STA1506/012/0/2024

Tutorial Letter 012/0/2024

Basic Statistical Computing

STA1506

Year module

Department of Statistics

ASSIGNMENT 2 QUESTIONS
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ASSIGNMENT 02

Unique Nr.: 693323

Fixed closing date: 28 June 2024

Instructions: Answer all questions. You must submit your answers as a PDF document.
From Assignment 2 onwards, you must type your assignments.)

QUESTION 1

(a) Briefly describe in your own words what is Microsoft Excel? (2)
(b) Describe how would you add a cell in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. (2)
(c) Explain the term “data analysis”. (2)
(d) Given Spreadsheet 1 which contains captured first year students to improve the developed
learning plan for STA1506 performance,
i. state how many variables are in the database, how many are numeric and how many
are categorical; and (5)
ii. list the identified categorical and numerical variables showing each classification.
(4)
Spreadsheet 1: Captured first year registered students.

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QUESTION 2
Suppose you are given the following sample of STA1506 students.
Spreadsheet 2: Sample of STA1506 student performance.

(a) Which graphical display would you use to display the variables Gender and Race of the
entire sample? Explain why you would use this graphical display. (4)
(b) Display variable Gender using the answer in question 2(a). Use the appropriate labels
on the graph. (6)
(c) Suppose you are told that there was an omission of three students in the sample. The
data editor asks you to add Percy Chukwu, an African female who obtained 50%. The
entry is to be added between Pertunia and Allowance in the database. Add the
information as instructed by the editor to the sample and explain how you added Percy
Chukwu who currently resides in Madagascar but Percy is Nigerian by nationality. (3)
(d) Now add Excellent Naidoo. Excellent is a Male, who obtained 81% and he is Indian by
race. Add Candice Mooiloop, a Female, who obtained 66% from a coloured race, as
student number 8. Display the updated STA1506 sample following the instructions
given in questions 2(c) to (d) by highlighting the new information. (6)
(e) Sort the sample by surname in ascending order and explain or write down each step on
how you sorted the sample in ascending order. Clearly show the display of the current
sample spreadsheet after sampling. (6)
(f) After communicating with the assignment department, the editor was updated about the
corrupt files of Petunia van der Merve (whom the name was spelled incorrectly as
Pertunia) and Feng Hu (whom her identity was incorrectly placed as Hu instead of Feng
Hu) with race Other. The assignment department also updated that these students each
obtained 38% and 71% in general. Another update says that Grace Baloyi is black in
race. Furthermore, display the final sample of the STA1506 students after updating
the given information arranged in ascending order by variable Surname. Moreover, use
a pie chart to display the information related to variable Race. Lastly, between a bar
chart and a pie chart, which one looks more appropriate to display variable Race
information? Motivate your answer. (14)
(g) Name the procedure used to solve problems posted in questions (c) to (f) under the
instruction of the editor. (2)
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QUESTION 3

(a) What is a frequency distribution? Use your own words to answer this question. (4)
(b) Suppose a poll is conducted to 120 random sample of South African citizens on who they will
vote for in the 2024 national and provincial elections. Of the 120 people in the poll, 19 people
say DA, 13 say EFF, 26 say ANC, 21 say MK, 7 say ATM, 11 say ACDP, 10 say FF, 6 say
ALJ, and 7 say AA. Construct a relative frequency distribution of the data obtained from the
poll. (10)
(c) Suppose that DA, ANC, FF, and AA join as forces to elect the President and that two
candidates from parties that joined forces abstain to vote in a secret ballot. What will be the
ratio between the mentioned joined political parties to other parties in number of votes? (2)
(Please note that the statistics table supplied in this question are from a simulated random poll based on behaviour of 120 selected South Africans without favour and does not represent any estimation of
the electoral poll but an objective to allow students to apply STA1506 knowledge to answer questions, for example, recent reports show a drop in DA, VF, ACDP, AA polls and an increase in EFF and MK
polls)

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QUESTION 4

The duration it took to write question three of this assignment was taken from 28 students in a
survey conducted by an honours Statistics student to determine a similar question feasibility in an
exam sitting. The duration when writing question 3 of the assignment is as follows.
Table 1: Time taken to write the assignment per student.

48 66 60 90 58 68 53
63 64 55 64 58 54 72
56 80 55 62 75 48 55
45 48 72 52 68 56 70

(a) Use the Microsoft Excel function keys to determine the mean, median, and mode of the
duration when writing question 3 of the assignment. (9)
(b) Use the Microsoft Excel function keys to determine the variance and the coefficient of
variation for the duration when writing question 3 of the assignment. (7)
(c) Use the Microsoft Excel function keys to compute the 30 and 60 percentiles of the duration
th th

when writing question 3 the assignment. (6)

(d) Lastly, use the Microsoft Excel function keys to determine the interquartile range of the
duration when writing question 3 the assignment. (6)

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Total marks: [100]