Chapter 3 Statistics Project

Are You Popular?

For our chapter 3 statistics project, we chose to pick fifty random Fowler students and
see what their instagram follower count was. We chose this topic because in society, social
media followings are very important. It’s a way of showing if you are really popular or not. Some
people really do care about their followings and some don’t. Being from a small school we
thought that there wouldn’t be a huge difference between our minimum and maximum, but we
were very wrong.This is just another reason we picked this topic.
We approached this project by first collecting our data. We started off by creating a
google survey, but then decided that probably wasn’t the fastest option. Instead we used our
phones and picked 50 random kids that currently attend Fowler High School, and collected how
many Instagram followers they have. We typed each number into a google spreadsheet,
because it was able to do most of our calculations for us. After we ordered our data from least to
greatest we then began doing our calculations and finding each thing we needed.
The first thing that we calculated was the mean. Another word for “mean” is the average.
We calculated this using google spreadsheets shortcuts, and our result was 407.54. This means
that from the 50 random Fowler High School students that we chose, their average number of
followers on Instagram is about 408 followers. Using google spreadsheet shortcuts again we
found the median, the middle number, which was 323.5. This number is just the middle number
of followers from our sample when listed smallest to greatest. We found our mode, the most
often number in our data set, and there was only one number that was repeated; 259. This
means that out of our 50 numbers this was the only number of followers that was repeated. The
final number we found in the beginning was the range. Range is the gap between our smallest
and largest data set, which was 1,061. This number means that there is a range of 1,061
followers between our smallest, 50, and our largest, 1,111.
The next couple things that we calculated were the trimmed means. A trimmed mean is
when we delete numbers from the top and bottom of our data set and then find the mean, or
average. The first trimmed mean we calculated as the 5% trimmed mean. We calculated this by
multiplying the total number of data, 50, by .05. This gives us 3 which means we take off 3
numbers from the top and three numbers from the bottom. This allows us to focus on a smaller
portion of our data, and our mean changed to 388.09. We did the same thing for our 10%
trimmed mean and our mean changed to 382.18. The difference between our three means is
not a huge change, but that is because our average number of followers is very similar.
We then used google spreadsheets to find the standard deviation, 260.13, and the
variance, 67,667.62. These numbers show how dispersed our data is focused on our mean. It is
showing almost a type of range for how many followers 50 random kids at Fowler High School
have. Our next calculations involved finding our coefficient of variation, which is a percentage
that also shows dispersion. After dividing our standard deviation by our mean and multiplying by
100; we got 63.83%. This percent means that there is a 63.83% spread through our data and
shows a spread of frequency as well.
Our next couple of calculations were all very similar besides switching one number. We
had to use Chebychev’s Theorem to find a 75%, 88.9%, and 93.8% Chebychev’s Theorem. We
calculated this by adding and subtracting our mean to two times, three times, or four times our
standard deviation. Our ranges are as follows: -112.72 to 927.8, -372.85 to 1,187.93, and
Chapter 3 Statistics Project

-632.98 to 1,448.06. We use the theorem to try to look at a certain percentage of data and what
numbers would fall into that. When looking at our 75% calculation all of our numbers would fit in
except for the two people who have over 1,000 followers on Instagram.
The last of our calculations were very simple, because our graphing calculator was able
to do it all for us. To find the 5 number summary we typed all 50 numbers into the calculator and
let it calculate for us. Our 5 number summary is as follows: Min- 50, Q1- 198, Med- 323.5, Q3-
612, and Max- 1,111. We used these three numbers to create our box and whiskers plot that is
located at the bottom of this essay. Using our Q1 and Q3 we were able to find the Interquartile
Range (IQR), which is just the range of the numbers within our middle portion of our data. When
we subtracted the two numbers we got 414, which shows us that our middle section of our data
has a range of 414 Instagram Followers. The last thing we found was there were no outliers. We
did that by multiplying the magic number 1.5 to our IQR.
In the end, we were slightly surprised by some of our results. The first thing was when
collecting our data. We both agreed that the range of followers would not be that big considering
we attend a very small school. Our next shock was our variance, because it is such a big
number. We both thought we were calculating something wrong, but then realized that it was
just going to be like that. This project has answered our questions about who lets social media
control and who does not. From 50 followers to 1,111 there was a lot of surprises hidden
between those numbers.

5% Trim: .05(50)=2.5 → 3
10% Trim: .10(50)= 5

COV: 260.13/407.54= .6383x100= 63.83%

Chebychevs
75%: 407.54 -+ 2(260.13)= -112.72 to 927.8
88.95: 407.54 -+ 3(260. 13)= -372.85 to 1,187.93
92.8%: 407.54 -+ 4(260.13)= -632.98 to 1,448.06

IQR: 612-198= 414

Outliers: 1.5x414= 621