$3Statistics

$VVLJQPHQWStandardDeviationandVariance

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Rememberthatthestandarddeviationandvariancecanonlybeusedwhenthemeanis
usedasthemeasureofcenter.
Thevarianceistheaverageofthesquaresofthedeviationsoftheobservationsfromtheir
mean.Therefore,thevariancedoesn'thavethesameunitofmeasurementastheoriginal
data.However,sincethestandarddeviationisthesquarerootofthevariance,itdoeshave
thesameunitofmeasurementastheoriginaldata.Thisiswhyweoftenprefertalking
aboutthestandarddeviationasopposedtothevariation.Thestandarddeviationcanbe
thoughtofas"theaveragedistanceofeachdatapointfromitsmean."Althoughthisis
somewhatimprecise,it'sagoodwayofthinkaboutthestandarddeviation.
Besurethatyouknowwhentousethesamplestandarddeviationformula(s)andthe
populationstandarddeviationformula(s).Thistablemayhelp:
Situation

SampleStd.Deviation
Formula(s)

Calculatingstd.deviationwith
allmembersofthepopulation
Estimatingpopulation
x
standarddeviationusing
sample

PopulationStd.
DeviationFormula(s)
x

Rememberthatthesamplestandarddeviationformuladoesnotgiveyouthestandard
deviationofyoursampleitestimatesthestandarddeviationofthepopulation.
Forexample,supposeyouhavethefollowing5testscoresoutofapopulationof30:
{87,92,74,70,66}.
Thesamplestandarddeviation

s =

(x1 - x)2 + (x2 - x)2 + ...+ (xn - x)2

=
n- 1

(87- 77.8)2 + (92- 77.8)2 + ...+ (66- 77.8)2

= 11.189
4

isthestatisticthatyou'dusetoestimatethestandarddeviationoftheentire
populationof30testscores.Thestandarddeviationoftheobservationset{87,92,
74,70,66},

s =

(x1 - m )2 + (x2 - m )2 + ...+ (x30 - m )2

30

wouldgiveyouthestandarddeviationofall30datapointsinthepopulation.
Toavoidambiguitywhenyou'recommunicatingwithothers,don'tcalladatasetasample
unlessyouintendtouseittoinfersomethingaboutthepopulationfromwhichit'sdrawn.

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$VVLJQPHQWStandardDeviationandVariance

Foreachcalculation,usethesymbolforthemeasureyouarecalculating.Forexample,if
you'recalculatingasamplemean,usethesymbol x whenreferringtoyouranswer.
Whenreferringtothevariance,usethesymbolss2 and s 2.

Don'tforgettoincludeunitsinyouranswers.

1. Donotuseyourcalculatorforthisone.Writeouttheformulasandshowyour
work.(You'llbeabletouseyourcalculatorontheproblemsafterthisone.)
(4points)
You'regivenasamplewithn=8measurements:3,1,5,6,4,4,3,5.
A. Calculatetherange(maximumvalueminimumvalue).
B. Calculatethesamplemean.
C. Calculatethesamplevarianceandsamplestandarddeviation.
D. Therangeisapproximatelyhowmanysamplestandarddeviations?

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$3Statistics
$VVLJQPHQWStandardDeviationandVariance

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Fortherestofthequestions,youcanuseyourcalculator.Instructionsforcalculating
summarystatisticsandparameters(suchas s and x )areintheStatisticschapterof
yourTI83RU7,calculator'smanual.Ifyouonlyneedarefresheronhowtodoit,
IROORZtheseinstructions:
1. EnterthenumbersintoalistbypressingONSTAT1andenteringthenumbers
intooneofthelists.Keyinanumber,pressENTER,thenkeyinthenext
number,andsoonuntilyou'redone.Besuretocheckyourlistonceyou'redone
tomakesureyouenteredthecorrectnumbers.(Detailsareinyourcalculator
manualifyouneedmorehelp.)
2. Tocalculatesummarystatisticsforyourdataset,pressSTAT,useabluearrow
keytomovethecursorovertoCALC,thenpressENTERtoselect1VarStats.
3. Press2nd andthenthekeythatshowsthenameofyourdatalistprintedin
yellow.Forexample,ifyourdataisinL1,press2nd 1(the1keyhas[L1]asits
2nd function).
4. ThenpressENTER.You'llsoonseealistofsummarystatisticsandparameters
foryourdata.Usethedownarrowkeytoscrolldownthelist.

2. Considerthefollowingsetofdata,whichrepresentsasimplerandomsampleof
heights(ininches)offullgrowncornplantsinElephanteyetown,WI:(65.8,
62.1,61.5,66.6,65.1,60.3,70.2,69.1,68.3,62.1,65.1,63.7,68.5,71.4,65.9,
63.8,66.7,63.3,71.9,56.8)(4points)
A. Calculatetherange.
B. Calculatethestatisticthatgivesanestimateofthepopulationmean.
C. Calculatesamplestatisticstoestimatethepopulationstandarddeviationandvarianceof
allfullgrowncornplantsinElephanteyetown,WI.

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$3Statistics
$VVLJQPHQWStandardDeviationandVariance

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3. Considerthefollowingsetofdata,whichrepresentsasimplerandomsampleof
heights(ininches)offullgrowncornplantsinHorseyetown,WI:(78.5,88.8,
76.2,73.0,79.5,66.9,72.4,86.6,67.6,73.5,72.6,72.6,80.0,69.1,79.1,73.9,
72.3,83.3,64.3,69.1)(4points)
A. Calculatetherange.
B. Calculatethesamplemean.
C. Calculatesamplestatisticstoestimatethepopulationstandarddeviationand
varianceofallfullgrowncornplantsinHorseyetown,WI.

4. InGoateyeville,MN,theyuseanewtypeoffishfertilizer.Arandomsampling
oftheheightsof20fullgrowncornplantsinGoateyevilleyieldsthefollowing
data:(heightsareininches)(41.0,51.1,65.8,57.3,35.8,61.5,62.5,65.8,
72.9,62.7,76.4,81.9,77.7,79.0,73.2,52.1,72.0,69.7,76.4,73.4)(4points)
A. Calculatetherange.
B. Calculatethesamplemean.
C. Calculatesamplestatisticstoestimatethepopulationstandarddeviationand
varianceofallfullgrowncornplantsinGoateyeville,MN.

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$3Statistics
$VVLJQPHQWStandardDeviationandVariance

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5. DrawhistogramsofthedistributionsfromQuestions2and4.(4points)
A. Howwouldyoucharacterizetheirshapes?
B. Howdotheirmeanscompare?
C. Howdotheirstandarddeviationscompare?
D. Howdoskewandrangeaffectthestandarddeviationdoesoneaffectitmorethanthe
other?

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6. TothedatasetinQuestion3,addtwostuntedplants:4inchesand3inches.
(Theresearcherdecidedtonotthrowthemoutasoutliers.)Forthisnewdata
set(containing22observations)calculateeachofthefollowingandineach
casecommentonthedifferencebetweentheresultsfromthedataset
containingtheoutliersandthedatasetwithoutthem.(5points)
A. Therange
B. Thesamplemean
C. Computethesamplestatisticyouwouldusetoestimatethepopulationstandard
deviationandvarianceofallfullgrowncornplantsinHorseyetown,WI.
D. Ifyouwerearesearcherandyouwantedtodescribethevariationinthepopulation
ofcornplantsinHorseyetown,howwouldyoudecidewhethertothrowoutthe
stuntedplantsasoutliers?Describeascenarioinwhichyou'dtossthemoutofyour
datasetandascenariowhereyouwouldnottossthemout.Ineachcaseexplain
yourreasoning.Forthescenarioinwhichyou'dkeepthestuntedplantsinyourdata
set,wouldyouwanttoconsideralsousingthemedianasyourmeasureofcenter?

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