Workbook and Analysis

Apply Quantitative Reasoning

Now that you have completed your analysis, think about the patterns you’ve seen in the

workforce and answer these questions.

1. From the created histogram (Tab 4), it appears that a large share of

employees have a salary between $31,000 - $40,000 or $51,000 - $60,000.

This may indicate reasonable promotion rate for new employees. Is this

distribution unimodal or bimodal? Explain.

2. The line chart, as detailed in your “Graph Charts” Excel spreadsheet (Tab 3),

shows sales increasing over the years from 1999 to 2014. In 2015, sales slightly

decreased to under $4,000,000. Investors want to know what the projected sales

will be in 2017. One method for determining this value is to calculate the

average annual growth rate per year, based on historical trends. For example, if

sales were $200 last year and $500 this year, the average annual growth rate

would be calculated as ($200+$500)/2. Calculate the average annual growth rate

for 1999

– 2015 and projected sales for 2017.

3. The standard deviation provides insight into the distribution of values around the

mean. If the standard deviation is small, the more narrow the range between the

lowest and highest value. That is, values will cluster close to the mean. From

your descriptive statistics, describe your standard deviations. What does this tell

you about the variables?

4. The company has a keen interest in the educational, race, and gender makeup of

its workforce. Its emphasis is on a diverse, dynamic workforce. From your

“Graph Charts” spreadsheet, describe your pie chart findings for these

characteristics of the workforce. Describe how you would determine how the

company was meeting expectations on these characteristics.

5. The company is conducting an analysis on how many positions to create to keep

up with demand. Specifically, it wants to identify a rough estimate of the

number of positions per job title. From your Excel chart, identify the mode of

the job title distribution. Describe your findings.