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3rd Year · Mathematics
Statistics · Statistics

Representing data

Before you start, make sure you know: Tables (2nd Year, Junior Cycle)
Before you start, make sure you know: Percentages (2nd Year, Junior Cycle)

Every evening the news shows graphs: Met Éireann's rainfall for Galway, the number of passengers on the Luas, the results of a poll. Which graph would you pick for each one? A good graph can be understood at a glance; a bad one is confusing (or even misleading). Each type of graph suits a particular type of data. Choosing well is just as important as drawing well.

Types of data and frequency tables

Before you draw anything, ask what kind of data you have. Categorical data are words or labels (favourite sport). Numerical data are numbers: discrete if they are counted (number of siblings) and continuous if they are measured (height, time).

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Classify the following statistical variables obtained from a survey conducted in a school, stating whether they are qualitative or quantitative (in the latter case,…

Classify the following statistical variables obtained from a survey conducted in a school, stating whether they are qualitative or quantitative (in the latter case, specify whether they are discrete or continuous):

  1. a) The name of each student's favourite social network.
  2. b) The number of hours per week they spend playing video games.
  3. c) The height, measured in metres, of the basketball team players.
  4. d) The number of siblings each student in a class has.
Solve
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Complete the following partial frequency table on the number of times a group of friends went to the cinema in the last month: | Films ($x_i$) | Absolute frequency…

Complete the following partial frequency table on the number of times a group of friends went to the cinema in the last month:

Films ($x_i$) Absolute frequency ($n_i$) Relative frequency ($h_i$) Percentage ($\%$)
$0$ $4$ $0.20$ $20\%$
$1$ $8$
$2$ $5$ $0.25$
$3$ $0.15$ $15\%$
Total $20$ $1.00$ $100\%$
Solve
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A group of 30 teenagers has recorded how many hours per week they spend watching series on streaming* platforms. The data obtained are:…

A group of 30 teenagers has recorded how many hours per week they spend watching series on streaming platforms. The data obtained are:

$4, 7, 5, 8, 10, 4, 6, 7, 5, 9, 12, 6, 8, 7, 5, 4, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 9, 11, 4, 7, 6, 5, 8, 7, 6$.

  1. a) Classify the statistical variable.
  1. b) Make a frequency table that includes the absolute frequency ($f_i$) and the relative frequency ($h_i$).
  1. c) Represent the data using a bar chart.

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve

Bar chart

For categorical or discrete numerical variables. Each value has a bar whose height is equal to its frequency. The bars are drawn separated.

Bar chart with separated columns showing the number of visits to the cinema and their frequency. 01234 48 times at the cinema (f)
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A group of $20$ teenagers has answered a question about their favourite film genre. The results are: Action, Comedy, Horror, Action, Comedy, Science Fiction, Horror,…

A group of $20$ teenagers has answered a question about their favourite film genre. The results are:

Action, Comedy, Horror, Action, Comedy, Science Fiction, Horror, Action, Action, Comedy, Horror, Science Fiction, Action, Comedy, Horror, Action, Action, Science Fiction, Comedy, Action.

Create a frequency table that includes the absolute frequency ($n_i$) and draw a bar chart to represent these data clearly.

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve
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In a 3rd Year class, you are organising the results of a project on student habits. You have collected information on two different statistical variables: Variable A:…

In a 3rd Year class, you are organising the results of a project on student habits. You have collected information on two different statistical variables:

  • Variable A: The means of transport each student uses to get to school (on foot, bus, bicycle, family car).

  • Variable B: The outdoor average temperature (in degrees Celsius) recorded in the playground at 11:30 a.m. on each school day over three months.

  1. a) For Variable A, a classmate proposes drawing a histogram with continuous bars touching each other, while you propose a bar chart with separated bars. Justify with reasoning which option is correct depending on the nature of the variable.
  2. b) For Variable B, there is a debate between using a pie chart or a line graph. Compare both types of graphs and argue which is the most appropriate for analysing the trend and evolution of temperatures over time.
Solve

Histogram and frequency polygon

For data grouped into intervals (continuous variables). It is like a bar chart, but the bars are drawn touching (the intervals are consecutive) and the base of each bar is its interval.

At Junior Cycle, histograms use intervals of equal width, so you can use the frequency as the height.

The frequency polygon joins the midpoints of the top of each bar (the mid-interval values, found as $\frac{\text{lower} + \text{upper}}{2}$).

Histogram with touching bars grouped by class intervals and a frequency polygon superimposed, joining the midpoints. 010203040 frequencypolygon time to get to school (min)

Ordered stem-and-leaf diagram

A stem-and-leaf diagram shows every data value and the shape of the data at the same time. Each value is split into a stem (all the digits except the last) and a leaf (the last digit). In an ordered diagram the leaves in each row go from smallest to largest, and a key explains what the diagram means.

Back-to-back stem-and-leaf diagram (Higher Level only)

A back-to-back stem-and-leaf diagram compares two groups. The two groups share the same stems in the middle. The leaves of one group go to the left of the stems and the leaves of the other group go to the right. In both groups the leaves are ordered, starting closest to the stem. The key must say which side is which.

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The time (in minutes) taken by $15$ students to get from home to school has been recorded. The data are as follows:…

The time (in minutes) taken by $15$ students to get from home to school has been recorded. The data are as follows:

$12, 15, 8, 22, 10, 14, 18, 25, 11, 13, 20, 9, 15, 12, 17$.

Group these data in a frequency table using class intervals of width $5$, starting at $5$. That is: $[5, 10), [10, 15), \dots$

Solve
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From the following interval table, draw the corresponding frequency histogram. Make sure the bars touch each other to indicate that the variable is continuous. |…

From the following interval table, draw the corresponding frequency histogram. Make sure the bars touch each other to indicate that the variable is continuous.

Interval Frequency ($f_i$)
$[5, 10)$ 2
$[10, 15)$ 5
$[15, 20)$ 8
$[20, 25)$ 6
$[25, 30)$ 3

You can do it on paper and upload a photo with your answer.

Solve
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An athletics club has recorded the times (in seconds) of its members in a 400-metre sprint race. As it is a continuous variable, they have been grouped into the…

An athletics club has recorded the times (in seconds) of its members in a 400-metre sprint race. As it is a continuous variable, they have been grouped into the following intervals: $[50, 55), [55, 60), [60, 65), [65, 70)$. The absolute frequencies are $4, 12, 18$ and $6$ respectively.

  1. a) Construct the frequency table including the class mark for each interval.
  2. b) Draw the frequency histogram.
  3. c) What percentage of athletes took less than one minute ($60$ seconds) to complete the race?

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve

Reading polygons and relative frequency histograms

A frequency polygon is plotted at the mid-interval values. If you are given the mid-interval values, go back to the intervals: with a width of $4$, marks $2, 6, 10$ come from $[0, 4), [4, 8), [8, 12)$. The total number of data values is the sum of all the frequencies. In a relative frequency histogram the height is $h$ instead of $f$, so the shape is the same but the heights add up to $1$.

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The backpacks of 40 students were weighed at the entrance of the school for a health study. The results have been organized in the following table: | Weight (kg) |…

The backpacks of 40 students were weighed at the entrance of the school for a health study. The results have been organized in the following table:

Weight (kg) $[0, 2)$ $[2, 4)$ $[4, 6)$ $[6, 8)$ $[8, 10]$
Students ($f_i$) $3$ $8$ $15$ $10$ $4$
  1. a) Draw the frequency histogram.
  1. b) On the same graph, draw the frequency polygon.
  1. c) How many students carry a backpack that weighs $6$ kg or more? Calculate the relative frequency of this group (the fraction of the total that it represents), expressed as a decimal.

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve
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In a quality control test at a smart light bulb factory, the lifespan (in thousands of hours) of a sample of $100$ units was measured. It is known that: $20\%$ lasted…

In a quality control test at a smart light bulb factory, the lifespan (in thousands of hours) of a sample of $100$ units was measured. It is known that:

  • $20\%$ lasted between $10$ and $15$ thousand hours.

  • $50\%$ lasted between $15$ and $20$ thousand hours.

  • The rest lasted between $20$ and $25$ thousand hours.

  1. a) Construct the table of absolute and relative frequencies.
  2. b) Represent the relative frequency histogram. What does the area of each rectangle represent in this case?
  3. c) If a light bulb is considered "excellent" if it lasts more than $20$ thousand hours, how many light bulbs in the sample are excellent?

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve
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A weather station has recorded the maximum temperatures during the month of November. By grouping the data into intervals, the following frequency polygon was obtained:…

A weather station has recorded the maximum temperatures during the month of November. By grouping the data into intervals, the following frequency polygon was obtained:

Temperature (ºC) Frequency 6 10 14 18 22 26 0 2 4 6 8 10 3 9 6 2

The values on the $X$-axis are the class marks of intervals with width $4^\circ\text{C}$.

  1. a) Determine the temperature intervals that have been used.
  2. b) Given that the points represent the absolute frequency ($f_i$), how many days were there in November according to this record? Is the total number of days correct?
  3. c) In which temperature interval is the mode?
Solve

Unequal intervals

Continuous data are grouped into half-open intervals such as $[0, 10)$, which includes $0$ but not $10$. Adjacent rectangles show that one interval runs straight into the next. When the widths are unequal, the area of each bar (not its height) is proportional to the frequency: frequency $=$ height $\times$ width $\times$ a constant.

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Look at the following histogram representing the resting heart rates of a group of athletes. Note that the intervals do not have the same width. In this type of chart,…

Look at the following histogram representing the resting heart rates of a group of athletes. Note that the intervals do not have the same width.

10 20 40 5 40 50 60 70 80 90 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 Heart rate (bpm) Density

In this type of chart, the frequency is proportional to the area of the bar, not its height. If in the interval $[40, 50)$ there are $10$ athletes:

  1. a) How many athletes are there in total in the study?
  2. b) Construct the grouped frequency table using the intervals shown, stating the class mark for each one.

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve
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Met Éireann, the Irish meteorological service, has recorded the amount of accumulated rainfall (in litres per square metre, $\text{l/m}^2$) during $50$ stormy days in an…

Met Éireann, the Irish meteorological service, has recorded the amount of accumulated rainfall (in litres per square metre, $\text{l/m}^2$) during $50$ stormy days in an agricultural region. Since it is a continuous variable, the data have been grouped into the following half-open intervals: $[0, 10)$, $[10, 20)$, $[20, 30)$, $[30, 40)$, and $[40, 50]$. The number of days recorded in each interval was $18$, $15$, $10$, $5$, and $2$, respectively.

  1. a) Explain why it is necessary to use a histogram with adjacent (touching) rectangles and not a separated bar chart to model these data. Specify precisely which quantity is represented on the horizontal axis ($X$) and which on the vertical axis ($Y$).
  2. b) To construct the associated frequency polygon, a representative point of each interval is needed. Define the mathematical concept of "class mark", calculate its value for each of the five intervals, and determine the Cartesian coordinates $(x, y)$ of the points that would be joined to draw the polygon.
  3. c) Analyse the shape of the resulting frequency polygon: is the distribution symmetrical about the centre or does it show skewness? Calculate what cumulative percentage of the stormy days recorded less than $20\text{ l/m}^2$ and interpret the implication of this concentration of precipitation for the agricultural use of the area.
Solve

Cumulative frequency and the ogive

The cumulative frequency $F$ is a running total of the frequencies, and the cumulative relative frequency is $H = \frac{F}{N}$. For grouped data, plot each $F$ at the upper end of its interval, start at $0$ at the lower end of the first interval and join the points with straight lines. This is the cumulative frequency polygon (ogive).

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In the English exam, the grades obtained by a 3rd Year class were as follows: Grades: $3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10$. a) Create a frequency table…

In the English exam, the grades obtained by a 3rd Year class were as follows:

Grades: $3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10$.

  1. a) Create a frequency table with the absolute frequencies ($f_i$) and the cumulative absolute frequencies ($F_i$).
  1. b) Draw the bar chart of the grades and, from it, the absolute frequency polygon (join the highest points of the bars with line segments).
  1. c) Looking at the polygon, between which grades does the frequency increase, and by how much does it increase in each section?

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve
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The environment department of a city council wants to represent the monthly water consumption of the families in a neighbourhood. They have collected the data from the…

The environment department of a city council wants to represent the monthly water consumption of the families in a neighbourhood. They have collected the data from the latest bill and have classified them in cubic metres ($\text{m}^3$):

Consumption ($\text{m}^3$) $[0, 10)$ $[10, 20)$ $[20, 30)$ $[30, 40)$
Families ($f_i$) $15$ $45$ $30$ $10$
  1. a) Calculate the cumulative relative frequency ($H_i$) for each interval.
  1. b) Represent the data in a cumulative frequency graph (or ogive).
  1. c) If the council decides to give a discount to the families that consume less than $20\ \text{m}^3$, what percentage of the neighbourhood's population does this measure benefit?

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve
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A soft drinks brand has carried out a study on how many cans a week a group of teenagers consumes. However, the frequency table got stained and only some of the…

A soft drinks brand has carried out a study on how many cans a week a group of teenagers consumes. However, the frequency table got stained and only some of the cumulative relative frequency values ($H_i$) can be read:

Cans ($x_i$) Absolute Freq. ($f_i$) Cum. Relative Freq. ($H_i$)
0 $0.15$
1 $12$
2 $0.65$
3 $0.85$
4 $6$ $1.00$

Given that the sample size is $40$ individuals:

  1. a) Reconstruct the complete frequency table (calculating $f_i$, $F_i$, $n_i$ and $H_i$).
  2. b) Represent the data using a cumulative frequency polygon.

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve

Pie chart

To see what part of the total each value represents, especially for categorical variables. Each sector has an angle proportional to its frequency:

$$\text{angle} = h_i \times 360° = \frac{f_i}{N} \times 360°$$ Pie chart showing the percentage distribution and the degrees assigned to each means of transport. ■ bus: 40% → 144° ■ walking: 25% → 90° ■ car: 20% → 72° ■ bike: 15% → 54° 144 + 90 + 72 + 54 = 360°
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The following pie chart shows the distribution of the $400$ students at a school according to the extracurricular language they have chosen to study. Look at the chart…

The following pie chart shows the distribution of the $400$ students at a school according to the extracurricular language they have chosen to study. Look at the chart and answer:

  1. a) What percentage of students study German?
  2. b) How many students in total study English?
  3. c) Which is the least popular language?
50% 25% 15% 10% English French German Chinese
Solve
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In a survey carried out with the $80$ students in 3rd Year at a school regarding their favourite type of music, $20$ of them chose "Urban music". Aoife wants to…

In a survey carried out with the $80$ students in 3rd Year at a school regarding their favourite type of music, $20$ of them chose "Urban music". Aoife wants to represent these data in a pie chart and writes the following calculation on the board to determine the angle of the corresponding sector:

$$\text{Angle} = \frac{20}{80} \times 100 = 25^\circ$$

Aoife concludes that the "Urban music" sector should be drawn with an angle of $25^\circ$.

  1. a) Identify and explain with reasoning the conceptual error made by Aoife. What quantity did she actually calculate by multiplying by $100$?
  2. b) Correct her procedure by applying the appropriate mathematical formula and calculate the correct central angle (in degrees) that the sector corresponding to "Urban music" must have.
Solve
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A study was carried out on the mode of transport used by students at a secondary school to get to school. The results are shown in the following pie chart, but some data…

A study was carried out on the mode of transport used by students at a secondary school to get to school. The results are shown in the following pie chart, but some data have been rubbed out:

  • The "Walking" sector has an angle of $144^\circ$.

  • The "Bus" sector represents $25\%$ of the students.

  • The rest of the students travel by "Bicycle".

  1. a) Calculate the percentage of students who walk.
  2. b) Determine the angle in degrees corresponding to the "Bus" sector and the "Bicycle" sector.
  3. c) If there are 600 students in the school, how many travel by each mode of transport?
Total: 600 students Bus 25% Walking 144° Bicycle ? 25% 144° ?
Solve

Working backwards from a pie chart

You can estimate before you calculate: $180^\circ$ is half the circle ($50\%$) and $90^\circ$ is a quarter ($25\%$). If the angle and the number of items in a sector are known, the total is $N = \text{count} \times \frac{360^\circ}{\text{angle}}$.

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In a study on sustainable mobility in an Irish town in County Galway, data from $720$ daily student journeys are collected: $360$ are made on foot, $180$ by public…

In a study on sustainable mobility in an Irish town in County Galway, data from $720$ daily student journeys are collected: $360$ are made on foot, $180$ by public transport, $120$ by bicycle or electric scooter, and $60$ by private car. These data are going to be represented in a pie chart.

  1. a) Before calculating any exact angle, estimate with reasoning the fraction of the circle and the percentage that the "on foot" journey will occupy, and deduce whether its angle will be acute, right, or straight. Also estimate whether the "public transport" sector will occupy an exact quadrant of the circle ($90^\circ$).
  2. b) Using the formula $\text{Angle} = h_i \times 360^\circ$ (where $h_i$ is the relative frequency), calculate exactly the central angle in degrees for each of the four transport modes.
  3. c) Check whether your calculations confirm the estimates made in section a) and verify mathematically that the sum of all the angles obtained matches the amplitude of a full circle.
Solve
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The management team of a municipal library has analysed the loans of youth books made during the last month using a pie chart. In the final report they have not included…

The management team of a municipal library has analysed the loans of youth books made during the last month using a pie chart. In the final report they have not included the total number of loans, but they have included the central angles of the recorded categories:

  • Comic and manga: $144^\circ$

  • Adventure novel: $108^\circ$

  • Science fiction: $72^\circ$

  • Poetry and theatre: the remaining sector.

Furthermore, the computer record indicates that exactly $54$ books of "Adventure novel" were loaned.

  1. a) Calculate the measure in degrees of the central angle corresponding to the "Poetry and theatre" category.
  2. b) Determine the relative frequency ($h_i$) and the percentage represented by each of the four book categories out of the total loans.
  3. c) From the previous data, find out how many youth books were loaned in total during the month and reconstruct the absolute frequency ($f_i$) of each of the four categories.
Solve
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A pie chart shows the distribution of the types of waste collected in a school recycling drive (paper, plastic, and glass), where the paper sector measures $120^\circ$…

A pie chart shows the distribution of the types of waste collected in a school recycling drive (paper, plastic, and glass), where the paper sector measures $120^\circ$ and the glass sector measures $60^\circ$. It is known that a total of $180$ kg of waste was collected.

Pie chart of recycled waste distribution120°60°?Total: 180 kgPaperPlasticGlass
  1. a) Calculate the angle corresponding to the "Plastic" sector.
  2. b) Calculate how many kilograms of each type of waste were collected.
  3. c) If next year the amount of glass is expected to double at the expense of reducing paper, keeping the total waste constant, how would the degrees of the paper sector change?
Solve

Line graph and choosing the right one

The line graph shows how something changes over time (followers per month, temperature per day).

Line graph with points joined by line segments to show a trend over time. JanFebMarAprMayJun followers (thousands) 246
I want to show… Graph
Frequencies of individual values Bar chart
Data in intervals Histogram (and polygon)
Parts of a whole Pie chart
Change over time Line graph

Line plot

A line plot puts one dot above a number line for each data value. Dots pile up above repeated values, so you can see the shape and the mode at once. It suits small sets of numerical data.

Back to the start: rainfall or temperature recorded day after day is change over time, so a line graph suits it. A poll result showing parts of a whole suits a pie chart.

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An "influencer" has recorded the number of new followers gained each day over a week: Monday:* $120$, Tuesday:* $150$, Wednesday:* $130$, Thursday:* $180$, Friday:*…

An "influencer" has recorded the number of new followers gained each day over a week:

Monday: $120$, Tuesday: $150$, Wednesday: $130$, Thursday: $180$, Friday: $210$, Saturday: $250$, Sunday: $230$.

Represent this trend using a frequency polygon. To do so, place the points on a coordinate axis (Day, Followers) and join them with straight line segments.

Solve
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State which type of statistical graph is the most suitable (Bar chart, Histogram or Pie chart) to represent the following situations: a) We want to compare the…

State which type of statistical graph is the most suitable (Bar chart, Histogram or Pie chart) to represent the following situations:

  1. a) We want to compare the percentage of glass, paper and plastic recycling in a neighbourhood.
  2. b) We want to show the number of absences for each student in a class (from $0$ to $5$ absences).
  3. c) We want to represent the weights of newborn babies in a hospital over a month (data grouped into intervals).
  4. d) We want to compare the preferences for $4$ different brands of soft drinks among young people in a town.

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve
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An influencer analyses the growth of their followers on two different social networks over the last 5 months. The data (in thousands of new followers per month) are:…

An influencer analyses the growth of their followers on two different social networks over the last 5 months. The data (in thousands of new followers per month) are:

  • Network A: $2, 5, 8, 12, 15$

  • Network B: $6, 7, 6, 8, 7$

  1. a) Represent both series of data on the same line graph (frequency polygon). Use a different colour for each network or a dashed line for one of them.
  2. b) Explain, based on the shape of the graphs, which of the two social networks has more stable growth and which has a clearer upward trend.
Solve

Box plots

A box plot uses five numbers: minimum, $Q_1$, median, $Q_3$ and maximum. $Q_1$ and $Q_3$ are the medians of the lower and upper halves of the ordered data. The range is maximum $-$ minimum and the interquartile range is $\text{IQR} = Q_3 - Q_1$. A value is an outlier if it is more than $1.5 \times \text{IQR}$ below $Q_1$ or above $Q_3$. It is drawn as a dot, and the whisker stops at the last value that is not an outlier.

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Two groups of 3rd Year students have recorded the daily time (in minutes) they spend playing video games. The results are shown in the following box plots. Analyse the…

Two groups of 3rd Year students have recorded the daily time (in minutes) they spend playing video games. The results are shown in the following box plots.

0 60 120 180 240 Time (minutes) Group A Group B

Analyse the graphs and answer with reasons:

  1. a) What is the maximum gaming time in Group B? And what is the value of the upper quartile ($Q_3$) in Group A?
  2. b) In which group are the data more spread out? Use the range and the interquartile range to justify your answer.
  3. c) If a student claims that $75\%$ of Group B students play for longer than the median of Group A, are they correct? Why?
Solve
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A social media content creator analyses the duration (in seconds) of their latest videos. The data obtained are: $15, 42, 55, 12, 18, 30, 45, 95, 110, 20, 35, 48$. a)…

A social media content creator analyses the duration (in seconds) of their latest videos. The data obtained are: $15, 42, 55, 12, 18, 30, 45, 95, 110, 20, 35, 48$.

  1. a) Calculate the interquartile range and identify whether there are any outliers (those located at a distance greater than $1.5 \times \text{IQR}$ from the quartiles).
  2. b) Draw the box-and-whisker plot, clearly highlighting any outliers with a prominent dot, if there are any.
Solve

Comparing groups and stratified samples

A dual bar chart puts two bars side by side for each category so you can compare two groups. When the groups differ in size, compare percentages. A stratified sample keeps the same proportions as the population: the number from each group is $\frac{\text{group}}{\text{population}} \times \text{sample size}$.

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A local council wants to know young people's opinions on the new skate parks. The total population is $12,000$ young people, split across three neighbourhoods: Centre…

A local council wants to know young people's opinions on the new skate parks. The total population is $12,000$ young people, split across three neighbourhoods: Centre ($5,000$), North ($4,000$) and South ($3,000$). They decide to take a representative sample of $600$ individuals using stratified random sampling.

  1. a) How many young people from each neighbourhood should be selected for the sample to be representative?
  2. b) After conducting the survey, $40\%$ in the Centre, $60\%$ in the North and $30\%$ in the South are found to be "Very satisfied". Represent these satisfaction results using a dual bar chart (side-by-side bar chart).

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Solve

Misleading graphs and choosing the right one

If the y-axis does not start at zero, bar heights no longer match the data, and a small change looks huge. Always compare the real values, for example with the percentage increase $\frac{\text{change}}{\text{original}} \times 100$.

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A graph has been published in a news story about the increase in rental prices in a city. Some critics say the graph is misleading because the y-axis does not start at…

A graph has been published in a news story about the increase in rental prices in a city. Some critics say the graph is misleading because the y-axis does not start at zero.

Bar chart with two bars showing the rental price: €800 in 2022 and €900 in 2024, with the vertical axis between €750 and €950 €750 €800 €850 €900 €950 Year 2022 Year 2024 €800 €900
  1. a) According to the graph, what percentage increase does there visually appear to be when comparing the height of the bars (measured from the horizontal axis)?
  1. b) Calculate the actual percentage increase in the rental price between the year 2022 ($800$ €) and 2024 ($900$ €).
  1. c) Mentally redraw (or describe) how the perception of the increase would change if the $Y$ axis started at $0$ €.
Solve
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A municipal sports technician must present the annual statistics of a sports centre and has proposed three preliminary graphs for the management report: Graph 1: A…

A municipal sports technician must present the annual statistics of a sports centre and has proposed three preliminary graphs for the management report:

  • Graph 1: A histogram to represent the main sport played by users (futsal, swimming, tennis, padel, gymnastics).

  • Graph 2: A separated bar chart to show the evolution of the number of daily users who have accessed the gym over the $52$ weeks of the year.

  • Graph 3: A pie chart to represent the distribution of the $1\,200$ members according to their age group: children ($180$ members), youth ($360$ members), adults ($480$ members), and over 65 years old ($180$ members).

  1. a) Identify and explain the methodological error made in the choice of Graph 1. Justify why it is conceptually incorrect to use a histogram with that variable and what type of graph should be used instead.
  2. b) Compare the suitability of Graph 2 versus a line graph to show the data for the $52$ weeks. Justify which of the two options better reflects temporal continuity and allows identifying attendance peaks or seasonality more clearly.
  3. c) In Graph 3, calculate the central angle corresponding to each of the four age groups. Argue whether it would be possible to replace that pie chart with a frequency histogram, explaining what technical difficulty the "over 65 years old" group poses when defining the width of the intervals.
Solve

Summary

See all the exercises in this section