MATH 2565 - Winter 2016

Assignment 1
(Due Date: Jan, 21, 2016)
1. A consulting company conducted a survey of U.S. residents for the U.S.
Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis. Each resident was
asked to indicate what he or she believes to be the most important social issue.
The results are given in the following table.

Social issue Frequency

Housing 245
Transportation 112
Health Care 153
Education 71
Food 133
Other 306

a. Find the relative frequency for each category.

b. Construct a pie chart for these data Using R.
c. What proportion of people believe housing or transportation is the most
important social issue?

2. Many computer sellers and most software vendors maintain help lines for
customers. A random sample of the duration(in minutes) of technical support
calls to Hewlett-Packard was obtained, and the resulting stem-and-leaf plot is
given below.

0 11223344555566678888999
1 0001222222335668999
2 012334556678
3 000123478
4 334468
5 125
6 15 Stem=tens
7 7 Leaf=ones

a. Describe the shape of this distribution of the duration of technical support

calls.
b. Use the plot to construct a frequency distribution using the class intervals
0-5, 5-10, 10-15, etc.
c. What proportion of support calls last less than 15 minutes?
d. If a call lasts at least 25 minutes, a supervisor monitors the conversation.
What proportion of calls were monitored?

3. Remanufactured parts are common in the automotive industry. In order

to ensure quality, Hite Parts Exchange routinely checks the maximum output

1
of rebuilt alternators. Each day a random sample is obtained and the output
delivered (in amps) at 2500 rpm is recorded. The results from a recent day are
presented in the following table.

Class Frequency
30.0-32.0 8
32.0-33.0 7
33.0-34.0 10
34.0-34.5 25
34.5-35.0 30
35.0-35.5 40
35.5-36.0 45
36.0-50.0 5
Total 170

a. Find the width and the density for each class.

b. Construct a density histogram for these data Using R.

4.Many box cake mixed include special high-altitude baking instructions. To

determine any difference between baking times at low and high altitudes, the
consumer group Public Citizen made several similar cakes in 9-inch round pans
in Miami and Denver, and carefully recorded the time it took the cakes to
bake(in minutes). The data are given in the following table.

Low-altitude times(Miami)
25.1 25.6 24.9 23.7 25.5 22.4 24.7 24.2 25.6
24.8 23.9 24.4 24.7 24.4 26.4 24.7 24.7 26.8
24.9 24.3
High-altitude times(Denver)
22.8 30.0 27.3 30.3 28.3 31.1 27.0 26.8 26.3
29.1 23.5 26.2 29.2 23.0

a. Construct a modified box plot either by hand or using R for each data set
on the same measurement axis.
b. Describe each box plot in terms of center, shape and spread.
c. Describe the similarities and differences between the two distributions.

5.The longest running U.S.-produced fictional content television show by num-

ber of episodes is Gunsmoke. Other long-running shows of this type include
Lassie, Ozzie and Harriett, and Bonanza. Law and Order is currently number
10 with approximately 350 shows. The number of episodes for some of the top
115 shows are given in the following table.

2
 633 588 435 430 381 369 361 344 336 296
203 203 202 201 201 200 199 197 196 194
284 265 251 236 193 174

a. Find the median, the first and third quartile, and the interquartile range.
b. Find the 30th and the 95th percentiles.
c. Suppose the Simpsons currently have 438 episodes (as of November 2008).
Using the data in the table, in what percentile does this episode count lie?

6. In 2008, there were approximately 24,675 earthquakes around the world as

of November 11, 2008. A random sample of the magnitudes (on the Richter
scale) of these earthquakes during the first 11 days of November is given in the
following table.

1.3 1.4 1.4 2.0 4.5 1.6 2.5 1.3 1.0 1.7
2.9 2.5 2.0 2.6 1.4 1.8 1.0 1.6 2.5 3.3
1.6 4.9 3.0 1.7 1.7 1.9 1.6 1.9

a. Find the mean, median, variance, and standard deviation of the magnitudes.
b. Find the 40th and the 80th percentiles.
c. How likely is a magnitudes of 5.7? Justify your answer.