Mzumbe University (MU)

QMS 102: Business Statistics

Problem sheet # 1

1. (a) Define the following terms:

i. A variable
ii. A case

(b) The table below shows the distribution of 9238 women by age:

Table 1: Percent distribution of women by age, Tanzania 1991/1992

Age Percent
15 – 19 24.10
20 – 24 20.00
25 - 29 17.00
30 – 34 12.10
35 – 39 11.00
40 – 44 8.20
45 - 49 7.60
Total 100.0
Source: TDHS 1991/1992

i) Produce a complete frequency table for the age distribution of

women
ii) Construct a histogram for the frequency table in (i)
iii) Comment on the shape of the distribution
2. Consider the table below showing distribution of monthly income:
Table 2: Distribution of Monthly income of Middle Class people
Monthly Income (USD) Frequency
- 100 53
100 – 150 f1
150 – 200 114
200 – 250 f2
250 – 300
63
300 – 350
32
350 – 400
20
400 – 450
11
450 – 500
8
500 –
3
Source: Goon, Gupta and Dasgupta “Fundamentals of
statistics”
a) Given that the median and mode monthly income are 210. 77
and 219.01 respectively, determine f1 and f 2

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 b) The mean monthly income cannot be computed straight
forwardly from the above table.
i) Explain why?
ii) What would you do to have the mean computed?
c) Determine the mean deviation about the median for the
distribution. State all the assumptions that you may make

3. (a) Explain clearly what do you understand by “science of statistics”.

Give important uses and limitations of statistics.
(b) Explain the difference between the following:

i) Quantitative and Qualitative variables

ii) Discrete and continuous variables
iii) Primary data and secondary data
iv) Statistic and statistics
4. The following table gives the frequency distribution of weight of 520
lambs purchased at a slaughter house:
Weights frequency Weights frequency
16 – 18 7 28 – 30 107
18 – 20 15 30 – 32 87
20 – 22 32 32 – 34 35
22 – 24 48 34 – 36 22
24 – 26 64 36 – 38 8
26 – 28 95
(a) Draw a histogram, frequency polygon and frequency curve for the
data
(b) Explain how you would construct a histogram when the class
intervals are unequal. Give an example may be of 5 classes with
hypothetical frequencies.
5. (a) What is range and how is it calculated?
(c) Consider the following frequency distribution of the income per
month for 300 workers.
Income per 41- 50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100 Total
month
Number of 30 36 43 104 73 14 300
earners

i) Determine the coefficient of variation for the distribution

ii) Explain skewness and kurtosis of this distribution by
computing the relevant measures.

6. The heights of 40 basketball players (in cm) are given in the following
frequency distribution table:
Weight 118-126 127-135 136-144 145-153 154-162 163-171 172-180
Frequency 3 5 9 12 5 4 2
i) Calculate mean, median and mode

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 ii) Calculate and interpret Q1 , D6 and P65
iii) Find the value of the median by using appropriate graphical
method and compare it to the value obtained in (i)
7. Construct the frequency distribution table for the following amount of
sulphur oxides (in tons) emitted by an industrial plant in 80 days:
15.8 26.4 17.3 11.2 23.9 24.8 18.7 13.9 9.0 13.2
22.7 9.8 6.2 14.7 17.5 26.1 12.8 28.6 17.6 23.7
26.8 22.7 18.0 20.5 11.0 20.9 15.5 19.4 16.7 10.7
19.1 15.2 22.9 26.6 20.4 21.4 19.2 21.6 16.9 19.0
18.5 23.0 24.6 20.1 16.2 18.0 7.7 13.5 23.5 14.5
14.4 29.6 19.4 17.0 20.8 24.3 22.5 24.6 18.4 18.1
8.3 21.9 12.3 22.3 13.3 11.8 19.3 20.0 25.7 31.8
25.9 10.5 15.9 27.5 18.1 17.9 9.4 24.1 20.1 28.5
(Hint: Use classes: 5.0 – 8.9, 9.0 – 12.9, etc.)
From the frequency distribution, answer the following questions;
i) What is the proportion of emission for the weight less than 25 tons in
the 80 days?
ii) Find the amount of sulphur oxide between the 40th and 41st day.
What is the statistical name for the value you have just
calculated?
iii) Use the “assumed mean” method to calculate the mean.
8. The following is the frequency distribution for the saving group with 400
members and the number of saving certificates held by them are shown
in the following table;

Frequency distribution table for a saving group

Number of certificates Number of members
1 - 50 10
51 – 100 15
101 – 150 30
151 – 200 40
201 – 300 120
301 – 400 100
401 - 500 85
i) Construct a histogram for the given distribution of saving certificates
ii) Calculate the median for the distribution using the histogram in (i)
above
iii) Compute the mode for the distribution

Nota Benne:

Question 2 is for assignment!!!! It can be done during class time as a

mere quiz as well.
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