Practice Problem 3 (Data Description)

1. The following data give the number of text messages sent on 10 randomly selected days in
2013 by a USP student:

32 37 41 42 44 44 47 47 47 48

a. Compute the mean, median, mode and the standard deviation.

b. Calculate the values of three quartiles, 40th percentile and the percentile rank of 44.

2. The following frequency distribution table gives the number of hours spent last week on cell
phones (making phone calls and texting) by all 100 patients in Suva Private Hospital.

Hours per week Frequency

0-4 14
4-8 18
8-12 25
12-16 18
16-20 16
20-24 9

a. Calculate the mean, modal group and variance of the number of hours spent last week on
cell phone by the patients.
b. Calculate the 70th percentile of the distribution above.

3. An analysis of monthly wages paid to the workers of firm A and B belonging to the same
industry gives the following results:

Number of Workers Average monthly wage Variance of distribution of wages

Firm A 100 $196 $81
Firm B 200 $185 $144 .

a. Which firm, A or B has a larger wage bill?

b. In which firm, A or B is there greater variability among individual wages?

4. The following stem and leaf plot give the waiting times (in minutes) for 30 patients to see the
doctor in the CWM Hospital.

Stem Leaf
0 2355
1 345588999
2 0015789
3 012259
4 126
 a. Find IQR and the percentile rank for the score 29.

b. 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.

c. If a data value is identified as an outlier, what should be done about it?

5. The number of teacher strikes over a 13-year period in Fiji is shown below.

20 18 7 13 7 14 5 9 9 9 10 17 15

a. Find the Five-Number summary

b. Construct a box-plot for the above data.

c. Using the box-plot, what can you say about the distribution of the data?

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