Multiple Choice Questions Descriptive Statistics - Summary Statistics

1. Last year a small statistical consulting company paid each of its ve statistical clerks $22,000, two statistical analysts $50,000 each, and the senior statistician/owner $270,000. The number of employees earning less than the mean salary is: (a) 0 (b) 4 (c) 5 (d) 6 (e) 7 Solution: e 2. The following table represents the relative frequency of accidents per day in a city. Accidents Relative Frequency 0 0.55 1 0.20 2 0.10 3 0.15 4 or more 0

Which of the following statements are true? I. The mean and modal number of accidents are equal. II. The mean and median number of accidents are equal. III. The median and modal number of accidents are equal. (a) I only (b) II only (c) III only (d) I, II and III (e) I, II 1

Solution: c 3. During the past few months, major league baseball players were in the process of negotiating with the team owners for higher minimum salaries and more fringe benets. At the time of the negotiations, most of the major league baseball players had salaries in the $100,000 $150,000 a year range. However, there were a handful of players who, via the free agent system, earned nearly three million dollars per year. Which measure of central tendency of players salaries, the mean or the median, might the players have used in an attempt to convince the team owners that they (the players) were deserving of higher salaries and more fringe benets? (a) Not enough information is given to answer the question. (b) Either one, because all measures of central tendency are basically the same. (c) Mean. (d) Median. (e) Both the mean and the median. Solution: d 4. A nancial analysts sample of six companies book value were $25, $7, $22, $33, $18, $15.

The sample mean and sample standard deviation are (approximately): (a) 20 and 79.2 respectively (b) 20 and 8.9 respectively. (c) 120 and 79.2 respectively. (d) 20 and 8.2 respectively. (e) 120 and 8.9 respectively. Solution: not availabe

mean 20, standard deviation 8.12

5. A sample of underweight babies was fed a special diet and the following weight gains (lbs) were observed at the end of three month. 6.7 2.7 2.5 3.6 3.4 4.1 4.8 5.9 8.3

The mean and standard deviation are: (a) 4.67, 3.82

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(b) 3.82, 4.67 (c) 4.67, 1.95 (d) 1.95, 4.67 (e) 4.67, 1.84 Solution: c Past performance 1991 Oct - 97% Past performance 1993 Feb - 97% 6. The eect of acid rain upon the yield of crops is of concern in many places. In order to determine baseline yields, a sample of 13 elds was selected, and the yield of barley (g/400 m2 ) was determined. The output from SAS appears below: QUANTILES(DEF=4) MAX 392 99% Q3 234 95% MED 221 90% Q1 174 10% MIN 161 5% 1% EXTREMES LOW HIGH 161 225 168 232 169 236 179 239 205 392

N MEAN STD DEV SKEW USS CV

13 220.231 58.5721 2.21591 671689 26.5958

SUM WGTS 13 SUM 2863 VAR 3430.69 KURT 6.61979 CSS 41168.3 STD MEAN 16.245

100% 75% 50% 25% 0%

392 392 330 163 161 161

The mean, standard deviation, median, and the highest value are: (a) 220.231 3430.60 50% 225 (b) 220.231 16.245 221 225 (c) 220.231 58.5721 50% 392 (d) 220.231 58.5721 221 392 (e) 220.231 58.5721 234 392 Solution: d Past performance 1989 Oct - 92% 7. The eect of salinity upon the growth of grasses is of concern in many places where excess irrigation is causing salt to rise to the surface. In order to determine baseline yields, a sample of 24 elds was selected, and the biomass of grasses in a standard sized plot was measured (kg). The output from SAS appears below: QUANTILES(DEF=4) 100% MAX 22.6 99% 22.6 75% Q3 11.45 95% 22.52 50% MED 8.15 90% 21.8 EXTREMES LOW HIGH 0.7 15.1 1 19.8

N MEAN STD DEV

24 9.09 6.64

SUM WGTS 24 SUM 218.3 VARIANCE 44.0 3

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SKEWNE 0.924 KURTO -0.0209 25% Q1 3.775 10% USS 2998 CSS 1012.73 0% MIN 0.7 5% CV 72 STD MEAN 1.35 1% T:MEAN=0 6.7153 PROb>|T| 0.0001 RANGE SGN RANK 150 PROb>|S| 0.0001 Q3-Q1

1.6 0.77 0.7 21.9 7.675

2.2 2.2 2.8

21.3 22.3 22.6

The mean, standard deviation, tenth percentile, and the highest value are: (a) 9.09 44.0 10% 22.6 (b) 9.09 6.64 1.6 15.1 (c) 9.09 6.64 21.8 15.1 (d) 9.09 6.64 1.6 22.6 (e) 9.09 1.35 21.8 15.1 Solution: d Past performance 1989 Oct - 92% Past performance 1990 Oct - 93% 8. The heights in centimeters of 5 students are: 165, 175, 176, 159, 170. The sample median and sample mean are respectively: (a) 170, 169 (b) 170, 170 (c) 169, 170 (d) 176, 169 (e) 176, 176 Solution: a 9. If most of the measurements in a large data set are of approximately the same magnitude except for a few measurements that are quite a bit larger, how would the mean and median of the data set compare and what shape would a histogram of the data set have? (a) The mean would be smaller than the median and the histogram would be skewed with a long left tail. (b) The mean would be larger than the median and the histogram would be skewed with a long right tail. (c) The mean would be larger than the median and the histogram would be skewed with a long left tail.
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(d) The mean would be smaller than the median and the histogram would be skewed with a long right tail. (e) The mean would be equal to the median and the histogram would be symmetrical. Solution: b Past performance 1997 Jun - 77% (20%-c) 10. In measuring the centre of the data from a skewed distribution, the median would be preferred over the mean for most purposes because: (a) the median is the most frequent number while the mean is most likely (b) the mean may be too heavily inuenced by the larger observations and this gives too high an indication of the centre (c) the median is less than the mean and smaller numbers are always appropriate for the centre (d) the mean measures the spread in the data (e) the median measures the arithmetic average of the data excluding outliers. Solution: b Past performance 1992 Oct - 54% (40% e) Past performance 1993 Apr - 60% Past performance 1998 Oct - 93% 11. In general, which of the following statements is FALSE? (a) The sample mean is more sensitive to extreme values than the median. (b) The sample range is more sensitive to extreme values than the standard deviation. (c) The sample standard deviation is a measure of spread around the sample mean. (d) The sample standard deviation is a measure of central tendency around the median. (e) If a distribution is symmetric, then the mean will be equal to the median. Solution: d Past performance 1992 Oct 79% 12. The frequency distribution of the amount of rainfall in December in a certain region for a period of 30 years is given below:
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Rainfall (in inches) 2.0 - 4.0 4.0 - 6.0 6.0 - 8.0 8.0 - 10.0 10.0 - 12.0

Number of years 3 6 8 8 5

The mean amount of rainfall in inches is: (a) 7.30 (b) 7.25 (c) 7.40 (d) 8.40 (e) 6.50 Solution: c Past performance 1989 Dec - 90% 13. A consumer aairs agency wants to check the average weight of a new product on the market. A random sample of 25 items of the product was taken and the weights (in grams) of these items were classied as follows: Class Limits 74 - 77 77 - 80 80 - 83 83 - 86 86 - 89 Frequency 3 6 9 3 4

The 3rd quartile of the weight in this sample is equal to: (a) 83.00 (b) 75.00 (c) 83.75 (d) 18.75 (e) 84.50 Solution: c Past performance 1989 Dec - 75% Past performance 1992 Dec - 83% 14. A random sample of 40 smoking people is classied in the following table:
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Ages 10 - 20 20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50 50 - 60 Total

Frequency 4 6 12 10 8 40

The mean age of this group of people. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) 4.5 8.0 34.5 38.0 1520.0

Solution: not availabe

solution: d

15. A frequency distribution of weekly wages for a group of employees is given below: Weekly 50.00 75.00 100.00 125.00 150.00 wages - 75.00 - 100.00 - 125.00 - 150.00 - 175.00 Frequency 10 15 60 40 10

The mean for this group is: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) $112.50 $125.00 $105.41 $117.13 $118.50

Solution: not availabe

solution d

16. Consider the following cumulative relative frequency distribution: Less than or equal to 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0
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Cum. rel. freq. 0.23 0.34 0.41 1.00 7

If this distribution is based on 800 observations, then the frequency in the second interval is: (a) 34 (b) 272 (c) 80 (d) 88 (e) 456 Solution: d The following information will be used in the next three questions. A sample of 35 observations were classied as follows: Class 0 - 5 5 -10 10-15 15-20 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40 Frequency 8 2 6 8 5 5 0 1

17. The class mark of the third class is: (a) 10.0 (b) 12.5 (c) 15.0 (d) 7.5 (e) 17.5 Solution: b 18. The sample mean of the above grouped data is: (a) 14.89 (b) 14.23 (c) 15.35 (d) 15.11 (e) 14.74
c 2006 Carl James Schwarz

Solution: c 19. The 80th percentile of the above grouped data is: (a) 27 (b) 22 (c) 19 (d) 23 (e) 24 Solution: e 20. Recently, the City of Winnipeg has been criticized for its excessive discharges of untreated sewage into the Red River. A microbiologist take 45 samples of water downstream from the treated sewage outlet and measures the number of coliform bacteria present. A summary table is as follows: Number of Bacteria 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 Number of Samples 5 20 15 5

The 80th percentile is approximately: (a) 45 (b) 47 (c) 80 (d) 48 (e) 36 Solution: b Past performance 1989 Oct - 81% Past performance 1992 Oct - 70% 21. Recently, the City of Winnipeg has been criticized for its excessive discharges of untreated sewage into the Red River. A microbiologist take 50 samples of water downstream from the treated sewage outlet and measures the number of coliform bacteria present. A summary table is as follows:

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Number of Bacteria 50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90

Number of Samples 5 20 10 15

The mean number of bacteria per sample is: (a) 70 (b) 71 (c) 72 (d) 76 (e) 65 Solution: c Past performance 1989 Oct - 93% 22. Using the same data as in the previous question, the 75th percentile is approximately: (a) 76.5 (b) 77.5 (c) 75.0 (d) 78.5 (e) 78.0 Solution: b Past performance 1989 Oct - 81% 23. A sample of 99 distances has a mean of 24 feet and a median of 24.5 feet. Unfortunately, it has just been discovered that an observation which was erroneously recorded as 30 actually had a value of 35. If we make this correction to the data, then: (a) the mean remains the same, but the median is increased (b) the mean and median remain the same (c) the median remains the same, but the mean is increased (d) the mean and median are both increased (e) we do not know how the mean and median are aected without further calculations; but the variance is increased.

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Solution: c Past performance Past performance Past performance Past performance Past performance

1989 1992 1996 1997 2006

Dec - 83% Oct - 84% Oct - 91% Aug - 93% Aug - 93%

24. The term test scores of 15 students enrolled in a Business Statistics class were recorded in ascending order as follows: 4, 7, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 15, 15, 17, 17, 19, 19, 20 After calculating the mean, median, and mode, an error is discovered: one of the 15s is really a 17. The measures of central tendency which will change are: (a) the mean only (b) the mode only (c) the median only (d) the mean and mode (e) all three measures Solution: d Past performance 1991 Oct - 85% 25. Suppose a frequency distribution is skewed with a median of $75.00 and a mode of $80.00. Which of the following is a possible value for the mean of distribution? (a) $86 (b) $91 (c) $64 (d) $75 (e) None of these Solution: c 26. Earthquake intensities are measured using a device called a seismograph which is designed to be most sensitive for earthquakes with intensities between 4.0 and 9.0 on the open-ended Richter scale. Measurements of nine earthquakes gave the following readings: 4.5
c 2006 Carl James Schwarz

5.5

8.7 11

8.9

6.0

5.2

where L indicates that the earthquake had an intensity below 4.0 and a H indicates that the earthquake had an intensity above 9.0. The median earthquake intensity of the sample is: (a) Cannot be computed because all of the values are not known (b) 8.70 (c) 5.75 (d) 6.00 (e) 6.47 Solution: d Past performance Past performance Past performance Past performance Past performance Past performance 1989 1989 1991 1992 1996 2006 Oct - 81% Dec - 83% Oct - 70% (14% a, 11% b) Oct - 84% Dec - 87% Oct - 86%

27. Earthquake intensities are measured using a device called a seismograph which is designed to be most sensitive for earthquakes with intensities between 4.0 and 9.0 on the open-ended Richter scale Measurements of ten earthquakes gave the following readings: 4.5 L 5.5 H 8.7 8.9 6.0 H 5.2 7.2

where L indicates that the earthquake had an intensity below 4.0 and a H indicates that the earthquake had an intensity above 9.0. One measure of central tendancy is the x% trimmed mean computed after trimming x% of the upper values and x% of the bottom values. The value of the 20% trimmed mean is: (a) Cannot be computed because all of the values are not known (b) 6.00 (c) 6.60 (d) 6.92 (e) 6.57 Solution: d Past performance 1990 Oct - 59% 28. When testing water for chemical impurities, results are often reported as bdl, i.e., below detection limit. The following are the measurements of the amount of lead in a series of water samples taken from inner city households (ppm).
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5, 7, 12, bdl, 10, 8, bdl, 20, 6. Which of the following is correct? (a) The mean lead level in the water is about 10 ppm. (b) The mean lead level in the water is about 8 ppm. (c) The median lead level in the water is 7 ppm. (d) The median lead level in the water is 8 ppm. (e) Neither the mean nor the median can be computed because some values are unknown. Solution: c Past performance Past performance Past performance Past performance 1993 1996 1998 2006 Feb - 80% (e-10%) Oct - 83% (d-6%; e-7%) Dec - 83% Dec - 92%

29. A clothing and textiles student is trying to assess the eect of a jackets design on the time it takes preschool children to put the jacket on. In a pretest, she timed 7 children as they put on her prototype jacket. The times (in seconds) are provided below. n n 65 43 n 119 39

The ns represent children who had not put the jacket on after 120 seconds (in which case the children were allowed to stop). Which of the following would be the best value to use as the typical time required to put on the jacket? (a) The median time, which was 43 seconds. (b) The mean time, which was 66 seconds. (c) The median time, which was 52 seconds. ok (d) The median time, which was 119 seconds. ok (e) The missing times (the ns) mean we cant calculate any useful measures of central tendency. Solution: d Past performance 1990 Dec - 58% ( 17% - a, 18% - e) Past performance 1997 Jun - 74% ( 12% - e) 30. For the following histogram, what is the proper ordering of the mean, median, and mode? Note that the graph is NOT numerically precise only the relative positions are important.
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(a) I = mean II = median III = mode (b) I =mode II = median III = mean (c) I = median II = mean III = mode (d) I = mode II = mean III = median (e) I = mean II = mode III = median Solution: a Past performance 1989 Oct - 82% Past performance 1991 Oct - 92% Past performance 1993 Feb - 94% 31. The following statistics were collected on two groups of cattle Group A 45 1000 lbs 80 lbs Group B 30 800 lbs 70 lbs

sample size sample mean sample std. dev

Which of the following statements is correct? (a) Group A is less variable than Group B because Group As standard deviation is larger. (b) Group A is relatively less variable than Group B because Group As coecient of variation (the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean) is smaller (c) Group A is less variable than Group B because the std deviation per animal is smaller. (d) Group A is relatively more variable than Group B because the sample mean is larger. (e) Group A is more variable than Group B because the sample size is larger. 14

c 2006 Carl James Schwarz

Solution: b Past performance 1992 Oct - 61% (20% e) Past performance 1998 Oct - 63% (14% e) 32. Normal body temperature varies by time of day. A series of readings was taken of the body temperature of a subject. The mean reading was found to be 36.5C with a standard deviation of 0.3C. When converted to F, the mean and standard deviation are: (F = C(1.8) + 32). (a) 97.7, 32 (b) 97.7, 0.30 (c) 97.7, 0.54 (d) 97.7, 0.97 (e) 97.7, 1.80 Solution: c Past performance 1993 Feb - 47% (a-34%, b-19%) Past performance 1997 Jun - 84% (a-10%) 33. A scientist is weighing each of 30 sh. She obtains a mean of 30 g and a standard deviation of 2 g. After completing the weighing, she nds that the scale was misaligned, and always under reported every weight by 2 g, i.e. a sh that really weighed 26 g was reported to weigh 24 g. What is mean and standard deviation after correcting for the error in the scale? [Hint: recall that the mean measures central tendency and the standard deviation measures spread.] (a) 28 g, 2 g (b) 30 g, 4 g (c) 32 g, 2 g (d) 32 g, 4 g (e) 28 g, 4 g Solution: c Past performance 1989 Oct - 63% 34. A researcher wishes to calculate the average height of patients suering from a particular disease. From patient records, the mean was computed as 156 cm, and standard deviation as 5 cm. Further investigation reveals that the scale was misaligned, and that all reading are 2 cm too large, e.g., a patient whose height is really 180 cm was measured as 182 cm. Furthermore, the researcher would like to work with statistics based on metres. The correct mean and standard deviation are:
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(a) 1.56m, .05m (b) 1.54m, .05m (c) 1.56m, .03m (d) 1.58m, .05m (e) 1.58m, .07m Solution: b Past performance 1990 Oct - 84% 35. Rainwater was collected in water collectors at thirty dierent sites near an industrial basin and the amount of acidity (pH level) was measured. The mean and standard deviation of the values are 4.60 and 1.10 respectively. When the pH meter was recalibrated back at the laboratory, it was found to be in error. The error can be corrected by adding 0.1 pH units to all of the values and then multiply the result by 1.2. The mean and standard deviation of the corrected pH measurements are: (a) 5.64, 1,44 (b) 5.64, 1.32 (c) 5.40, 1.44 (d) 5.40, 1.32 (e) 5.64, 1.20 Solution: b Past performance 1992 Oct - 88% Past performance 1996 Dec - 72% (20%-a) 36. Which of the following statements is NOT true? (a) In a symmetric distribution, the mean and the median are equal. (b) The rst quartile is equal to the twenty-fth percentile. (c) In a symmetric distribution, the median is halfway between the rst and the third quartiles. (d) The median is always greater than the mean. (e) The range is the dierence between the largest and the smallest observations in the data set. Solution: d 37. An experiment was conducted where a persons heart rate was measured 4 times in the space of 10 minutes. This was repeated on a sample of 20 people. Which of the following is not correct?
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(a) The standard deviation within subjects refers to the repeated measurements of a single persons heart rate. (b) The standard deviation among subjects refers to the variation in heart rates among dierent people. (c) The variation among subjects was larger than the variation within subjects. (d) The variation in heart rates based on measurements taken for 30 seconds was larger than the variation of heart rates based on measurements taken for 15 seconds. (e) The average of the heart rate computed from the 15 seconds measuring period was about the same as the average of the heart rates computed from the 30 second measurement periods. Solution: d Past performance 1996 Oct - 76% (11%-a) Past performance 1997 Jun - 89% 38. Here is a summary graph of complex carbohyrates for each of the three bre groups in the cereal dataset.

Which of the following is NOT correct?

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(a) The low bre group is more variable than the medium bre group because the central box is larger. (b) About 25% of low bre cereals have less than 12 g of complex carbohydrates per serving. (c) About 50% of medium bre cereals have more than 15 g of complex carbohydrates per serving. (d) The average amount of complex carbohydrates per serving for the high bre group appears to be much smaller than the other two groups. (e) About 25% of the medium bre cereals have less than 10 g of complex carbohydrates. Solution: e Past performance 1996 Oct - 92% (11%-a) 39. You are allowed to choose four whole numbers from 1 to 10 (inclusive, without repeats). Which of the following is FALSE? (a) The numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 have the smallest possible standard deviation. (b) The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 have the smallest possible standard deviation. (c) The numbers 1, 5, 6, 10 have the largest possible standard deviation. (d) The numbers 1, 2, 9, 10 have the largest possible standard deviation. (e) The numbers 7, 8, 9, 10 have the smallest possible standard deviation. Solution: c Past performance Past performance Past performance Past performance 1996 1997 1997 2006 Oct - 63% (30%-d) Jun - 84% (14%-d) Aug - 80% (20%-d) Dec - 72% (20%-d)

40. Which of the following is FALSE: (a) The numbers 3, 3, 3 have a standard deviation of 0. (b) The numbers 3, 4, 5 have the same standard deviation as 1003, 1004, 1005. (c) The standard deviation is a measure of spread around the centre of the data. (d) The numbers 1, 5, 9 have a smaller standard deviation than 101, 105, 109. (e) The standard deviation can only be computed for interval or ratio scaled data.

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Solution: d Past performance 1998 Oct - 89% 41. You are allowed to choose any four integers, without limits but without repeats. Which of the following is FALSE? (a) The numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 has the same standard deviation as the numbers 1231, 1232, 1233, 1234. (b) The numbers 1, 5, 7, 9 has a smaller standard deviation than the numbers 1231, 1235, 1237, 1239. (c) The numbers 1, 5, 6, 10 has a larger standard deviation than the numbers 1231, 1232, 1233, 1234. (d) The numbers 1, 2, 9, 10 has the same standard standard deviation as the numbers 1231, 1232, 1239, 1240. (e) The numbers 1236, 1237, 1238, 1239 has the smallest possible standard deviation. Solution: b - Any four consecutive integers wll have the smallest possible standard deviation Past performance 2006 Oct - 81% (e-10%)

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