Question

Summary Statistics for Number of People in Households

Place	Mean	Median	Std. dev.	IQR	n
Ealing England 1599	4.68	4	2.74	3	85
Bristol RI 1689	5.82	6	2.75	4	72
Nishinomoya Japan 1713	4.99	5	2.51	4	132
Belgrad Serbia 1734	5.41	5	2.62	4	178
Longuenesse France 1778	5.02	5	2.51	4	66
Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Quebec 1851	6.63	7	2.75	4	97
California students, 2008-2009	3.99	4	1.55	2	272
Australian Students, 2008	4.46	4	1.25	1	569

On your scratch paper respond to the following prompt, in paragraph form.

You meet someone who has just arrived via a time machine from one of these places. Assuming that you can communicate use the measures of center and spread and the box plots to explain to the time traveler how your experience is different from theirs. You can choose the place your time traveler comes from, but identify it.

• What do the mean and medians tell you about the sizes of households in the past and in other cultures compared with the experience of Californian college students?

• What do the standard deviations and the IQRs tell you about the sizes of households in the past and in other cultures compared with the experience of Californian college students?

Answer 1

The mean of household sizes for Californian college students is the smallest as compared to the mean of household sizes in the past and other cultures. The median of household sizes for Californian college students is the same for Ealing England and Australian students but lower than the median of household sizes of other cultures.

The standard deviation of household sizes for Californian college students is less than Australian Students but lower than the standard deviation of household sizes of other cultures. The IQR of household sizes for Californian college students is less than Australian Students but lower than the IQR of household sizes of other cultures.