TATISTICS

Midterm Review
[Solutions are at the end]

The following problems are designed to help you study for the midterm
examination. In addition
to these problems, you may wish to check out the terminology study guide if your
instructor
indicates that some portion of the exam will cover terminology (definitions or
multiple choice
questions).

1. For each of the following, indicate whether the data is measured on a nominal,
ordinal,
interval, or ratio scale.
_______ a) waist sizes of 65-year-old men
_______ b) amount of alcohol in a can of Budweiser beer
_______ c) countries of origin of CUNY students
_______ d) temperature in centigrade of Starbuck’s coffee
_______ e) religions of CUNY college students
_______ f) social class of CUNY students
_______ g) weights of 65-year-old women
_______ h) IQ of CUNY students
_______ i) scores on the CPA exam for CUNY students
_______ j) speeds of fastballs thrown by American League pitchers
_______ k) strength categories of hurricanes (1, 2, …, 5)
_______ l) genders of Wal-Mart employees
_______ m) rank of college professors (Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate
Professor, Full
Professor)
_______ n) class standing of CUNY students (Freshman, Sophomore, … )

2. Indicate which of the following are discrete measurements and which are
continuous
measurements:
Discrete Continuous
___ ___ a) the number of defective laptops in batches of 30
___ ___ b) life of a Duracell battery
___ ___ c) mileage of Toyota Prius cars
___ ___ d) weight of guinea pigs
___ ___ e) span of butterfly wings
___ ___ f) number of left-handed people on basketball teams
___ ___ g) time to complete the New York City Marathon
___ ___ h) amount of alcohol in a can of beer
___ ___ i) number of foreign students in each statistics class
 ___ ___ j) height of basketball players
___ ___ k) number of pens in backpacks of college students

Professor Friedman

Practice Midterm Page 2

3. Indicate which of the following is a parameter and which is a statistic:

Parameter Statistic
___ ___ a) sample mean
___ ___ b) population standard deviation
___ ___ c) sample standard deviation
___ ___ d) population variance
___ ___ e) population median
___ ___ f) population mean
___ ___ g) a mean obtained from the U.S. census

4. For each of the following, indicate the appropriate statistical measures that may
be used for
analysis (e.g., proportions, median, quantiles, mode, mean, …). List as many as are
appropriate.
a) For data measured on a nominal scale, you may use: ___________________________
b) For data measured on an ordinal scale, you may use: ___________________________
c) For data measured on an interval scale, you may use: ___________________________

5. CUNY has 200,000 students. A researcher wants a sample of 2,000 students.

Students are
assigned numbers and then random numbers are used so that every student has an
equal chance of
being selected (1%).
a) This is known as a: ___________________.
b) Measurements obtained from this are known as: ___________________.
c) Suppose the researcher decides to survey all 200,000 students. This is called a
_________________.
d) Any measurement obtained is known as a ________________.

6. A researcher has converted all grades on this year’s CPA exams into Z-scores.
a) The average Z-score will be: ________
b) If CPA exam scores are normally distributed, about ______ % of scores will be
between +1
and -1.
c) If CPA exam scores are very skewed and not normally distributed, we still would
expect at
least __________ % of the Z-scores to be between +2 and -2.
d) You find out that the exam scores are normally distributed, and that your score
on the exam is
exactly +1.96. This means you scored higher than ______ % of the individuals who
took the
exam.

7. The life of a Hyundai Dred car is normally distributed with a mean life of 15
years, and a
population standard deviation of 2 years. What proportion of Hyundai Dreds will die
within 10
years?

8. a) If P(A and B) = 0, then A and B are: _________

b) If P(A|B) = P(A), then A and B are: ________
c) Is P(A|B) always equal to P(B|A)? _____
d) Is P(A and B) always equal to P(B and A)?____
Professor Friedman

Practice Midterm Page 3

9. Define each of the following: (a) parameter and statistic (b) population mean (c)
mutually
exclusive (d) interquartile range (e) histogram and bar chart (f) skewness (g)
symmetric (h)
independence (i) permutation (j) combination (k) probability density function (l)
percentile (m)
nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales. (n) discrete and continuous
measurements (o)
frequency distribution.

10. A manufacturer of computers has lowered prices for her product. A sample of 16
stores
selected randomly indicate the following sales (in units) during the past week:
0, 10, 2, 10, 3, 10, 3, 10, 6, 6, 8, 8, 4, 4, 5, 6
(a) Calculate: The mean, median, Q1, Q3, mode, range, IQR, standard deviation,
variance, and
the coefficient of variation.
(b) Standardize the 10 (i.e., convert the 10 into a z-score).

11. A researcher wants to determine the average wage of American steel workers. A
sample of 12
workers was selected randomly and indicated the following wages:
$20, $14, $10, $11, $12, $40, $30, $21, $22, $20, $20, $20.
(a) Calculate: The mean, median, Q1, Q3, mode, range, IQR, standard deviation,
variance, and
the coefficient of variation.
(b) Standardize the $40 (i.e., convert the $40 into a z-score).

12. A study of smoking and sex found the following:

Male
Female
Smokes
150
130
Does Not Smoke
250
470

(a) Compute the following probabilities: P(male) ; P(female (and) smoker); P(female
or smoker);
P(male|smoker); P(smoker/male).
(b) Prove that smoking and sex are not independent.

13. A study of tattoos and crime found the following:

Tattoo (T)
No Tattoo (T')
Criminal Record (C)
100
440
No Criminal Record (C')
100
1360

(a) Compute these probabilities: P(C AND T) ; P(C); P(C|T); P(C|T'); P(C OR T).
(b) Prove that tattoos and criminal records are not independent.

14. The average wage of plumbers is normally distributed with a mean of $20 and a
standard
deviation of $5.50. Calculate the following:
(a) The proportion of plumbers earning between $18 and $22.
(b) The proportion of plumbers earning more than $28.
(c) The proportion of plumbers earning less than $15.
(d) Compute the 70th Percentile.
Professor Friedman

Practice Midterm Page 4

15. The mileage of cars is normally distributed with a mean of 20 mpg and a
standard deviation
of 4 mpg. (mpg is miles per gallon). Calculate the following:
(a) The percentage of cars under 15 mpg:
(b) The percentage of cars above 22 mpg:
(c) The probability that a car will have a mileage between 22 and 28 mpg:
(d) Compute the mpg of the top 10% of cars (i.e., the 90th percentile)
(e) Compute the 9th percentile.

[16-21 are part of the topic on Binomial Distribution. Check with your instructor to
see if you
are responsible for that topic on your exam.]

16. Suppose 20% of the students at a well-known college in NYC are business
majors. A
researcher selects a sample of 6 students from this college, what is the probability
that none of the
selected students are business majors?

17. Forty percent of people above the age of 80 have Alzheimer’s disease.
A researcher
investigates the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease in a certain island in the South
Pacific where
people eat a certain kind of fish every day. She takes a random sample of 30 people
above the age
of 80. What is the probability of finding that exactly 3 people have Alzheimer’s
disease?

18. Ten percent of the population is left-handed. What is the probability of 2 lefties
in a group of
10?

19. The probability of a computer being a Dell is 15%. A company has 26

computers. What is
the probability that 7 are Dells?

20. There are 18 people. (a) How many ways can you assign them to 18 different
jobs? (b) How
many ways can you assign them to 3 different jobs? (c) How many committees of
3 can you
create from the 18?
21. A machine has 280 parts. The probability that any part is defective is .01.
What is the
probability that the machine works, i.e., 0 defective parts? Assume
independence among the
parts. (b) What is the probability that the machine does not work?

Professor Friedman

Practice Midterm Page 5

22. The following is a frequency distribution showing the amount of time it took a
sample of
employees to complete a certain job:
NUMBER OF DAYS
FREQUENCY
2
10
4
17
5
18
7
12
9
40
10
3

(a) Calculate the mean, median, Q1, Q3, mode, and range.

23. The following is a frequency distribution showing the hourly wages of a

sample of coal
workers:
HOURLY WAGE
FREQUENCY
$10
900
$12
2100
$15
 3400
$18
1600
$20
1800
$25
200

(a) Calculate the mean, median, Q1, Q3, mode, and range.

24) [Check with your instructor to see if you are responsible for this topic – scatter
plots – on the
exam.] A researcher wants to determine whether there is a relationship between
high school
average and scores on the CPA exam.

CPA
Exam
Scores

High School Average

a) The chart above is known as a ________ . b) The data suggest what kind of
relationship, if
any: _____
Professor Friedman

Practice Midterm Page 6

SOLUTIONS

1. a) ratio b) ratio c) nominal d) interval e) nominal f) ordinal g) ratio h)

interval i)
interval j) ratio k) ordinal l) nominal m) ordinal n) ordinal

2. a) Discrete b) Continuous c) Continuous d) Continuous e) Continuous f)

Discrete g)
Continuous h) Continuous i) Discrete j) Continuous k) Discrete

3. a) Statistic b) Parameter c) Statistic d) Parameter e) Parameter f)

Parameter g) Parameter

4. a) frequencies, proportions b) frequencies, proportions, median, percentiles and

other
quantiles c) frequencies, proportions, median, percentiles and other quantiles,
mean, standard
deviation
5. a) simple random sample b) statistics c) census d) parameter
6. a) 0 b) 68.26% c) 75% d) 97.5%
7. Z = -2.5 Proportion of Hyundai Dreds that will die within 10 years is 0.62%.
8. a) mutually exclusive b) independent c) no d) yes
9. See Definitions

10. mean =5.938 units, median = 6 units, Q1=3.5 units, Q3=9 units, mode =10
units,
range = 10 units, IQR = 5.5 units, s.d. = 3.17 units, C.V. = 53.4%,
Z-score for 10 is 1.28 [note that the Z-score is a "pure" number]

11. mean=$20, median=$20, Q1=$13, Q3=$21.50, mode=$20, range=$30,

IQR=$8.50,
s.d.=$8.45, C.V.=42.25%, Z-score for $40 is 2.37

12. P(male) = .40, P(female and smoker) = .13, P(female or smoker) = .75,
P(male|smoker) =
53.57% , P(smoker|male) = .375,
Smoking and sex are not independent since P(S|M) is .375 and P(S|F) is .217. This
indicates that
the probability of being a smoker is higher for men than for women.

13. (a) P(C and T)=.05 ; P(C)= .27; P(C|T)=.50; P(C|T')= .244; P(C or T) =.32.
(b) since P( C), P(C|T), and P(C|T') are not equal. Indeed, 50% of those with tattoos
have criminal
records vs. 24.4% without.

14. (a) 28.12% (b) 7.35% (c ) 18.14% (d) $22.86

15. (a) .1056 (b) .3085 (c) .2857 (d) 25.12 mpg [ (x - 20) / 4 = 1.28, solve for x]
(e) 14.64 mpg [(x - 20) / 4 = -1.34, solve for x ]

16. Answer: .2621

17. Answer: .000266
18. Answer: .19371
19. Answer: .0512
20. (a) 18! (b) 18P3 = 4,896. (c) 18C3 = 816
21. 6% that it works and 94% that it does not work.

22. mean = 6.52 days, median = 7 days, Q1= 4 days, Q3=9 days, mode = 9 days,
range = 8 days.
23. mean=$15.50, median=$15, Q1=$12, Q3=$18, mode=$15, range=$15.
24. a) scatter plot b) linear and positive