Jeannette Moriak

Three teams are racing in the district meet. Below are the box plots representing the race times

for each team. Analyze the data and decide who you think will win.

The Racers' Conjectures

1. Complete the table below to describe why each team member thinks his team will win the

district meet. (1 point)

Team Reason

Red Red team has the fastest times

Yellow Yellow has the most consistent times

 Blue Blue has the highest median

2. Looking at the box plots, do you agree or disagree with each team's conjecture? Explain your
reasoning. (3 points: 1 point for each row of the chart)

Team Yes or no Reason

Red Yes Having the lowest time, or the fastest time,

is good for a race.

Yellow Yes Being consistent is good, but they have the

same times as the red team except one of
the red team’s players has a way faster time
than any of the yellow team.

Blue No Having the highest median is bad in a race

because you’re trying to get the lowest time,
not the highest.

Analyzing the Data

3. Use the box plots to complete the five-number summary chart. (3 points: 1 point for each row
of the chart)

Minimum Lower Median Upper Maximum

 quartile quartile

Red 41 43 47 48 49

Yellow 45 46 47 48 49

Blue 46 47 48 50 53

4. Look at the box plots and decide whether each team's distribution is symmetric or skewed.
Circle your answers. (1 point)

Red Negatively skewed Symmetric Positively skewed

Yellow Negatively skewed Symmetric Positively skewed

Blue Negatively skewed Symmetric Positively skewed

Below are the actual race times, in seconds, for each team. They are listed in numerical order,
not in the chronological order of actual races.

Race Race Race Race Race

Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 Race 9
1 2 3 4 5

Red 47.5 42 48.5 44.5 47 41 48 43 49

Yellow 47.5 45.5 48.5 46.5 47 45 48 46 49

Blue 48.1 46.8 52 47.9 48 46 50 47 53

5. Use the race times to calculate the mean time for each team. Show your work. (3 points: 1
point for each team)

Red 47.5 + 42 + 48.5 + 44.5 + 47 + 41 + 48 + 43 + 49 = 410.5 / 9 = 45.61

 Yellow 47.5 + 45.5 + 48.5 + 46.5 + 47 + 45 + 48 + 46 + 49 = 423 / 9 = 47

Blue 48.1 + 46.8 + 52 + 47.9 + 48 + 46 + 50 + 47 + 53 = 438.8 / 9 = 48.76

6. How do the three teams rank based on mean times? List them in order from fastest to
slowest, and explain your ranking. (1 point) Red, Yellow, Blue. The red team had the fastest
mean, and the blue team had the slowest mean.

7. How do the three teams rank based on median times? Explain your ranking. (1 point) Red’s
median is 47, Yellow’s median is also 47, and Blue’s median is 48. So, red and yellow have the
same median which is faster than blue’s median.

8. What statistic should you use if you wish to compare the spreads? Explain your reasoning. (1
point) IQR because the outliers in the Red and Blue teams affect the standard deviation.

9. The interquartile range for the red team's race times is 5 seconds. Find the IQR for the yellow
and blue teams. (2 point) The IQR for the yellow team is 2 seconds, and the IQR for the blue
team is 3 seconds.

10. What do the interquartile ranges (IQRs) tell you about how the teams race? Explain your
thinking. (1 points) The smaller the IQR is, the more consistent the time’s were. Yellow’s IQR
was the smallest because it was the most consistent. Similarly, Red’s IQR was the largest
because it was the least consistent because the outlier is farther from the median than blue’s
outlier.

Making a Decision
11. Now that you've analyzed the data, it's time to make a decision. Who do you think will win
the district meet? Describe how you think each team will do, and explain your reasoning. (3
points)

Red: I think red will win because they have the most consistent fast times except for one person
who is way faster. That one person will be the reason they win I think.

Yellow: Yellow will come in second because they have the same times as red but not the outlier
that’ll make the difference.

Blue: Blue will come in last because they’re times aren’t as fast as the other team’s.