Exercises

1.1 Briefly describe the two meanings of the word statistics.

The first meaning is, the word statistics represents numerical facts and figures.

The second one is, statistics refers to the field of discipline of study.

1.2 Briefly explain the types of statistics.

Theoretical statistics: It deals with development, derivation and proof of statistical theorems,
formulas and laws.

Applied statistics: It involves the application of those theorems, formulas, rules and laws to solve
real world problems.

1.3 Which of the following is an example of descriptive statistics and which is an example of
inferential statistics? Explain.

The first one is the example of inferential statistics and the second one is the example of
descriptive statistics.

Decide whether descriptive (D) or inferential (I) statistics is used for each of the following
statements.
1. A recent study showed that eating garlic may decrease blood pressure. I
2. It is predicted that the average number of cars each household owns will increase by 2
next year. D
3. The lecture attendance yesterday was 120. D
4. Number of accidents each year in Dallas from 2000 to 2015 was an average of 50. D
 5. 50% percent of voters in a city will vote for candidate ‘A’ in the upcoming election.
I
6. In the year 2010, 148 million Americans will be enrolled in HMO. D
7. Nine out of ten on-the-job fatalities are men. D
8. The median Household income for people aged 24-35 is $35,888. D
9. Allergy therapy makes bees go away. I
10. The national average annual medicine expenditure per person is $1052. D
11. Experts say that mortgage rates may soon hit bottom. I
12. Expenditures in the cable industry were $5.66 billion in 1996. D
13. Drinking decaffeinated coffee can raise cholesterol levels by 7%. D
14. Eating 10 grams of fiber a day reduces the risk of heart attack by 14%. I
15. By 2040 at least 3.5 billion people will run short of water (World Future Society) D

1.4 Explain the meaning of an element, a variable, an observation, and a data set.

Element: the entities on which data are collected.

Variable: a characteristic of interest for the element.
Observation: the set of measurements collected for a particular element.
Data set: a collection of data comprising components such as element, variable and observation.

Q1. What is the variable for this dataset?

Name and Income

Q2. How many observations are in the data set?

10 observations

Q3. How many elements does this data set contain?

2 elements

a. How many elements are in the dataset? Write down these elements.
Ans: There are three elements in the dataset. They are company, sales per employee and sales
rank.

b. How many variables are in the data set? Write down these variables.
Ans: There are three variables in the data set. They are company, sales per employee and sales
rank.

c. How many observations are in the data set? Write down these observations.
Ans: There are five observations in the data set. The observations are Seagate Technology,
SSMC, Russel, Maxxam and Dibrell Brother.

A. How many elements are in the data set? Write down these elements.
Ans: There are four elements in the data set. The elements are Stock, Annual Sales, Earning per
share and Exchange.

B. How many variables in the data set? Write down the variables.
Ans: There are four variables in the data set. The variables are Stock, Annual Sales, Earning per
share and Exchange.

C. How many observations are in the data set? Write down the observations.
Ans: There are five observations in the data set. The elements are Stock, Annual Sales, Earning
per share and Exchange.

Explain whether each of the following constitutes data collected from a population or a
sample.

a. The number of pizzas ordered on Fridays during 2015 at all of the pizza parlors in your town.
Population

b. The dollar values of auto insurance claims filed in 2015 for 200 randomly selected policies.
Sample

c. The grade point averages (GPAs) of all students at a college

Population

d. The GPAs of a randomly selected group of students on a college campus

Sample

e. The lengths of Atlantic croakers caught on a fishing trip to the beach.

Sample

Exercise:

1. Describe the difference between descriptive statistics and inferential statistics?

Ans: The differences are:

Descriptive Statistics Inferential Statistics

 Descriptive statistics summarize the Inferential statistics allow you to test a
characteristics of a data set. hypothesis or assess whether your data is
generalizable to the broader population.

It helps in organizing, analyzing, and to It allows us to compare data, make hypotheses

present data in a meaningful manner. and predictions.

2. Describe the four levels of data measurement?

Ans: There are four different levels of data measurement. They are nominal, ordinal interval and
ratio.
a. Nominal
Nominal data are categorical data and numbers that are simply used as identifiers
or names represent a nominal scale of measurement. Nominal data is the weakest
level. For Examples: Gender: a) male b) female
b. Ordinal
Ordinal data is an ordinal scale of measurement that represents an ordered series
of relationships or rank order. Its categories are the rankings, order, or scaling.
First, second, and third place represent ordinal data. Examples: organizational
chart, post, educational qualification, etc.
c. Interval
A scale that represents quantity and has equal units but for which zero represents
simply an additional point of measurement is an interval scale. In simple words, it
is the difference between measurements but not have the true zero.
d. Ratio
The ratio scale of measurement is similar to the interval scale in that it also
represents quantity and has equality of units. However, this scale also has an
absolute zero (no numbers exist below the zero) but true zero exists in ratio data.
If one is measuring the length of a piece of wood in centimeters, there is quantity,
equal units, and that measure can not go below zero centimeters. Ratio data is the
strongest level.

3. Explain the differences between sample and population.

Ans: A population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about.

A sample is the specific group that you will collect data from.

Explain the meaning of the following terms.

a. Quantitative variable: Variables whose values result from counting or measuring something.
b. Qualitative variable: Variable whose values result not measurements but through observations.
c. Discrete variable: The variable whose value is obtained by counting i.e. total number of
students in a class.
d. Continuous variable: The variable whose value is obtained by measuring i.e. temperature of a
room.
e. Quantitative data: Quantitative data is information about quantities, and therefore numbers.
f. Qualitative data: qualitative data is descriptive, and regards phenomenon which can be
observed but not measured, such as language.

Indicate which of the following variables are quantitative and which are qualitative.

a. The amount of time a student spent studying for an exam.

Quantitative

b. The amount of rain last year in 30 cities.

Quantitative

c. The arrival status of an airline flight (early, on time, late, canceled) at an airport.
Qualitative

d. A person’s blood type.

Qualitative

e. The amount of gasoline put into a car at a gas station.

Quantitative

Classify the following quantitative variables as discrete or continuous.

a. The amount of time a student spent studying for an exam.

Continuous variable

b. The amount of rain last year in 30 cities.

Continuous variable

c. The amount of gasoline put into a car at a gas station

Continuous variable

d. The number of customers in the line waiting for service at a bank at a given time
Discrete variable
Classify each variable as discrete (D) or continuous (C).

1. The time it takes to complete an exam.

Continuous variable

2. The number of cars a person owns.

Discrete variable

3. The number of lecturers in a university.

Discrete variable

4. The amount of vitamin C in an apple.

Continuous variable

5. The price of a textbook.

Discrete variable

6. Total no. of books in a library

Discrete variable

7. The amount of fat (in grams) in 44 cookies

Continuous variable

8. A recent study found that eating garlic has a 15% chance of lowering blood pressure
Continuous variable

Classify each variable as discrete or continuous.

1. Number of doughnuts sold each day by Doughnut Heaven.

Discrete
2. Water temperature of six swimming pools in Pittsburgh on a given day.
Continuous
3. Weights of cats in a pet shelter.
Continuous
4. Lifetime (in hours) of 12 flashlight batteries.
Continuous
5. Number of cheeseburgers sold each day by a hamburger stand on a college campus.
Discrete
6. Number of DVDs rented each day by a video store.
Discrete
 7. Capacity (in gallons) of six reservoirs in Jefferson County.
Continuous
8. the number of people that prefer Pepsi over Coke.
Discrete

A Survey of families living in a certain city was conducted to collect information on the
following variables:
age of the oldest person in the family, number of family members, number of males in the
family, number of females in the family, whether or not they own a house, income of the family,
whether or not the family took vacations during the past one year, whether or not they are happy
with their financial situation, and the amount of their monthly mortgage or rent.

a. Which of these variables are qualitative variables?

Ans: Whether or not, they own a house, whether or not the family took vacations during
the past year, and whether or not they are happy with their financial situation.

b. Which of these variables are quantitative variables?

Ans: number of family members, number of males in the family, number of females in
the family, income of the family, and the amount of their monthly mortgage or rent.

Classify each variable as qualitative or quantitative.

1. Number of bicycles sold in 1 year by a large sporting goods store.
Quantitative
2. Colors of baseball caps in a store.
(Qualitative)
3. Times it takes to cut down a lawn.
 Quantitative
4. Capacity in cubic feet of six truck beds.
Quantitative
5. Classification of children in a day-care center (infant, toddler, preschool).
Qualitative
6. Weights of fish caught in Lake George.
Quantitative
7. Marital status of faculty members in a large university.
Qualitative

Classify each as nominal-level, ordinary-level, interval-level, or ratio-level measurement.

1. Pages in the city of Cleveland telephone book.

2. Rankings of tennis players.

Nominal level
3. Weights of air conditioners.
Ordinary level
4. Temperatures inside 10 refrigerators.
Interval level
5. Salaries of the top 5 CEOs in the United States.
Nominal level
6. Rating of eight local plays (poor, fair, good, excellent).
Ratio level
7. Times required for mechanics to do a tune-up.

8. Age of students in a classroom.

Ordinary level
9. Marital status of patients in a physician’s office.
Ordinary level
10. Horsepower of tractor engines.
Interval level

1. Which of the following represents data?

a. A single value
b. Only two values in a set
c. A group of values in a set
d. None of the above

2. Which of the following is not a descriptive statistic?

a. 70% percent of voters in a city will vote for a Democratic candidate in the upcoming
election.
 b. The lecture attendance yesterday was 120.
c. You’ve performed a survey to 40 respondents about their favorite car color.
d. Houston public schools reported a 1.5% dropout rate – the best rate in the country

3. A study based on complete enumeration is known as

a. Sample survey
b. Census survey
c. Pilot survey
d. None of the above