Business Statistics
Class Practice Questions
Faculty: Neena Nanda
Type of Data – Intro & Data Collection
Q1. The U. S. Department of Energy provides fuel economy information for a variety of motor
vehicles. A sample of 10 automobiles is shown in Table 1.6 (Fuel Economy website, February
22, 2008). Data show the size of the automobile (compact, midsize, or large), the number of
cylinders in the engine, the city driving miles per gallon, the highway driving miles per gallon,
and the recommended fuel (diesel, premium, or regular).
a) How many elements are in this data set?
b) How many variables are in this data set?
c) Which variables are categorical and which variables are quantitative?
d) What type of measurement scale it used for each of the variables?
Q2. Foreign Affairs magazine conducted a survey to develop a profile of its subscribers (Foreign
Affairs website, February 23, 2008). The following questions were asked.
a) How many nights have you stayed in a hotel in the past 12 months?
b) Where do you purchase books? Three options were listed: Bookstore, Internet, and Book
Club.
c) Do you own or lease a luxury vehicle? (Yes or No)
d) What is your age?
e) For foreign trips taken in the past three years, what was your destination? Seven
international destinations were listed.
Comment on whether each question provides categorical or quantitative data.
Q3. J.D. Power and Associates conducts vehicle quality surveys to provide automobile
manufacturers with consumer satisfaction information about their products (Vehicle Quality
Survey, January 2010). Using a sample of Vehicle owners from recent vehicle purchase records.
The survey asks the owners a variety of questions about their new vehicles, such as those shown
below. For Each question, state whether the data collected are categorical or quantitative and
indicate the measurement scale being used.
a) What price did you pay for the vehicle?
b) How did you pay for the vehicle? (Cash, Lease, or Finance)
c) How likely would you be to recommend this vehicle to a friend? (Definitely Not,
Probably Not, Probably Will, and Definitely Will)
d) What is the current mileage?
e) What is your overall rating of your new vehicle? A 10-point scale, ranging from 1 for
unacceptable to 10 for truly exceptional, was used.
Q4. The following data show the number of rental cars in service for three rental car companies:
Hertz, Avis, and Dollar. The data are for the years 2007-2010 and are in thousands of vehicles
(Auto Rental News website, May 15, 2011).
Cars in Service (1000s)
Company 2007 2008 2009 2010
Hertz 327 311 286 290
Dollar 167 140 106 108
Avis 204 220 300 270
a) Construct a time series graph for the years 2007 to 2010 showing the number of rental
cars in service for each company. Show the time series for all three companies on the
same graph.
b) Comment on who appears to be the market share leader and how the market shares are
changing over time.
c) Construct a bar chart showing rental cars in service for 2010. Is this chart based on
cross-sectional or time series data?
Q5. A seven-year medical research study reported that women whose mothers took the drug DES
during pregnancy were twice as likely to develop tissue abnormalities that might lead to cancer
as were women whose mothers did not take the drug.
a) This study compared two populations. What were the populations?
b) Do you suppose the data were obtained in a survey or an experiment?
c) For the population of women whose mothers took the drug DES during pregnancy, a
sample of 3980 women showed that 63 developed tissues abnormalities that might lead
to cancer. Provide a descriptive statistic that could be used to estimate the number of
women out of 1000 in this population who have tissue abnormalities.
d) For the population of women whose mothers did not take the drug DES during
pregnancy, what is the estimate of the number of women out of 1000 who would be
expected to have tissue abnormalities?
e) Medical studies often use a relatively large sample (in this case, 3980). Why? '
Summarization of Data
A. Summarizing data for a categorical Variable Frequency distribution, Bar Charts, Histograms
Stem and leaf displays, cross tabulation.
Q6 Nielsen Media Research provided the list of the 25 top-rated single shows in television history.
(The World Almanac, 2012). The following data show the television network that produced
each of these 25 top-rated shows.
CBS CBS NBC FOX CBS
CBS NBC NBC NBC ABC
ABC NBC ABC ABC NBC
CBS NBC CBS ABC NBC
NBA CBS CBS ABC CBS
a) Construct a frequency distribution, percent frequency distribution, and bar chart for the
data.
b) Which network or networks have done the best in terms of presenting top-rated
television shows? Compare the performance of ABV, CBS and NBC.
Q7 For the 2010-2011 viewing season, the top five syndicated programs were Wheel of Fortune
(WoF), Two and Half Men (THM), Jeopardy (Jep), Judge Judy (JJ), and the Oprah Winfrey
Show (OWS) (Nielsen Media Research website, April 16, 2012). Data indicating the preferred
shows for a sample of 50 viewers follow.
WoF Jep KK Jep THM
THM WoF OWS Jep THM
Jep OWS WoF WoF WoF
WoF THM OWS THM WoF
THM JJ JJ JeP THM
OWS OWS JJ JJ Jep
JJ WoF THM WoF WoF
THM THM WoF JJ JJ
Jep THM WoF Jep Jep
WoF THM OWS OWS Jep
a) Are these data categorical or quantitative?
b) Provide frequency and percent frequency distributions.
c) Construct a bar chart and a pie chart.
d) On the basis of the sample, which television show has the largest viewing audience?
Which one is second?
Q8. Construct a stem-and-leaf display for the following data. Use a leaf unit of 10.
11.3 9.6 10.4 7.5 8.3 10.5 10.0
9.3 8.1 7.7 7.5 8.4 6.3 8.8
Q9. Construct a stem-and-leaf display for the following data. Use a leaf unit of 10.
1161 1206 1478 1300 1604 1725 1361 1422
1221 1378 1623 1426 1557 1730 1706 1689
Q10 A doctor's office staff studied the waiting times for patients who arrive at the office with a
request for emergency service. The following data with waiting times in minutes were collected
over a one-month period.
2 5 10 12 4 4 5 17 11 8 9 8 12
21 6 8 7 13 18 3
Use classes of 0-4, 5-9, and so on in the following:
a) Show the frequency distribution.
b) Show the relative frequency distribution.
c) Show the cumulative frequency distribution.
d) Show the cumulative relative frequency distribution.
e) What proportion of patients needing emergency service wait 9 minutes or less?
Q11. Table 2.12 shows a data set containing information for 45 mutual funds that are part of the
Morningstar Funds 500 for 2008. The data set includes the following five variables:
5- Year
Fund Name Fund Net Asset Average Expense Morningstar
Type Value ($) Return (%) Ratio (%) Rank
Amer Cent Inc. & Growth Inv. DE 28.88 12.39 0.67 2-Star
American Country Int., Disc IE 14.37 30.53 1.41 3-Star
American Country Tax-Free Bond FI 10.73 03.34 9,49 4-Star
American Century Ultra DE 24.94 10.88 0.99 3-Star
Ariel DE 46.39 11.32 1.03 2-Star
Artisan Intl Val IE 25.52 24.95 1.232 3-Star
Artisan Small Cap DE 16.92 15.67 1.18 3-Star
Baron Asset DE 50.67 16.77 1.31 5-Star
Brandywine DE 36.58 18.14 1.08 4-Star
Brown Cap Small DE 35.73 15.85 1.20 4-Star
Buffalo Mid Cap DE 15.29 17.25 1.02 3-Star
Delafield DE 24.32 17.77 1.32 4-Star
DFA U.S. Micro Cap DE 13.47 17.23 0.53 3-Star
Dodge & Cox Income FI 12.51 4.31 0.44 4-Star
Fairholme DE 31.86 18.23 1.00 5-Star
Fidelity Contrafund DE 73.11 17.99 0.89 5-Star
Fidelity Municipal Income FI 12.58 4.41 0.45 5-Star
Fidelity Overseas IE 48.39 23.46 0.90 4-Star
Fidelity Sel Electronics DE 45.60 13.50 0.89 3-Star
Fidelity Sh-Term Bond FI 8.60 2.76 0.45 3-Star
Fidelity DE 39.85 14.40 0.56 4-Star
FPA New Income FI 10.95 4.63 0.62 3-Star
Gabelli Asset AAA DE 49.81 16.70 1.36 4-Star
Greenspring DE 23.59 12.46 1.07 3-Star
Janus DE 32.26 12.81 0.90 3-Star
Janus Worldwide IE 54.83 12.31 0.86 2-Star
Kalmar Gr Val Sm Cp DE 15.30 15.31 1.32 3-Star
Managers Freemont Bond FI 10.56 5.14 0.60 5-Star
Marsico 21st Centry DE 17.44 15.16 1.31 5-Star
Mathews Pacific Tiger IE 27.86 32.70 1.16 3-Star
Meridan Value DE 31.92 15.33 1.08 4-Star
Oakmark I DE 40.37 9.51 1.05 2-Star
PIMCO Emerg Mkts Bd D FI 10.68 13.57 1.25 3-Star
RS Value A DE 26.27 23.68 1.36 4-Star
T-Rowe Price Latin Am. IE 53.89 51.10 1.24 4-Star
T-Rowe Price Mid Val DE 22.46 16.91 0.80 4-Star
Templetion Growth A IE 24.07 15.91 1.01 3-Star
Thomburg Value A DE 37.53 15.46 1.27 4-Star
USAA Income FI 12.10 4.31 0.62 3-Star
Vanguard Equity-Inc DE 24.42 13.41 0.29 4-Star
Vanguard Global Equity IE 23.71 21.77 0.64 5-Star
Vanguard GNMA FI 10.37 4.25 0.21 5-Star
Vanguard Sht-Tm TE FI 15.68 2.37 0.16 3-Star
Vanguard Sm Cp Idx DE 32.58 17.01 0.23 3-Star
Wasatch Sm Cp Growth DE 35.41 13.98 1.19 4-Star
Find Type: The type of fund, labeled DE (Domestic Equity), IE (International Equity) and FI
(Fixed Income)
Net Asset Value ($): The closing price per share.
5-Year Average Return (%): The average annual return for the fund over the past 5 years.
Expense Ratio (%): The percentage of assets deducted each fiscal year for fund expenses.
Morningstar Rank: The risk adjusted star rating for each fund; Morningstar ranks go from a low
of 1-Star to a high of 5-Stars.
a) Prepare a cross-tabulation of the data on Fund Type (rows) and the average annual return
over the past 5 years (columns). Use classes of 0-9,99, 10-19.99, 20-29.99, 30-39.99, 40-
49.99, and 50-59.99 for the 5-Year Average Return (%).
b) Prepare a frequency distribution for the data on Fund Type.
c) Prepare a frequency distribution for the data on 5-Year Average Return (%).
d) How has the cross-tabulation helped in preparing the frequency distributions in parts (b)
and (c)?
e) What conclusions can you draw about the fund type and the average return over the past
5 years?
Q12. Refer to the data in Table above.
a) Prepare a cross-tabulation of the data on Fund Type (rows) and the Expense Ratio (%)
(columns). Use classes of .25-.49, .50-.74, .75-.99, 1.00-1.24, and1.25-1.49 for Expense
Ratio (%).
b) Prepare a percent frequency distribution for Expense Ratio (%).
c) What conclusions can you draw about fund type and the expense ratio?
Q13. Refer to the data in Table 2.12.
a) Prepare a cross-tabulation with 5-Year Average Return as the columns and Net Asset
Value as the rows. Use classes starting with 0 in increments of 5 for 5-Year Average
Return and classes starting at 0 with increments of 10 for Net Asset Value.
b) Comment on the relationship, if any, between the variables.
Q14. Consider the following data on two categorical variables. The first variable, x, can take on
values A, B, C or D. The second variable, y, can take on values I ro II. The following table give
the frequency with which each combination occurs.
y
x I II
A 143 857
B 200 800
C 321 679
D 420 580
a) Construct a side-by-side bar chart with x on the horizontal axis.
b) Comment on the relationship between x and y.
Q15. One of the questions in a Financial Times/Harris Poll was, “How much do you favor or oppose
a higher tax on higher carbon emission cars?” Possible responses were strongly favor, favor
more than oppose, oppose more than favor, and strongly oppose. The following cross-tabulation
shows the responses obtained for 5372 adults surveyed in four countries in Europe and the
United States (Harris Interactive website, February 27, 2008).
Country
Level of Support Great Italy Spain Germany United Total
Britain States
Strongly favor 337 334 510 222 214 1617
Favor more than oppose 370 408 355 411 327 1871
Oppose more than favor 250 188 155 267 275 1135
Strongly oppose 130 115 89 211 204 749
Total 1087 1045 1109 1111 1020 5372
a) Construct a percent frequency distribution for the level of support variable. Do you think
the results show support for a higher tax on higher carbon emission cars?
b) Construct a percent frequency distribution for the country variable.
c) Does the level of support among adults in the European countries appear to be different
than the level of support among adults in the United States? Explain.
Q16. Motion Picture Industry
The motion picture industry is a competitive business. More than 50 studios produce a total of
300 to 400 new motion pictures each year, and the financial success of each motion picture
varies considerably. The opening weekend gross sales ($millions), the total gross sales
($millions), the number of theaters the movie was shown in, and the number of weeks the
motion picture was in release are common variables used to measure the success of a motion
picture. Data collected for the top 100 motion pictures produced in 2011 are contained in the file
named 2011 Movies (Box Office Mojo, March 17, 2012), Table below shows the data for the
motion pictures in this file.
Opening Gross Total Gross
Sales Sales Number of Weeks in
Motion Picture ($millions) ($millions) Theaters Release
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 169.19 381.01 4,375 19
Transformers: Dark of the Moon 97.85 352.39 4,088 15
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 138.12 281.29 4,066 14
The Hangover Part II 85.95 254.46 3,675 16
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 90.15 241.07 4,164 19
Fast Five 86.20 209.84 3,793 15
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 12.79 208.55 3,555 13
Cars 2 66.14 191.45 4,115 25
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows 39.64 186.59 3,703 13
Thor 65.72 181.03 3,963 16
Rise of the Planet of the Apes 54.81 176.76 3,691 19
Captain America: The First Avenger 65.06 176.65 3,715 16
The Help 26.04 169.71 3,014 30
Bridesmaids 26.25 169.11 2,958 20
Kung Fu Panda 2 47.66 165.25 3,952 18
Puss in Boots 34.08 149.26 3,963 18
X-Men: First Class 55.10 146.41 3,692 17
Rio 39.23 143.62 3,842 21
The Smurfs 35.61 142.61 3,427 20
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked 23.24 131.37 3,734 13
Super 8 35.45 127.00 3,424 16
Rango 38.08 123.48 3,923 18
Horrible Bosses 28.30 117.54 3,134 16
Green Lantern 53.17 116.60 3,816 15
Hop 37.54 108.09 3,616 11
Paranormal Activity 3 52.57 104.03 3,329 11
Just Go With It 30.51 103.03 3,548 14
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) 12.77 102.36 2,950 12
Bad Teacher 31.60 100.29 3,049 16
Cowboys & Aliens 36.43 100.24 3,754 14
Gnomeo and Juliet 25.36 99.97 3,037 19
The Green Hornet 33.53 98.78 3,584 14
The Lion King (in 3D) 30.15 94.24 2,340 17
The Muppets 29.24 88.57 3,440 16
Real Steel 27.32 85.47 3,440 19
Crazy, Stupid, Love. 19.10 84.35 3,020 17
Battle: Los Angeles 35.57 83.55 3,417 12
Immortals 32.21 83.50 3,120 15
The Descendants 1.19 81.70 2,038 17
Zookeeper 20.07 80.36 3,482 16
War Horse 7.52 79.38 2,856 12
Limitless 18.91 79.25 2,838 16
Tower Heist 24.03 78.05 3,870 13
The Adventures of Tintin 9.72 77.48 3,087 12
Contagion 22.40 75.66 3,222 14
Moneyball 19.50 75.61 3,018 19
We Bought a Zoo 9.36 74.77 3,170 19
Jack and Jill 25.00 74.16 3,438 15
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 29.51 73.01 3,118 13
Hugo 11.36 72.51 2,608 16
Dolphin Tale 19.15 72.29 3,515 18
No Strings Attached 19.65 70.66 3,050 11
Mr. Popper's Penguins 18.45 68.22 3,342 18
Happy Feet Two 21.24 64.01 3,611 16
Unknown 21.86 63.69 3,043 12
The Adjustment Bureau 21.16 62.50 2,847 12
Water for Elephants 16.84 58.71 2,820 16
The Lincoln Lawyer 13.21 58.01 2,707 18
Midnight in Paris 0.60 56.81 1,038 43
Friends with Benefits 18.62 55.80 2,926 9
I Am Number Four 19.45 55.10 3,156 15
Source Code 14.81 54.71 2,971 15
New Year's Eve 13.02 54.54 3,505 11
Insidious 13.27 54.01 2,419 23
Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family 25.07 53.35 2,288 13
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules 23.75 52.70 3,169 16
Footloose (2011) 15.56 51.80 3,555 13
The Dilemma 17.82 48.48 2,943 7
Arthur Christmas 12.07 46.46 3,376 7
Hall Pass 13.54 45.06 2,950 11
Soul Surfer 10.60 43.85 2,240 15
Final Destination 5 18.03 42.59 3,155 9
The Artist 0.20 41.36 1,756 16
The Ides of March 10.47 40.96 2,199 14
Hanna 12.37 40.26 2,545 13
Something Borrowed 13.95 39.05 2,904 12
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World 11.64 38.54 3,305 17
Scream 4 18.69 38.18 3,314 11
Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son 16.30 37.92 2,821 14
Red Riding Hood 14.01 37.66 3,030 11
In Time 12.05 37.52 3,127 14
Paul 13.04 37.41 2,806 9
J. Edgar 11.22 37.31 1,985 15
The Roommate 15.00 37.30 2,534 7
Jumping the Broom 15.22 37.30 2,035 8
The Change-Up 13.53 37.08 2,913 8
30 Minutes or Less 13.33 37.05 2,888 7
Colombiana 10.41 36.67 2,614 10
Sucker Punch 19.06 36.39 3,033 9
Larry Crowne 13.10 35.61 2,976 7
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas 12.95 35.06 2,875 10
Drive (2011) 11.34 35.06 2,904 21
50/50 8.64 35.01 2,479 13
Courageous 9.11 34.52 1,214 17
The Rite 14.79 33.05 2,985 10
Arthur (2011) 12.22 33.04 3,276 9
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close 0.07 31.76 2,630 12
The Debt 9.91 31.18 1,874 9
The Sitter 9.85 30.44 2,752 10
Priest 14.95 29.14 2,864 6
Managerial Report
Use the tabular and graphical methods of descriptive statistics to learn how these variables
contribute to the success of a motion picture. Include the following in your report.
a) Tabular and graphical summaries for each of the four variables along with a discussion
of what each summary tells us about the motion picture industry.
b) A scatter diagram to explore the relationship between Total Gross Sales and Opening
Weekend Gross Sales. Discuss.
c) A scatter diagram to explore the relationship between Total Gross Sales and Number of
Theaters. Discuss.
d) A scatter diagram to explore the relationship between Total Gross Sales and Number of
Weeks in Release. Discuss.
Q17. The cost of consumer purchases such as single-family housing, gasoline, Internet services, tax
preparation, and hospitalization were provided in The Wall-Street Journal (January 2, 2007).
Sample data typical of the cost of tax-return preparation by services such as H & R Block are
shown below.
120 230 110 115 160
130 150 105 195 155
105 360 120 120 140
100 115 180 235 255
a) Compute the mean, median, and mode.
b) Compute the first and third quartiles.
c) Compute and interpret the 90th percentile.
Q18. Based on a survey of 425 master's programs in business administration, U.S. News & World
Report ranked the Indiana University Kelley Business School as the 20 th best business program
in the country (America's Best Graduate Schools, 2009). The ranking was based in part on
surveys of business school deans and corporate recruiters. Each survey respondent was asked to
rate the overall academic quality of the master's program on a scale from 1 “marginal” to 5
“outstanding.” Use the sample of responses shown below to compute the weighted mean score
for the business school deans and the corporate recruiters, Discuss.
Quality Assessment Business School Deans Corporate Recruiters
5 44 31
4 66 34
3 60 43
2 10 12
1 0 0
Q19. In automobile mileage and gasoline-consumption testing, 13 automobiles were road tested for
300 miles in both city and highway driving conditions. The following data were recorded for
miles-per-gallon performance.
City: 16.2 16.7 15.9 14.4 13.2 15.3 16.8 16.0 16.1 15.3 15.2 15.3 16.2
Highway: 19.4 20.6 18.3 18.6 19.2 17.4 17.2 18.6 19.0 21.1 19.4 18.5 18.7
Use the mean, median, and mode to make a statement about the difference in performance for
city and highway driving.
Measures of (dispersion) Variability
Q20. A bowler's scores for six games were 182, 168, 184, 190, 170 and 174. Using these data as s
sample, compute the following descriptive statistics:
a) Range c) Standard deviation
b) Variance d) Coefficient of variations
Q21. The results of a search to find the least expensive round-trip flights to Atlanta and Salt Lake
City from 14 major U.S. Cities are shown in the following table. The departure date was June
20, 2012, and the return date was June 27, 2012
Round-Trip Cost ($)
Departure City Atlanta Salt Lake City
Cincinnati 340.10 570.10
New York 321.60 354.60
Chicago 281.60 465.60
Denver 339.60 219.60
Los Angeles 359.60 311.60
Seattle 384.60 297.60
Detroit 309.60 471.60
Philadelphia 415.60 618.40
Washington 293.60 513.60
Miami 249.60 523.20
San Francisco 539.60 381.60
Las Vegas 455.60 159.60
Phoenix 359.60 267.60
Dallas 333.90 458.60
a) Compute the mean price for a round-trip flight into Atlanta and the mean price for a
round-trip flight into Salt Lake City. Is Atlanta less expensive to fly into than Salt Lake
City? If so, what could explain this difference?
b) Compute the range, variance, and standard deviation for the two samples. What does
this information tell you about the prices for flights into these two cities?
