Melissa Weldon

Math 1040 Online

Project Part 3 Individual

1. Write a paragraph discussing your findings about the variable Total candies in
each bag. Address the following in your writing: What is the shape of the
distribution? Do the graphs reflect what you expected to see? Does the overall data
collected by the whole class agree with your own data from a single bag of
candies? Include the number of candies from your own bag and the total number of
bags in the class sample in your discussion.
- After I created the histogram and the boxplot of the total number of candies in each
bag of skittles of the class it was easy to see that the shape of the distribution is
mainly symmetrical. This is what I expected to see from the data. I would assume
that all the bags had roughly the same amount of Skittles in each and that is what the
data showed. My own personal bag included 62 Skittles. There are a total of 23 bags
in the the class data. The data collected by the whole class is pretty close to the data I
collected from my own personal bag. The only difference in the classes data verses
my own data was that the yellow was the least amount in the classes data and purple
was the least amount in my data.
2. In a half page, explain the difference between categorical and quantitative data.
Address the following in your writing: What types of graphs make sense and what
types of graphs do not make sense for categorical data? For quantitative
data? Explain why. What types of calculations make sense and what types of
calculations do not make sense for categorical data? For quantitative
data? Explain why.
- Data can be organized into two different categories, categorical data and quantitative
data. Categorical data assigns characteristics or types and it helps tell the what of the
data. Categorical data has descriptive values rather than measured values. With
categorical data you cant do mathematical operations or any sort of calculations
because the values cannot be measured. It is often written in word format rather than
in number format. It can include colors, sizes, or locations. It can also be written in
number format, but the numbers dont represent any measured value. For example, a
zip code is written in number format, but the numbers themselves have no measured
value. To graph categorical data, you can use graphs such as bar graphs, line graphs,
pie chart, or pictographs. Each of these graphs or charts have a bar, a wedge, or a
picture that can represent the categorical values. There are some graphs and charts
that you cannot use for categorical data, they are boxplot and a stem and leaf plot.
These involve mathematical calculations which cannot be done with categorical data.
- Quantitative data is different than categorical data. With quantitative data you can do
everything you can do with categorical data and much more. Quantitative data
involves numerical values and tells how much and it can be ordered and measured.
Examples of quantitative data would be proportions, dates, times, and much more.
You can order quantitative data from least to greatest, you can also calculate
information. For example, you can calculate the mean of the Skittles or standard
deviation. You can create more complex graphs since we have specific numbers with
value to work with, such as box plot, stem and leaf plots, dot charts, and histograms.
It is possible to make a pie chart with the quantitative data, but it would not be the
most affective or appropriate graph to use. This type of graph does not describe or
show the shape and spread of the distribution of the data. Quantitative data has a
wider utility than categorical data, but both are useful in separate ways.