BQT1614, QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS TRI1, 2020/2021

Tutorial 1
Topic 2: Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion in Frequency Distribution

Question 1

The following data represent the total fat for burgers and chicken items from a sample of fast-food chains.

Burgers 19 31 34 35 39 39 43
Chicken 7 9 15 16 16 18 22 25 27 33 39

For the burgers and chicken items separately:

a) Compute the arithmetic mean, median, first quartile, and third quartile.
b) Compute the variance, standard deviation, range, interquartile range, and coefficient of variation.
c) Are the data skewed? If so, how?
d) Based on the results of (a)-(c), what conclusions can you reach concerning the differences in total fat
of burgers and chicken items?

Question 2

The operations manager of a plant that manufactures tires wants to compare the actual inner diameter of two
grade of tires, each of which is expected to be 575 millimeters. A sample of five tires of each grade was
selected and the results representing the inner diameters of the tires, ordered from smallest to largest, were
as follows:

Grade A: 578 584 575 570 568

Grade B: 574 575 577 573 578

a) For each of the two grades of tires, compute the arithmetic mean, median and standard deviation.
b) Which grade of tire is providing better quality? Explain.
c) What would be the effect on your answers in (a) and (b) if the last value for grade B were 588
instead of 578? Explain.

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BQT1614, QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS TRI1, 2020/2021

Question 3

Advertising expenses are a significant component of the cost of goods sold. Listed below is a frequency
distribution of the advertising expenditure for 60 manufacturing companies located in the Perak.

Advertising Expenditure (in millions of Number of

RM) Companies
25 to < 35 5
35 to < 45 10
45 to < 55 21
55 to < 65 16
65 to < 75 8

a) Estimated the mean and the standard deviation of the advertising expense for the sample of
manufacturing companies located in Perak.
b) Compute the median advertising expenditure and hence calculate the Pearson’s Coefficient of
Skewness using the approximation that (Mean – Mode ≈ 3 (Mean – Median)
c) If the mean and the standard deviation of the advertising expenditure in the state of Penang are RM
48 million and RM 10 million respectively, what can you say about the dispersion of advertising
expense in Perak relative to Penang?

Question 4

Each person who applies for an assembly job at Seng Heng’s Electronics is given a mechanical aptitude test.
One part of the test involves assembling a plug-in unit based on numbered instructions. A sample of the
length of time (in minutes) it took 84 people to assemble the unit was organized into the following frequency
distribution.
Length of Time (in minutes) Number of People
2 up to 5 8
5 up to 8 16
8 up to 11 28
11 up to 14 18
14 up to 17 10
17 up to 20 4

a) Calculate the arithmetic mean and standard deviation of the length of time in minutes to assemble the
plug-in unit.
b) Calculate the mode and describe the shape of the distribution.
c) If another sample batch of 100 new applicants took an average and standard deviation of 7.5 minutes
and 2.5 minutes respectively, comment on the relative variation between these two sets of batches of
new applicants at the Seng Heng’s Electronics.

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BQT1614, QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS TRI1, 2020/2021

Question 5

SCCoast, an Internet provider in the Southeast, developed the following frequency distribution on the age of
Internet users.

Age (years) Frequency

10 up to 20 3
20 up to 30 7
30 up to 40 18
40 up to 50 20
50 up to 60 12

a) Calculate the arithmetic mean and standard deviation of the age of the internet users.
b) Calculate the mode and describe the shape of the distribution.

Question 6

A random sample of data has a mean of 75 and a variance of 25.

a) Use Chebychev’s theorem to determine the percent of observations between 65 and 85.
b) If the data is bell shaped, use the empirical rule to find the approximate percent of observations
between 85 and 65.

Question 7

If the mean of a population is 250 and its standard deviation is 20, approximately what proportion of
observation is in the interval between?

a) 190 and 310

b) 210 and 290.

Question 8

An auditor finds that the values of a corporation’s accounts receivable have a mean of $295 and a standard
deviation of $63.

a) It can be guaranteed that 60% of these values will be in what interval?

b) It can be guaranteed that 84% of these values will be in what interval?

Question 9

A sample of the monthly amounts spent for food by a senior citizen living alone approximates a
symmetrical, bell-shaped frequency distribution. The sample mean is $150; the standard deviation is $20.

a) About 68% of the monthly food expenditures are between what two amounts?
b) About 95% of the monthly food expenditures are between what two amounts?
c) About 99.7% of the monthly food expenditures are between what two amounts?