VehicleWeightandFuelConsumption

Doestheweightofavehicleimpacttheamountoffuel
consumedasmeasuredbyHighwayMilesPerGallon?

Math1040Fall2015
GroupProject:
AlexisWheeler
AlyssaChampine
CheyanneMilliner
RyanNguyen
TracyGriffall

Vehicle Weight and MPG

VehicleWeightandFuelConsumption

Doestheweightofavehicleimpacttheamountoffuelconsumedas
measuredbyHighwayMilesPerGallon?

Itisnecessaryforanautomobiletouseenergy,intheformofgasoline,tofunctionand
propelitselfdowntheroad.Itwouldseemlogicalthatthegreatertheweightofthevehicle,
thegreatertheamountoffuelnecessary.Thisraisesthequestion,isthereacorrelation

betweentheweightofavehicleandtheamountoffuelthevehiclewouldusemeasured
bymilestravelledpergallonofgasoline?
Ourteambelievesthatthegreaterthevehicleweight,themorefuelwouldbe
consumedresultinginlowermilespergallon.Totestthishypothesis,wewillobtaindataon
variousvehiclesincludingtheirweightandmilespergallon.Webelievetheoutcomewillshow
highermpgonlighterweightvehiclesandlowermpgonheavierweightvehicles.Ifthefindings
areasweexpect,wecanconcludethatthereisacorrelationbetweenweightofavehicleand
theamountoffuelconsumedpermile.
Belowisrawdataobtainedforthepurposeofourstudy.Thisdataincludesvarious
makes,modelsandvehicletypesincludingluxury,sportscar,andeconomyvehicles.The
vehiclesinthestudyincludebothforeignanddomesticvehicles.Foreignvehiclemanufacturers
includedinthestudyinclude,German,Japanese,KoreanandSwedishautomakers.

Page 2

Vehicle Weight and MPG

CAR
Chev Aveo
Honda Civic
Mitsubishi Lancer
VW Jetta
Hyundai Elantra
Kia Rio
Subaru Impreza
Ford Fusion
Nissan Altima
Nissan Maxima
Honda Accord
Volvo S60
VW Passat
Toyota Camry
Toyota Avalon
Hyundai Azera
Cadillac DTS
Lincoln Town
Dodge Charger
Merc Gr Marq
Buick Lucerne

WEIGHT CITY LENGTH BRAKING CYLI DISPLA

HWY MPG GHG
2560
25
154
133
4
1.6
34 6.6
2740
25
177
136
4
1.8
36 6.3
3610
22
177
126
4
2.0
28 7.7
3225
29
179
137
4
2.0
40 6.4
2895
25
177
138
4
2.0
33 6.6
2615
27
167
132
4
1.6
35 6.1
3110
20
180
135
4
2.5
26 8.3
3320
20
191
136
4
2.3
28 8.0
3215
23
190
136
4
2.5
31 7.1
3555
19
191
128
6
3.5
26 8.3
3270
21
194
140
4
2.4
30 7.7
3465
19
180
140
5
2.5
28 8.0
3465
19
188
135
4
2.0
29 8.0
3530
21
189
137
4
2.4
31 7.3
3600
19
197
139
6
3.5
28 8.0
3835
18
193
134
6
3.3
26 8.7
4085
15
208
145
8
4.6
23 10.2
4415
16
215
143
8
4.6
24 9.6
4170
18
200
131
6
2.7
26 8.7
4180
16
212
140
8
4.6
24 9.6
4095
17
203
143
8
4.6
25 10.2

(Triola)1

Thecalculatedrisequalto0.79267.OurcalculatedrcomparedtotherinTableA6,for
n=20is0.444andn=25is0.396.Thisshowsthatthereissignificantcorrelationinourdataset,
sothatweareabletoproceedwiththelinearregressionanalysistocomeupwiththebestfit
lineandanequationfortheline.Thelinearequationofthedatasetisy=0.0066953x+

52.354964.

WEIGHTVSHIGHWAYMPG
Series1

BestFitLine

MILESPERGALLON
(MPG)

50
40
30
20
10
0
0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

WEIGHT

Page 3

Vehicle Weight and MPG

1.
#OfCars
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

ResidualPredictedyiscalculated(y=.007x+52.35)(Triola)2
HWYMPG:
PredictedY Residual
NameofCars
Weight(LBS):X
(ObservedY)
ChevAveo
2560
34
34.43
0.43
HondaCivic
2740
36
33.17
2.83
MitsubishiLancer
3610
28
27.08
0.92
VWJetta
3225
40
29.78
10.22
HyundaiElantra
2895
33
32.09
0.91
KiaRio
2615
35
34.05
0.95
SubaruImpreza
3110
26
30.58
4.58
FordFusion
3320
28
29.11
1.11
NissanAltima
3215
31
29.85
1.15
NissanMaxima
3555
26
27.46
1.46
HondaAccord
3270
30
29.46
0.54
VolvoS60
3465
28
28.1
0.1
VWPassat
3465
29
28.1
0.9
ToyotaCamry
3530
31
27.64
3.36
ToyotaAvalon
3600
28
27.15
0.85
HundaiAzera
3835
26
25.51
0.49
CadillacDTS
4085
23
23.76
0.76
LincolnTown
4415
24
21.45
2.55
DodgeCharger
4170
26
23.16
2.84
MerGrMarq
4180
24
23.1
0.9
BuickLucerne
4095
25
23.69
1.31

Wecalculatethepredictedyvaluesusingtheequation(y=.007x+52.35).
Wecalculatetheresidualsequation(observedypredictedy).
Thetableuptopshowstheresidualvs.xdata.

ChartTitle
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2 0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

4
6

Weplottheresidual(observedypredictedy)vsx.
TheGraphshowsthatthereisnodiscreetpattern.
Theresidualsdontincreaseordecrease.Wecanconcludethatthedataarelinearly
related.

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Vehicle Weight and MPG

Thereisalinearrelationbetweentheweightofthevehicleandthedecreasingmilesper
gallonasindicatedbythecorrelationcoefficientr=0.793.Asindicatedinthefollowing
scatterplotchart,thereisadistinctnegativecorrelationexistingbetweentheweightofthe
vehiclesandtherelativehighwaymilespergallon.Thechartshowsthatastheweightofthe
vehicle(xaxis)increases,thehighwaymilespergallon(yaxis)decreases.Withtheformulay=
.007x*52.355otherpointswithintherangeoftheexamineddatasetcanbeeasilypredicted.

VehicleWeight&RelativeHwyMPG
(Weightsdisplayedin00s)
45
40
35
30
25
HWYMPG

20
15

y=0.007x+52.355
r=0.793
Slope=0.0067
Intercept=52.355

10
5
0
15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

VehicleWeights(inHundreds)

(Triola)2

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Vehicle Weight and MPG

MakingaFewPredictions
Sincethelinearmodelassumptionisvalid,thenwecanpluginanxvalueinthebestfitline
equationtopredicty.Ifwepluginweights(inpounds)forthexvariablethenwecanfindthe
predictedyvalues.
1.

y=.007(2600)+52.355
y=34.16

2.

y=.007(3000)+52.355
y=31.36

3.

y=.007(3460)+52.355
y=28.14

4.

y=.007(3750)+52.355
y=26.11

5.

y=.007(4350)+52.355
y=21.91
Weseebyusingthebestfitlineequationthatwecanplugindifferentweightsforxto

findthepredictedyvalues.Forinstanceequation#1(above)isaweightthatisbetweenthe
firstseconddataweightvalues(theChevAveoweighing2560lbs.andtheHondaCivicweighing
2740lbs.).Lookingatthetableweseethatthepredictedy34.16milespergallonfoundin
equation#1(above)fallsbetweentheothertwopredictedyvaluesof34.43milespergallon
and33.17milespergallon.Sousingthebestfitlineequationwecanfindanypredictedyvalue
(HWYMPG)withintherangeofthedataset.
Giventhedataabove,asateamwewouldsaythattheweightofthevehicledoes
impactthemilespergallon.Removingthetechnicalmathtalk,youcaneasilyunderstandthisif
youthinkabouthowmucheffortittakestomoveaglassofwater.Notmuchatall,butthink
abouthowmucheffortittakestopushacar.Thatwouldgiveanyoneaprettygoodworkout.

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Vehicle Weight and MPG

Sotheheavierthecar,themoreeffort,a.k.a.fuel,youwillneedtogetthejobdone
effectively.Butwedidhavetoproveitusingmath.
Onethingthatwefeltwecouldhavedonedifferentlywastochoosevehiclesinthe
samesizecategory.Thechartonpage3foundinourtextgavetheexampleofmultiplesized
vehiclesaswellasvehicleswithdifferentcylinderamounts;avehiclewith4cylinderswilluse
lessfuelthanthatofonewith8cylinders.Whenyougraphsuchthingsyoucanunintentionally
createthesolutionthatyouarelookingforevenifitisnotasaccurateasthegraphmakesyou
think.
Whilesomeofthedatacouldbeviewedasmisleading,wedofeelthatourmathand
logicissound.Overallwefeelthattoanyreaderinterestedinsavingonfuel,thiswouldbea
worthwhilereadforthem.WhenyouviewthedataitisclearthataHondaCivicwouldhavea
higherMPGweighing2740poundswithanaverageMPGof36highway,thanHondaAccord
weighing3270poundsandanaverageMPGof30highway.Readingananalyzingthegivendata
webelievethatanyonecouldbecomeaninformedbuyer.

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Vehicle Weight and MPG

WorksCited:

Triola,MarioF.ElementaryStatistics,12thedition.Boston:Pearson,2014.AppendixB.

Page 8