1.1 Definitions of Statistics, Probability, and Key Terms
The following activities and questions relate to material covered in Chapter 1.1 Definitions of Statistics, Probability, and Key Terms in Introductory Business Statistics (OpenStax).
Data sets for the following questions are available in Excel: 1.1 Data Sets [XLSX].
Questions
- Consider the following and choose the correct answer: X = The number of times a student missed a class over zoom. In this instance, X is:
- Statistic
- Population
- Variable
- Sample
- Mount Sima Ski Resort is interested in the average age that children take their first ski lessons. They need this information to plan their ski classes. Identify the
- population
- sample
- parameter
- statistic
- variable, and
- an example of variable data.
- The Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) is interested to know about the mean age of First Nation people who are living in Yukon, Canada. Identify the
- population
- sample
- parameter
- statistic
- variable, and
- an example of variable data.
- A Yukon statistician is interested in the proportion of eligible Yukon dogsled teams that compete in the Yukon Quest. Identify the
- population
- sample
- parameter
- statistic
- variable, and
- an example of variable data.
- The city of Whitehorse wants to know how much time it takes for people to travel downtown from their place of residence. The following chart displays the surrounding areas and time taken to travel downtown in minutes according to Google Maps 2021. Find the average time and round to one and two decimal places.
Time taken to travel downtown Whitehorse from surrounding areas Place Name Time (minutes) Whistle Bend 9 Riverdale 3 Porter Creek 11 Takhini 5 Copper Ridge 10 Mt. Sima 10 Wolf Creek 14 Grey Mountain 9
Solutions
- c. Variable
-
- The population is all people who ski at Mount Sima Ski.
- The sample is a selected group of people who ski at Mount Sima Ski.
- The parameter is the mean age of when all people who ski at Mount Sima Ski took their first lesson.
- The statistic is the mean age of when the sample of people who ski at Mount Sima Ski took their first lesson.
- The variable is the age of when someone skiing at Mount Sima Ski took their first lesson.
- Example: data values can be 1 year, 10.5 yrs.
-
- The population is all the First Nation People living in Yukon Territory.
- The sample is a selected group of First Nation people living in the Yukon.
- The parameter is the mean age of all First Nation people living in the Yukon.
- The statistic is the mean age of the sample of First Nation people living in Yukon.
- The variable is the age of a First Nation person living in Yukon.
- Example: data values can be 4 months, 25 yrs.
-
- The population is the total number of dogsled teams in Yukon eligible for competition.
- The sample is a selected group of dogsled teams in Yukon eligible for competition.
- The parameter is the proportion of all eligible Yukon dogsled teams that compete in the Yukon Quest.
- The statistic is the proportion of the sample of eligible Yukon dogsled teams that compete in the Yukon Quest.
- The variable is whether an eligible dogsled team competed in the Yukon Quest.
- Example: data will be either: (1) Yes, the team did compete, or (2) No, the team did not compete.
- Sum of all travel time = 9 + 3 + 11 + 5 + 10 + 10 + 14 + 9 = 71
Number of places = 8
Mean travel time = [latex]\dfrac{\text{Sum of all travel time}}{\text{Number of places}}[/latex] = [latex]\dfrac{71}{8}[/latex] = 8.875 minutes
Rounded to one decimal place = 8.9 minutes
Rounded to two decimal places = 8.88 minutes
Media Attributions
- Whitehorse cliffs by Lisa Kanary is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 licence.