions

1. A population is a subset of measurements taken from a large group.

Answer: False Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

2. It is assumed that a sample contains all measurements in which the researcher is


interested.

Answer: True Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

3. The first quartile is the 50th percentile.

Answer: False Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

4. The median is the value that occurs most often in a sample of data.

Answer: False Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

5. The interquartile range is the difference between the first and the third quartiles.

Answer: True Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

6. The arithmetic mean assumes an interval level of measurement.

Answer: True Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

7. The mean, median, and the mode will all be equal when the distribution is symmetric.

Answer: True Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

8. The Empirical Rule holds for any set of data, regardless of its shape.

Answer: False Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

9. Chebyshev's Theorem states that at least 8/9 of the observations in a set will lie within
3 standard deviations of the mean.

Answer: True Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

10. The measure of the degree of asymmetry of a distribution is called kurtosis.

Answer: False Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

11. Comparing the high temperature in Alaska this month, with the high temperature a
year ago, is an example of using the interval scale of measurement.

Answer: True Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

12. A record of the numbers of models of each of five models of cars sold by a dealership
during the past 18 months is an example of ordinal data.

Answer: False Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

13. The mean is more sensitive to skewness than the median.

Answer: False Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

14. Standard deviation is the square root of variance.

Answer: True Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

Multiple Choice Questions

15. Classifying students in a statistics course by their gender is an example of what scale
of measurement?
A) Nominal
B) Ordinal
C) Interval
D) Ratio

Answer: A Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

16. A distribution that is relatively flat and wide is said to be:


A) skewed to the right
B) symmetric
C) platykurtic
D) kurtosis
E) none of the above

Answer: C Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

17. The following are the grades a professor gave on the first test in a statistics class: 52,
90, 88, 61, 75, 82, 75, 83, 88, and 86.

What was the median score on this test?


A) 82
B) 82.5
C) 78.5
D) 88
E) 75

Answer: B Type: Computation Difficulty: Easy

18. A clothes store manager has sales data of trouser sizes for the last month's sales.
Which measure of central tendency should the manager use, if the manager is
interested in the most sellable size?
A) mean
B) median
C) mode
D) standard deviation
E) interquartile range

Answer: C Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

19. When do the mean, median and the mode have approximately the same value?
A) always
B) never
C) in all symmetric distributions
D) only in symmetric discrete distributions
E) when the standard deviation is very small

Answer: D Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

20. The average monthly high temperatures for the past seven months are: 68, 72, 44, 50,
45, and 60. What is the mode?
A) 72
B) 50
C) 44
D) 45
E) there is no mode for this data set

Answer: E Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

21. The mean weight of three gemstones is 20 grams. The weights of two of the stones are
15 grams and 17 grams. What is the weight of the third stone?
A) 16 grams
B) 10 grams
C) 28 grams
D) 14 grams
E) not enough information to determine the weight of the third stone

Answer: C Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

22. A market research company has collected data on the price of a particular brand of
soap in several different locations. The prices are as follows: $0.89, 0.95, 1.25, 1.36,
1.49, 1.65, 1.79, 1.89, 1.99. What are the upper and lower quartiles of soap prices for
this brand?
A) 1.72, 1.17
B) 1.84, 1.17
C) 1.72, 1.10
D) 2.21, 0.74
E) 1.84, 1.10

Answer: E Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

23. In a survey conducted among the employees of a local bank, it is found that the
following are the number of children each employee has: 1, 0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 0, 1, 4, 3, 6,
4, 2, 0, 1, and 3. What is the mean number of children for these employees?
A) 2.5
B) 1.875
C) 1.5
D) 2.0
E) 6.0

Answer: B Type: Computation Difficulty: Easy

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

Use the following to answer questions 24-25:

The inventory manager at a computer components store randomly selected the records of 200
hard-drive upgrades from the last six months and observed that upgrades fell into the
following capacity categories:

C a p a c ) i t y F ( r Ge q B u e n c y
2 0 1 0
4 0 8 0
6 0 6 0
8 0 2 0
1 0 0 3 0

24. In this instance, hard-drive capacity is an example of a(n) ____________ scale of


measurement.
A) Continuous
B) Discrete
C) Nominal
D) Ordinal
E) Probabilistic

Answer: B Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

25. Based on the inventory manager's sample, the average hard-drive upgrade is for
approximately ______ gigabytes; the modal hard-drive upgrade is for ______
gigabytes.
A) 60; 40
B) 40; 60
C) 80; 40
D) 80; 60
E) 60; 100

Answer: A Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

Use the following to answer questions 26-27:

A census is done in a given region. Following are the populations of the towns in that
particular region (in thousands): 35, 46, 52, 63, 64, 71, 77, 82, and 94.

26. What is the median of this data?


A) 64
B) 63.5
C) 67.5
D) 59
E) 35

Answer: A Type: Computation Difficulty: Easy

27. Which of the following is closest to the 30th percentile for these data?
A) 57.5
B) 63
C) 52.7
D) 53
E) 52

Answer: E Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

28. Several friends go to a casino and do some gambling. The following are the profits
each of these friends make: $120, -$230, $670, -$1020, $250, -$430, and -$60. What is
the average profit of this group?
A) $100
B) -$100
C) -$1020
D) $397
E) -$397

Answer: B Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

Use the following to answer questions 29-30:

The number of bottles filled each day in a bottling plant is observed for a week: 674, 589,
613, 689, 554, 586, and 594.

29. Consider the data given above and find the mean.
A) 585
B) 670
C) 586.29
D) 614.14
E) none of the above

Answer: D Type: Computation Difficulty: Easy

30. Consider the sample data given above and find the standard deviation.
A) 24
B) 45.72
C) 49.39
D) 2090.69
E) 2439.14

Answer: C Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

31. The mean temperature in three rooms is 69.3 degrees Fahrenheit. If a fourth room is
found to have a temperature of 71 degrees, what is the mean of the temperature of the
four rooms?
A) 69.3
B) 70.15
C) 70.325
D) 69.725
E) none of the above

Answer: D Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

Use the following to answer questions 32-33:

The numbers that follow are the incomes of professors in a particular college (in thousands of
dollars):

25, 28, 30, 32, 38, 45, 53, 54, 54, 56, 61, 63, 64, 67, 71, 74, 82, 85, 97, and 99.

32. Find both the mean, and the mode for these values.
A) mean = 57, mode = 54
B) mean = 48.11, mode = 57.5
C) mean = 58.9, mode = 54
D) mean = 58.9, mode = 58.5
E) mean = 58.5, mode = 62

Answer: C Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

33. What is the median income for this group of professors?


A) 56
B) 58.33
C) 58.5
D) 54
E) none of the above

Answer: C Type: Computation Difficulty: Easy

34. The following numbers represent the electricity bill each house in a particular area
received in the past month: $64, 79, 92, 101, 113, 115, 129, 135, 138, 143, 146, 158,
163, 165, 168, 173, 174, 177, 181, 184, 187, 189, 190, 193, 196, 200, 205, 218, 231,
249, and 278. Which of the following is closest to the 60th percentile for these values?
A) 190.2
B) 179.4
C) 181.8
D) 182.5
E) 177

Answer: B Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

35. A class of business students received the following test scores on a standardized test:
320, 410, 440, 470, 480, 480, 490, 500, 500, 510, 510, 530, 530, 530, 540, 570, 600,
650, 720, and 790. How many students in this group received a score that was greater
than the 75th percentile of this group?
A) 56
B) 5
C) 563
D) 15
E) not enough information to answer

Answer: B Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

36. When is the median equal to the 50th percentile in a data set?
A) always
B) never
C) only when the mean and the median are equal
D) only in a symmetric distribution
E) only in a skewed distribution

Answer: A Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

37. Find the variance of the following set of values: 2, 5, 8, 6, and 1.


A) 2.88
B) 4.4
C) 8.3
D) 7
E) 5

Answer: C Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

38. A salesperson sells the following number of air-conditioners each month, throughout
the year: 3, 5, 5, 6, 12, 17, 14, 9, 4, 2, 1, 1. Find both the mean and the median number
of air-conditioners this salesperson sold.
A) mean = 5.48, median = 7.12
B) mean = 4.5, median = 5
C) mean = 5, median = 5.5
D) mean = 6.43, median = 15.5
E) mean = 6.583, median = 5

Answer: E Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

39. Compute the coefficient of variation, if the mean of the set of data is 16 and the
variance is 25.
A) 0.8
B) 0.3125
C) 1.25
D) 1.5625
E) 0.4

Answer: B Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

40. Compute the geometric mean for: 8, 5 and 3.


A) 4.93
B) 10.95
C) 5.333
D) 5.00
E) 2.5198

Answer: A Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

41. If a given distribution is known to be symmetric, what percent of the observations are
expected to fall within two standard deviations of the mean?
A) 68%
B) 75%
C) 89%
D) 95%
E) almost all

Answer: D Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

42. A measure of the degree of asymmetry of a frequency distribution is called?


A) kurtosis
B) skewness
C) coefficient of variation
D) standard deviation
E) ogive

Answer: B Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

43. In which type of scale are numbers used as labels for different classes?
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio
E) mean

Answer: A Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

44. Which of the following scales is the strongest type of scale of measurement?
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio
E) mean

Answer: D Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

45. A survey in which customers taste five different brands of ice cream, and rank their
favorites from 1 to 5, would be an example of which type of scale of measurement?
A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio
E) mean

Answer: B Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

46. Which of the following is the graph drawn by connecting the midpoints of the classes
of a frequency distribution?
A) ogive
B) pie chart
C) histogram
D) frequency polygon
E) bar chart

Answer: D Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

47. The graph of a cumulative frequency distribution is called?


A) ogive
B) pie chart
C) frequency polygon
D) histogram
E) bar chart

Answer: A Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

48. What is the difference between the variance and standard deviation of a distribution?
A) Variance is used with ordinal data and standard deviation with interval data.
B) Standard deviation is used with ordinal data and variance deviation with interval
data.
C) Standard deviation is the positive square of variance.
D) Standard deviation is the square root of variance.
E) They are basically the same thing.

Answer: D Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

49. What measure of central tendency is most sensitive to skewness?


A) Mode
B) Median
C) Mean
D) They are all about the same
E) Median and Mean

Answer: C Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

50. What measure of central tendency would be most appropriate for a measurement of
salaries if the salaries are normally distributed?
A) Mean
B) Median
C) Mode
D) All three; it would depend on your situation

Answer: A Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

51. What measure of central tendency would be most appropriate for a measurement of
salaries when there are a few people in the sample who make over one million dollars,
but most of the employees sampled made under $50,000?
A) Mean
B) Median
C) Mode
D) All three; it would depend on your situation

Answer: B Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

Use the following to answer questions 52-55:

A copier services company is considering adding an advanced model to its product line but is
concerned about excessive maintenance calls. During a trial introduction in a test market,
maintenance personnel recorded X, the number of service visits required to get a particular
copier up and running to the customer's satisfaction. These data are summarized in the
following table:

X F r e q ( X )
1 2 0
2 2 2 0
3 1 0 5
4 5 0
5 5

52. Which of the following terms best describes the distribution of required service visits?
A) Right-skewed
B) Left-skewed
C) Symmetrically abnormal
D) Upwardly-kurtotic
E) Downwardly-kurtotic

Answer: A Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

53. In total, how many service visits were made by maintenance personnel during the trial
introduction of this copier?
A) 5
B) 11
C) 400
D) 1000
E) None of the above

Answer: D Type: Computation Difficulty: Easy

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

54. How many copiers were distributed as part of this trial introduction?
A) 5
B) 11
C) 400
D) 1000
E) None of the above

Answer: C Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

55. What is the average number of service visits required per copier?
A) 1.25
B) 2.50
C) 3.00
D) 5.00
E) None of the above

Answer: B Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

Use the following to answer questions 56-57:

In a study of its reservation patterns, a national hotel chain randomly sampled the records of
20 of its locations and recorded the number of days last year when the locations had no rooms
available: 165, 126, 59, 47, 146, 64, 39, 75, 86, 114, 51, 68, 58, 38, 66, 72, 42, 85, 40, 59

56. The hotel chain's head of market research has concluded that the sample average
would be a relatively poor indicator of the population's central tendency in this
instance. She based this conclusion on the substantial ______________ exhibited in
the sample; in such a case, the sample mean would tend to ______________ the
population's central tendency.
A) Right skew; overstate
B) Right skew; understate
C) Left skew; overstate
D) Left skew; understate
E) Variance; underestimate

Answer: A Type: Computation Difficulty: Hard

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

57. Given the data in the above sample, which of the following mean/median pairs is
correct?
A) Sample mean = 65; sample median = 75
B) Sample mean = 65; sample median = 65
C) Sample mean = 75; sample median = 65
D) Sample mean = 75; sample median = 75
E) None of the above

Answer: C Type: Computation Difficulty: Hard

58. The average amount of time required to fill orders at a drive-up window has been
observed to be 120 seconds, with a standard deviation of 10 seconds. Assuming that
the required order-fill time follows a symmetric, bell-shaped distribution, which of the
following statements is correct regarding a random sample of 1,000 observations?
A) We would expect to see approximately 680 of the order fill-times falling in the
interval from 110 seconds to 120 seconds
B) We would expect to see approximately 955 of the order fill-times falling in the
interval from 100 seconds to 140 seconds
C) We would expect to see approximately 27 orders with required fill-times of less
than 90 seconds
D) We would expect to see approximately 27 orders with required fill-times in excess
of 150 seconds
E) All of the above are correct

Answer: B Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

59. Suppose men and women are equally in favor of an upcoming property tax initiative.
If, in a random sample of 600 men and 400 women, 240 men were observed to be in
favor of the initiative, which of the following charts is most likely representative of
what was observed?

400
360
350

300
240
250

Women Men 200


50% 50%
150

100

50

0
Men Women

A) B)

45%
Favor Favor
40%
Other
20% 35%
30%
Men
40% 25%
20%
15%
10%
Women
40% 5%
0%
Men Women

C) D)

Oppose
40%

Favor
60%

E)

Answer: D Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

Short Answer Questions

60. The difference between the largest value in a data set and the smallest value is called
the _________________.

Answer: range Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

61. The standard deviation is always the square root of the __________________.

Answer: variance Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

62. The number of values in a class divided by the total number of values in the sample is
called the ________________.

Answer: relative frequency Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

63. The value that occurs most frequently in a data set is called the ________________.

Answer: mode Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

Use the following to answer questions 64-65:

A test was conducted to find the number of hours a particular brand of battery lasts. Refer to
the data given below:

200, 204, 197, 191, 203, 198, 216, 210, 202, 204, 198, 203, 181, 205, 194, and 194.

64. Find the mean hours of operation of the battery.

Answer: 200 Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

65. Find the standard deviation of hours of operation of the battery.

Answer: 8.025 Type: Computation Difficulty: Hard

66. What is the mean if the highest and the lowest data are both removed from the set, to
remove any extraordinary battery data?

Answer: 200.2 Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

67. In a dormitory, the following is the number of hours the radio plays each day, in each
room: 3.0, 2.4, 3.7, 6.7, 10.6, 1.1, 0.3, 7.4, 8.0, 7.3, 4.5, 3.6, 2.7, 2.4, 3.1, and 1.9. Find
both the median number of hours and the mode for the number of hours the radio is
played in these rooms.

Answer: median = 3.35; mode = 2.4 Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

68. Compute the coefficient of variation for a data set with a mean of 100 and a variance
of 25.

Answer: .05 Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

69. The measure of central tendency that is equal to the 50th percentile is called the
______________.

Answer: median Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

70. What percent of values will be within 2 standard deviations of the mean, in a
distribution which is mound-shaped?

Answer: 95% Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

71. Classifications based on political preference would be an example of which type of


measurement scale?

Answer: nominal Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

72. The difference between the third and first quartile is called the _______________.

Answer: interquartile range Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

73. The set of all measurements or observations of interest to the statistician is called
______________.

Answer: population Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

Use the following to answer questions 74-75:

A machine in a ketchup bottling plant is designed to dispense an average of 12 ounces per


bottle, with a variance of 0.5 ounces.

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

74. If the machine is operating as designed, and if the distribution of amounts dispensed is
relatively symmetric and mound-shaped, what is the proportion of bottles that can be
expected to contain between 11.5 and 12.5 ounces?

Answer: About 68% Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

75. If the machine is operating as designed, but the distribution of amounts dispensed is
not relatively symmetric or mound-shaped, what is the proportion of bottles that can
be expected to contain between 11 and 12 ounces?

Answer: At least 75% Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

Use the following to answer questions 76-77:

The following are the valuations (in thousands of dollars) of 16 randomly selected properties
sold during the past year in Acmeville:

130 110 130 130 120 140 120 110


150 150 130 140 130 130 120 140

76. Construct a stem-and-leaf diagram of these data.

Answer:

11 00
12 000
13 000000
14 000
15 00

Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

77. Briefly describe the shape of the distribution: ___________________.

Answer: Symmetric and mound-shaped Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

78. A machine in a ketchup bottling plant is designed to dispense an average of 12 ounces


per bottle, with a variance of 0.5 ounces. Find the mean, median, and mode of these
data:
Mean: _______
Median: _______
Mode: _______

Answer: Mean: 130; Median: 130, Mode: 130 Type: Concept Difficulty: Medium

Use the following to answer questions 79-81:

The following are the valuations (in thousands of dollars) of 16 randomly selected properties
sold during the past year in Acmeville:

130 110 130 130 120 140 120 110


150 150 130 140 130 130 120 140

79. Find the variance and standard deviation of the distribution:


Variance: ______
Standard Deviation: _______

Answer: Variance: 146.67; Standard Deviation: 12.11 Type: Concept


Difficulty: Medium

80. Based on Chebyshev's theorem, what range would you say should include at least 75%
of property valuations?

Answer: [105.78,154.22] Type: Concept Difficulty: Hard

81. Based on the empirical rule, what range of valuations would you say should include
95% of property valuations?

Answer: [105.78,154.22] Type: Concept Difficulty: Hard

82. You are interested in forming a company running team, however only 10 of your
colleagues consent to your crazy idea and their 10K times in minutes are as follows:
64, 47, 60, 54, 57, 39, 45, 62, 61, and 55. What is their mean running time and what is
their standard deviation?

Answer: Mean = 54.4; Standard Deviation = 7.83 Type: Computation


Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

83. A quality control consultant randomly sampled 300 bottles from a bottle-filling
process and observed a sample average of 50 ml with a standard deviation of 5 ml.
Because the consultant observed that none of the bottles sampled had less than 35 ml
or more than 65 ml, he concluded that the bottle-filling operation followed a
symmetrical, bell-shaped (i.e., normal) distribution. What else would be required for
the consultant to make such a conclusion with confidence?

Answer: The consultant should also see: 1) approximately 68% (about 204) of the
observations falling within the interval 45 ml to 55 ml; and 2) approximately 95%
(about 285) of the observations falling within the interval 40 ml to 60 ml.
Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

84. Alan and Karen are moving to a new area of the country and are searching for a new
home with the help of Cecilia, a local real estate agent. Prior to their first meeting with
Cecilia, Alan and Karen conducted an internet search of homes for sale in their new
location and found that home prices in their random sample averaged $380,000. When
they asked Cecilia what they should expect to pay for a “typical” home in their new
location, however, Cecilia told them that half of all homes sold for less than $300,000.
Assuming that both values were correct and accurately reflected the market, what
would be the most likely explanation of such a discrepancy?

Answer: Alan and Karen calculated a sample average that was pulled upward by the
presence of a few very high-priced homes in the market. Cecilia quoted the median
home to avoid overstating the central tendency given the right skew of home prices in
this market. Type: Concept Difficulty: Easy

Use the following to answer questions 85-86:

Mike and Susan recently won a late-model sports car in a sweepstakes drawing. Not wanting
the car for themselves, they decided to sell it. An internet “car lot” shows 20 recent sales of
similar cars, with the following final selling prices:

4050, 3750, 3100, 4540, 1800, 4400, 3995, 3670, 3900, 5000
3730, 4130, 4005, 2100, 4120, 4200, 4540, 3775, 3700, 4180

85. Suppose Mike and Susan want a quick sale. What should their approximate price be if
they are willing to let their car go at approximately the 10th percentile?

Answer: They should price their car at approximately $2,100 Type: Computation
Difficulty: Medium

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Chapter 1 Introduction and Descriptive Statistics

86. Now suppose Mike and Susan would like their car's sale price to reflect the central
tendency of the population of similar cars that are sold. Is there anything exhibited by
these data that might make the median preferable to the mean with respect to setting a
final sale price?

Answer: These data exhibit a strong left skew due to the prices of the three cheapest
cars. Thus, the mean of $3,834 is downwardly biased and the median price of $4,000
might be a better estimate. Type: Computation Difficulty: Medium

22 Aczel, Complete Business Statistics, Sixth Edition

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