1

Introduction to statistical thinking

Exercise 1.1 Exercise 1.3
These are not the only “correct” answers – they 1. Days late
0 1 2 3 4 5
are representations of the types of answers that
Frequency 19 7 2 1 0 1
could be given.

1. In any sporting contest there are many variables 2. Depth(feet) 3.6–4 4.1–4.5 4.6–5 5.1–5.5 5.6–6 6.1–6.5
– in an individual sport an injury may make a Frequency 3 4 4 4 8 6
difference to performance, and in a team game
suspensions to key players may come at a bad 3. Any data ticked in the table below could be secondary
time. In a knockout competition it only has to data to you if someone else collected and recorded it.
happen once. In a league these effects are more The secondary column is ticked only in cases where the
spread out. data is likely to be difficult for you to collect yourself.
2. Find out as much detail as possible – whether
there is a fixed time the journey is to be done (can P S Qual Discrete Continuous
you avoid rush hours) – find out if there alternative a) Make ✓ ✓

routes in case of roadworks – any known model ✓ ✓

roadworks planned. colour ✓ ✓

3. The intensity of the radiation and the distance price ✓ ✓

from where people are will be major factors along mileage ✓ ✓
with the type of radiation. As people use phones engine size ✓ ✓
more for internet as well as texts and calls, the
service ✓ ✓
level of use may grow beyond the level planned history
when the transmitters were erected. b) venue ✓ ✓
People’s tolerance to radiation will vary greatly, type of race ✓ ✓
making decisions about what is “safe” very number of ✓ ✓
difficult. riders
make ✓ ✓
Exercise 1.2
model ✓ ✓
1. Later in the text you will be able to calculate the Top speed ✓ ✓
probability of 5H in 10 tosses as 0.246, so about a of riders
quarter – but “guessing” the proportion from a few c) size ✓ ✓
trials is very hard. power ✓ ✓
2. It is possible that all scores came up 3 or 4 times makes of ✓ ✓
but it is likely that they didn’t. Getting none of any car it fits
particular score you specify in advance is rare in cost ✓ ✓
20 throws, but if you don’t nominate a score of type of ✓ ✓
interest then you will see a blank about 15% of the connection
time. For a particular score it is about 2.5%. d) name ✓ ✓

3. Somewhere around half your values will be 1. length ✓ ✓

In theory, your largest value can be anything, but speed of ✓ ✓

values of above 5 only occur about 3% of the time. flow
You might have got a high number, but generally height of ✓ ✓
small numbers are much more common. If you source
were to do this once a minute for a year you would whether it is ✓ ✓
used
average a score of at least 20 once somewhere in all for tourism
those trials. So 100 is possible but extremely rare.

© Oxford University Press 2018: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute Introduction to statistical thinking 1
 P S Qual Discrete Continuous P S Qual Discrete Continuous
e) quality ✓ ✓ j) age ✓ ✓

type ✓ ✓ origin of ✓ ✓
stone
volume/ ✓ ✓
mass number of ✓ ✓
workers
consistency ✓ ✓
orientation ✓ ✓
colour ✓ ✓
mass/ ✓ ✓
f) length ✓ ✓
volume
mass ✓ ✓
height ✓ ✓
taste ✓ ✓
shape ✓ ✓
length of ✓ ✓
k) number of ✓ ✓
life buildings
cost ✓ ✓
heights of ✓ ✓
quality ✓ ✓ buildings
g) rate of fall ✓ ✓ value of ✓ ✓
buildings
time of ✓ ✓
storm value of ✓ ✓
business
depth lying ✓ ✓
number of ✓ ✓
temperature ✓ ✓
people
volume of amount of ✓ ✓
snow (for ✓ ✓ leisure space
run off into
rivers) use of ✓ ✓
buildings
causing ✓ ✓
hazard l) number of ✓ ✓

h) batting ✓ ✓ cars
average number of ✓ ✓
accidents
home runs ✓ ✓
average
units ✓ ✓
speed
on-base ✓ ✓ (at different ✓ ✓
percentage times of
day)
Right/left ✓ ✓
handed number of ✓ ✓
people per
height ✓ ✓
car
[huge number of stats collected – these are a types of ✓ ✓
sample] vehicle
i) height ✓ ✓

weight ✓ ✓
The answers have some suggestions about possible
reach ✓ ✓
data in the different contexts. What question you
speed ✓ ✓
want to answer would help to decide a list of the
running
data you would like to collect. You cannot always
speed ✓ ✓
swimming collect the data you want – it may be too expensive,
or you may not have the authority to collect it.
is it a
mother with ✓ ✓
cubs

© Oxford University Press 2018: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute Introduction to statistical thinking 2