Business Calculations: BCL 102 25th September 2020

Semester Assignment (100%)

Note:
Answer all questions on this question paper.
For Questions 1 to 8 circle the correct answer.
For all other Questions write down your answers and show all calculations.
Please make sure you rounded off correctly. Students will be penalised if your answers are not
correctly rounded off.
Section A (40marks)
Question 1 (1)
Sixty-five percent of South Africans are pensioners. In a random selection of 2000 South Africans
28% of them were found to be pensioners. The sample statistic is:
a) All pensioners in South African
b) 28%
c) All South African
d) 65%
Question 2 (1)
The Greek letters and are used to denote:
a) sample statistics
b) parameters
c) variables
d) scales of measurement

Questions 3 to 7 refers to the following distribution of the ages of a random sample motorcyclists
when they were fatally injured in traffic crashes:
Age (in years) Frequency(f) Midpoints Cumulative
freq. (F)
Below 15 0 - 0
15 - < 25 2 20 2
25 - < 35 6 30 8
35 - < 45 10 40 18
45 - < 55 12 50 30
55 - < 65 5 60 35
65 - < 75 1 70 36
36
Question 3 (1)
Which formula do you use to calculate the number of class intervals?
a)

b)
c)

d)

Question 4 (1)
Which class interval is the modal interval?
a 65 - < 75
b 35 - < 45
c 45 - < 55
d 15 - < 25
Question 5

(1)
What is the class width?
a) 5
b) 10
c) 12
d) 15

Question 6 (2)
The percentage of motorcyclists between the ages of 35 and 75 who were fatally injured in traffic
crashes (rounded off to one decimal):
a) 28.0
b) 94.5
c) 77.8
d) 50.0

Question 7 (2)
The number of motorcyclists between the ages of 27 and 55 who were fatally injured in traffic crashes
(rounded off to one decimal):
a) 26.8
b) 28.0
c) 28.6
d) 30.0

Question 8 (1)
Statistical inference occurs when you
a) take the results of a sample and reach conclusions about the population.
b) compute descriptive statistics from a sample.
c) take a complete census of a population.
d) present a graph of data.

Question 9 (8)
Indicate for each of the following whether the variable is qualitative or quantitative and also specify
the level of measurement. If the variable is quantitative, state whether it is discrete or continuous:
a) The height of the tallest basketball player in the NBA.
Quantitative, ratio, continuous
b) Course evaluation scales (excellent, good, average, poor).
Qualitative, ordinal
c) The temperature forecast for today is 18 degrees Celsius.
Quantitative, interval, continuous

Questions 10 and 11 refers to the following scenario:

The data below is the ice-cream sales recorded at a beach side café for 24 days:
64 32 68 47 45 35 60 34 41 29 55 70
73 50 33 28 48 54 54 58 54 57 45 54

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Question 10 (9)
Construct a stem-and-leaf display for the data above, include the columns: stem; sorted leaves;
frequency.
Stem Sorted Leaves Frequency CF
2 89 2 2
3 2345 4 6
4 15578 5 11
5 04444578 8 19
6 048 3 22
7 03 2 24
24

Question 11
a) Calculate the median ice-cream sales (rounded off to zero decimals). (2)

Median = 50 + 0.5 × (54 – 50) = 52

OR

b) Calculate the 89th percentile of ice-cream sales (rounded off to one decimal). (2)
P89 = 68 + 0.25 × (70 – 68) = 68.5

c) Calculate the average ice-cream sales (rounded off to one decimal). (2)

d) Calculate the upper quartile (rounded off to two decimals). (2)

e) Find the mode (rounded off to zero decimals). (1)
Mode = 54
Question 12
x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6
Consider these values:
2 2 3 5 4 1
Calculate y1 y2 y3 y4 y5 y6
1 3 2 6 0 7
a)
6

 (2 x
i =4
i + yi ) (2)

6 6
= 
i=4
2 xi + y
i =4
i

= 2  (x 4 + x5 + x 6 ) + ( y 4 + y 5 + y 6 )
= 2  (5 + 4 + 1) + (6 + 0 + 7 )
= 20 + 13 = 33

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 (3 y − 5)
i (2)
=  3y −  5i

= 3  ( y1 + y 2 + y 3 + y 4 + y 5 + y 6 ) − (5  6)
= 3  (1 + 3 + 2 + 6 + 0 + 7 ) − 30
= 3  (19) − 30 = 57 − 30 = 27

Section B (60Marks)
13. Raymond and Bridget are happily married. They both battle with waking up in the morning to get
to work on time. The probability that Bridget oversleeps is 0.32 and the probability that
Raymond oversleeps is 0.54. Raymond oversleeps 18% of the time given that Bridget overslept.
Bridget oversleeping in the morning influences whether Raymond oversleeps. The probability
that either one of them oversleeps (rounded off to four decimals) is:
(5)
a) 0.0576
b) 0.1728
c) 0.8024
d) 0.6872

14. Each year a certain university conducts a survey of the high school students who apply to the
campus. One of the questions asked to the students is “How far from home would you like the
university you attend to be?” Students responded by choosing one the distances (in
kilometres) categories listed. Summarize the information in a Frequency Table for a sample
of 50 students:
5marks for Table
For those that copied TABLE from lecture slides got the full 5marks
Calculate the following:
a) The three measures of central location (rounded off to two decimals). Explain your results.
(12)

Mean = Mean =
4marks

Mode
Modal interval (i.e. interval with the highest frequency) == Mo =
Modal interval (i.e. interval with the highest frequency) ==> [150 - < 200]
Mo =
Most students indicated that they would like the university to be 180 kilometres from their homes.

4marks

Median
Median interval Me =
Median interval (i.e. contains the observation, = 25) ==> [150 - < 200]
Me =
50% of students indicated below 189.29 kilometres and 50% indicated above 189.29 kilometres as
how far they would like the university to be from their homes.
4marks

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 b) The 43th percentile (4)

Position of P43 = ==> [150 - < 200]

P43 =

c) The variance (4)

d) The skewness (4)

Skewness OR

Skewness

15. The caffeine content (in litres) for a sample of five Red Bull drinks and six Play drinks were
recorded below:
Mean Standard
Red Bull (in litres) 0.32 0.30 0.27 0.33 0.25 0.294 deviation
0.0339
Play(in litres) 0.33 0.45 0.36 0.59 0.70 0.65 0.513 0.1553
Find and interpret the coefficient of variation for the two types of drinks (rounded off to two
decimals). (8)
CV for Red Bull σ/µ 3marks
CV for Play σ/µ 3marks
Interpretation 2marks
NB: I gave free marks to those who attempted the question and showed calculations even when
the answers were wrong. Also to those who interpreted, I gave marks for that and deducted for
those who did not.
16. At a certain hospital has nursing jobs available. The positions available are for three day nurses,
five night nurses and one nurse coordinator. There are 7 applicants for day nurse, 12 applicants
for night nurse and six applicants for nurse coordinator. In how many different ways can the
positions be filled by these applicants (rounded off to zero decimals)?

4marks

17. A restaurant has a choice of 4 starters, 10 main courses and 6 desserts. What is the total
number of possible unique meals that can be ordered from this restaurant? 4marks
4*10*6 = 240

18. What are the properties of a Normal Distribution 10 marks

1. Bell-shaped
2. Total area under curve=1
3. =centre of distr. & curve symmetric about .
4. Mean=median=mode
5. The 2 tails of the curve approach the horizontal axis but never touch it & extend indefinitely,
i.e.,

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 6. Empirical rule applies to the normal distr.
7. The shape & position of a normal curve depend on the population mean ( ) and standard
deviation ( )

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