Question

2         (a) Considering the data mentioned in part (b) of question 1, is the mean height of the 14 mountains higher than 8000 m a parameter or a statistic as it relates to these 14 mountains?

           (b) Considering the data mentioned in part (c) of question 1, is the mean height of the students in MAT-114 a parameter or a statistic as it relates to the mean height of all students at Lincoln?

          (c) Are the heights of mountains or students’ examples of discrete or continuous data?

           (d) Are the number of mountains higher than 8000 m or the number of students in MAT-114 examples of continuous or discrete data? In order for samples to be representative of the populations from which they are drawn, various sampling techniques have been developed but one principle characteristic is common to all of them as a means of making them representative and avoiding bias.

         (e) What is this common principle (one word)? (pp 16, 18, 23, 24)                                                                                                                                                         5

question 1 is

1         (a) Explain clearly the difference between a population and a sample.

           (b) There are 14 mountains in the world with heights greater than 8000 meters (m, = 26247 feet): can this group of 14 peaks be properly referred to as the population of peaks over 8000 m (Y/N)?

           (c) If we were to use the mean height of students in MAT-114 to estimate the mean height of students at Lincoln, do the students in MAT-114 represent a population or a sample?

          (d) Do the heights mentioned in parts (b) and (c) of this question represent quantitative (= numerical) or qualitative (= attributive, categorical) data?

          (e) Do the names of the mountains or students mentioned in parts (b) and (c) of this question represent quantitative (= numerical) or qualitative (= attributive, categorical) data? (pp 5, 17)                                                                                      5

Answer 1

Q2 a. Considering the data mentioned in part (b) of question 1:

The mean height of the 14 mountains higher than 8000 m is a parameter. Since we are calculating the mean of the population. The quantity which summarizes the population is called parameter.

b. Considering the data mentioned in part (c) of question 1:

The mean height of the students in MAT-114 is a Statistic: Since the students in MAT-114 is a sample representing the population height of all students at Lincoln.

The quantity which describes the sample from which inference about the population parameter is drawn is called statistic.

c. Both the heights of mountains or students’ examples of continuous data since height is measured on continuous scale.

d. The number of mountains higher than 8000 m or the number of students in MAT-114 examples of discrete data since it is a count data(counted on discrete scale viz 0,1,2,3...)

e. The common principle of various sampling techniques is the sample should be Random.