Unit 3: Business Statistics–Instructor GradedProject

Unit 3: Business Statistics–Instructor GradedProject

You must show your work on all problems.  You may type your answer right into this document.

Total points for project:  45 points.

Projects must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document and uploaded to the Dropbox for Unit 3.
All Projects are due by Tuesday at 11:59 PM ET of the assigned Unit.

NOTE: Project problems should not be posted to the Discussion threads. Questions on the project problems should be addressed to the instructor by sending an email or by attending office hours.

Part I.   Basic Computations

Part II.  Case Study

Students in MM255 may submit their projects to the Math Center for review. Tutors will not grade or correct the project, but they will provide guidance for improvement. 

You must show your work on all problems.  You may type your answer right into this document.

Total points for project:  45 points.

Projects must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document and uploaded to the Dropbox for Unit 3.

NOTE: Project problems should not be posted to the Discussion threads. Questions on the project problems should be addressed to the instructor by sending an email or by attending office hours.

Part I.   Basic Computations

Monthly sales in thousands of dollars for women’s dresses at a local department store for last year were:

Jan:  $125             Feb: $214

Mar: $236            Apr:  $801

May:  $595          June: $550

July:  $645            Aug:  $732

Sep:  $1030         Oct: $880

Nov:  $985           Dec:  $1750

a.      Determine the mean monthly sales, rounded to the nearest whole thousand (4 points)

Answer:

b.      Determine the median monthly sales?  (3 points)

Answer:

c.       Determine the mode? (3 points)

Answer:

The data below shows the number of games played by a group of college volleyball players.

Name    GamesPlayed

J. Rath                   82

L. Patrone           68

S. Kandefer        110

J. Waldron           119

E. Braun               124

A. Street              116

B. Rowan             113

A. Pinak                                67

L. Schwach          133

B. Smith               131

M. Lesser            124

K. O'Connor        18

V. Petko               110

R. Moore             127

K. Cooper            135

Name    GamesPlayed

C. Worth              113

A. Baker               113

A. Kamsch           76

M. Springer        154

C. Sullivan            67

J. Pike                   52

A. DiPoala            143

K. Parish               18

C. Schiavello       112

J. Brown               41

S. Jokajtys           81

E. Amand             45

L. Kraft                  81

K. Sessions          52

Create a frequency distribution for the number of games played, using the intervals shown.  Compute the frequency and relative frequency.

Range   Frequency(5 points)       Relative Frequency (5 points)

< 44                       

45 – 69                 

70 – 84                 

85 – 99                 

100 – 114                            

115 - 129                             

130 – 144                            

> 145                    

Part II.  Case Study

1. A small fullfillment company provides promotion services to local businesses that offer mail-in offers to their customers.  For example, a soft-drink manufacturer might decide to offer a free beach towel to their customers who purchase 5 of their 1-liter soft drink bottles.   The fulfillment company will store all the beach towels in a big warehouse.  The customer is instructed on the mail-in offer to send their proof-of-purchase to the fulfillment company.  The fulfillment company handles all the shipping and handling of the beach towels and sends the products directly to the customers. 
   
   The fulfillment company employs 20 people with the following annual salaries:
   
   

   $145,000 - President       $ 110,000 – Vice president

   $  80,000 – Sales Manager            $  65,000 – Production Manager

   $  30,000 – Warehouse Supervisor -         $  18,000 – Four shipping clerks

   $  20,000 – Loading Dock Supervisor         $  17,000 – Ten warehouse laborers

    

   a.      (5 points) Calculate the mean, median, and mode for the salaries.

    

    

   (5 points)   The statistic most often used to describe company salaries is the median or the mean.  For this company, does the mean give an accurate description of the salaries?  Why or why not?
   Answer: 

   
   
   

   b.      (5 points)   Which statistic would this company’s labor union representative be most likely to cite during contract negotiations and why? 
   
   

   
   
   

   In addition to promotion services support, the company also fulfills “Direct Sales” of small items such as magazines and consumer items.   Shown below are some graphical and summary data showing total sales for the last 3 years.
   
   

   Chart 1 and 2

    

                                                   Direct Sales         Promotions

   Average (per quarter)   $343,158              $300,000

    

   Standard Deviation         $213,232              $141,771

    

   (10 points) Analyze this data by comparing and contrasting the two graphical representations and the numerical statistics regarding the sales data.  Using the evidence from above, explain in a well-structured essay the benefits and shortcomings of both the column chart  and the line graph.    Do you think that this company is doing well in generating sales revenue?
   Requirements

   -          Write your essay in this document – do not save it in a separate file.

   -          You must clearly state your position with well-structured paragraphs using proper grammar, spelling, and sentence structure.

   -          This is not an “opinion” question – you must offer evidence to support your position, using properly-cited sources

   -          Your answer must be between 150-250 words (about 1 page of text)

   -          You must cite at least one source (book, website, periodical) using APA format.

    

   -          Do not use unreliable sources such as Wikipedia, and Yahoo! Answers.