Math 114 - Spring 2008

Homework up to Exam 1

Due:
01/30/08  (1)  Fill out the information sheet.
               (2)  Read Section 1.1 and go over your class notes.
               (3)  Complete the pre-assessment on your own without looking at notes, books, etc.
               (4)  Using the interruption time data for Old Faithful given below:
                     a) Create a histogram (choose the intervals as you please).
                     b) Create a pie chart. 
                     c) Write a couple of sentences about your observations from the data/charts.
               Interruption time data for Old Faithful (in minutes):
                 78 74 68 76 80 84 50 93 55 76 58 74 75 80 56 80 69 57 90 42 91 51 79 53 82 51
                 76 82 84 53 86 51 85 45 88 51 80 49 82 75 73 67  68 86 72 75 75 66 84 70 79 60
                 86 71 67 81 76 83 76 55 73 56 83 57 71 72 77 55 75 73 70 83

02/01/08  (1)  At the end of Section 1.1 starting on page 9,  hand in #2, 7 (add part (d) Is
                     this data sensible?), 9, 10, 17, 22.
               (2)  Read Stephen Jay Gould's article "The Median Isn't the Message," and
                     summarize the statistical issues in  applying the concept of the median
                     in the real world that gave the author reason to hope.  Write two or three
                     paragraphs, and be sure to use correct grammar and spelling.
               (3)  Study for a short quiz.
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02/04/08  (1) Log on to WileyPLUS and by 1 pm Monday do assignment:  Sec 1.1 - Practice.
               (2) If you haven't already taken the Level 1 math placement exam, take it in
                    Serra 205, preferably between 8am and noon on Monday.  Practice problems
                    are available at the web site:  http://mathplacement.sandiego.edu
               (3) Finish the worksheet started in class.
               (4) Start reading the hand out on normal distributions.

02/06/08  (1) By 1 pm, do web assignment:  Sec 1.1. 
               (2) Problem 1.   Blood phosphates.  The levels of various substances in the blood
                     influence a person's health.  The following are measurements of the level of
                     phosphate in the blood of a patient, in milligrams of phosphate per deciliter of
                     blood, made on 6 consecutive visits to a clinic:  
                          5.6    5.2     4.6    4.9    5.7   6.4
                    (a) Compute by hand the mean of the six observations.
                    (b) Use the definition of standard deviation to compute by hand (show your work
                          neatly) the standard deviation of the six observations. 
                    (c) Now enter the data into your calculator, and use the calculator to find the
                         mean and the standard deviation.
                    (d) What value would correspond to a z-score of 2.1?  
                         What value would correspond to a z-score of -0.4?
               (3) Problem 2.   Choose four numbers from the whole numbers 0 through 10, with
                    repeats allowed, such that:
                    (a) the four numbers have the smallest possible standard deviation.
                    (b) the four numbers have the largest possible standard deviation.
                    (c) Is there more than one correct answer possible in either (a) or (b)?
               (4) Continue reading the handout on normal distributions.

02/08/08  (1) Read Sec 1.2, and go over your class notes.
               (2) Study for a short quiz.
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02/11/08  (1) Read Sec 1.3.
               (2) By 1 pm, do the WileyPLUS assignment, Sec 1.2 - part 1.
               (3) Written homework to be handed in:
Problem 1.  The distribution of heights of women aged 20 to 29 is approximately normal with mean 64 inches and standard deviation 2.7 inches.  Use the 68-95-99.7 rule to answer the following questions.
(a)    Between what heights do the middle 95% of women aged 20 to 29 fall?
(b)    What percent of these women are taller than 61.3 inches?

Problem 2.  Using the information from problem 1 and the fact that the distribution of heights of men in the same age range is approximately normal with mean 69.3 inches and standard deviation 2.8 inches, what percent of young men are shorter than the mean height of young women?

Problem 3.  The army reports that the distribution of head circumferences among male soldiers is approximately normal with mean 22.8 inches and standard deviation 1.1 inches.
(a)    What can be said about the head circumferences of the 20% of the soldiers who need the largest hats?
(b)    What percent of soldiers have head circumference between 21.7 inches and 23.9 inches?

Problem 4.  Ty Cobb’s batting average was .420 in 1911; Ted Williams’ was .406 in 1941; and George Brett’s was .390 in 1980.  These batting averages cannot be compared directly because the distribution of major league batting averages has changed through the years.  The distributions are quite symmetric and (except for outliers such as Cobb, Williams and Brett) reasonably normal.  Here is the information:

Decade  Mean  Standard Deviation
1910s    .266      .0371
1940s    .267      .0326
1970s    .261      .0317

Notice that the mean has stayed roughly constant but the standard deviation has dropped.  Compute the z-scores for the batting averages for Cobb, Williams and Brett and write (in whole sentences) a brief comparison of how far each stood above his peers.

Problem 5.  The yearly snowfall totals in inches for Buffalo, New York, during the years 1910-1949 are:
126, 82, 78, 51, 91, 76, 105, 87, 110, 25, 69, 54, 40, 64, 47, 73, 80, 84, 81, 60, 79, 74, 50, 55, 72, 49, 104, 52, 82, 84, 78, 79, 90, 86, 58, 121, 111, 65, 40, 40.
(a) Make a histogram of the above data.  Does the data look normally distributed?  Why or why not?
(b) Calculate the mean and standard deviation of snowfall totals.
(c) How close does the data come to meeting the 68-95-99.7 rule of an ideal normal distribution?


2/13/08
(1) Read Sec 1.3 and 1.4.
(2) Do WileyPLUS assignment, Sec 1.2 - part 2, by 1 pm.  It is possible that you will be asked for your WileyPLUS registration number (which came packaged with the textbook).  Our two weeks of free use are over.
(3) Written homework to be handed in:
       Section 1.2 #2, 12, 13 and the problem below.
Problem on two-variable data:
The maximum temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, on January 1 of various years:
Year  Temp
2004   64.0           (a) Make a scatter plot of this data.
2000   59.0           (b) What, if anything, does this say about global warming?
1996   72.9
1992   66.9
1988   63.0
1984   73.0
1980   70.0
1976   60.1

2/15/08
(1) Read Sec 1.5.
(2) Do WileyPLUS assignment, Sec 1.2-1.4, by 1 pm.
(3) Written homework to be handed in:
       Section 1.3 #4, 6, 8, 10
       Section 1.4 #10, 11, 12
(4) Study for a short quiz.
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2/18/08
(1) Read Sec 2.1 - 2.3.
(2) Do web assignment, Sec 1.3-1.5, by 1 pm.
(3) Written homework to be handed in:
       Section 1.4 #4
       Section 1.5 #6, 8, 10, 11, 16

2/20/08
(1) Read Sec 2.4 - 2.6.
(2) Do web assignment, Sec 2.1-2.3, by 1 pm.
(3) Written homework to be handed in:
       Section 2.1 #6, 8, 9
       Section 2.2 #6, 10
       Section 2.3 #16

2/22/08
(1) Read Sec 2.6 - 2.8.
(2) Do web assignment, Sec 2.4-2.7, by 1 pm.
(3) Written homework to be handed in:
        Section 2.3 #18, 19
        Section 2.4 #6, 8, 10  (Hint on #10: scales)
        Section 2.5 #6
        Section 2.6 #4
(4) Study for a short quiz.
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2/25/08
 (1) Read Sec 3.1 + 3.2.  (We will return to Sec 2.9 later.)
 (2) Do web assignment, Sec 2.5-2.7, by 1 pm.

2/27/08
 (1) Do web assignment, Sec 2.6-2.8, by 1 pm.
 (2) Written homework to be handed in:
        Section 2.6 #13
        Section 2.7 #14, 16, 18, 19
        Section 2.8 #6, 12, 14, 16, 24, 28

2/29/08
(1) Re-read Sec 3.1 + 3.2.
(2) Do web assignment, Sec 2.8+3.1, by 1 pm.
(3) Study for a short quiz.
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3/3/08
(1) Read Sec 2.9.
(2) Do web assignment, Sec 3.1+3.2, by 1 pm.
(3) Written homework to be handed in:
         Page 135 #3, 14
         Section 3.1 #5, 6, 8
         Section 3.2 #6, 10abfi, 11

3/5/08
(1) Do web assignment, Sec 3.2, by 1 pm.
(2) Written homework to be handed in:
        Section 3.2 #32
        Page 205 #7, 10
(3)
Be sure to bring your calculator to class.

3/7/08
(1) Do web assignment, Sec 2.9, by 1 pm.
(2) Written assignment to be handed in:
         Redo page 205 #10.
         Problem on the back of the handout on correlation coefficients.
(3)  No quiz this week; we will review in class.

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3/10/08
 Exam 1 on Chapter 1, Chapter  2, Sections 3.1and 3.2, and handouts on statistics.