Project 1
Mini-Project #1 Math 243, Sum ’19
Complete each portion of the mini-project as indicated on the next pages. Your submitted project should be clean and legible. It will be graded for accuracy, readability, and work shown.
This mini-project is due in class on July 31.
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I understand that I may work with other classmates on this project, but that the work submitted is entirely mine.
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Mini-Project #1 Math 243, Sum ’19
The purpose of this project is to expose you to collecting a small amount of data, identifying issues with the sampling process, then presenting and analyzing the data using the quantitative means developed in the first part of the course. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps records of monthly rainfall statistics from weather stations all around the United States. You will receive monthly rainfall data for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania since 1948. All entries are in inches.
1. You will be studying rainfall over time for a particular month. What are the individuals in this study?
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2. What is the variable of the study? Is it categorical or quantitative?
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3. Consult the table to determine which month you should be studying:
Last Digit of UO ID Month
0 March 1 April
2, 3 June 5, 8, 9 August 4, 6 October 7 December
For the selected month, use the table to find twenty data points giving the monthly rainfall for your month. Write those values here.
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4. Was your data gathered via simple random sample or a non-random sample? Name one source of bias that could influence the value of your sample. In other words, did you choose your set of years completely at random, and could there be any factors affecting your choice?
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Mini-Project #1 Math 243, Sum ’19
5. Draw a histogram of the data with exactly five classes. You will need to determine the width of each class such that all of your data fits onto the histogram. Remember that if a data point falls exactly on the border, it goes into the upper class.
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6. Compute the mean and standard deviation of your data set.
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7. Find the five-number summary for your data set.
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8. Compare the mean and median. Do these values imply that your data set is skewed left, skewed right, or not very skewed? Explain.
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Mini-Project #1 Math 243, Sum ’19
9. According to the IQR rule, are there any suspected outliers in your data set?
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10. Assume that your data comes from a Normal distribution. Further assume that the distribution has popu- lation mean equal to your sample mean and population standard deviation equal to your sample standard deviation . Draw the graph of the Normal distribution described, labelling mean and tick marks at standard deviation units.
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11. We were sampling from the distribution of rainfall in a particular month. Assuming this distribution is Normal, find the proportion of years in which rainfall in the selected month exceeds 3 inches.
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Presentation:
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Total:
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