Data Handling Notes and Exercises
Data Handling Notes and Exercises
Data Handling
Statistics is the study of data and involves:
The collection, sorting, displaying, analyzing data and drawing conclusions from data
REVISION (GRADE 8)
A list of values recorded in any order is known as RAW DATA. It gives us very little
information about the values involved.
5 27 13 24 16 19 21 19 6 3 19
Rewrite the set of values in ascending order ( from smallest to largest). This is known as
an ORDERED ARRAY.
Calculate the arithmetic mean of the data above. Show all working.
The MODE is the value that occurs most often. (Also known as the MODAL VALUE)
Sometimes there is no single middlemost number. Then you must add the two numbers in the
middle and divide by two.
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EG: in the list 3 ; 5 ; 8 ; 10 ; 12 ; 15 ; 18 ; 19 the median is __________
The RANGE (spread) is given by the formula: largest value smallest value
Exercise 1:
1. Two batsmen are being considered for selection for a cricket team. Their last eleven scores are:
Batsman 41 44 47 54 55 48 50 53 50 49 59
A
Batsman 0 35 50 50 65 20 10 100 70 80 70
B
1.1 Rewrite the scores of each batsman as an ordered array and then determine the following for each
of the batsmen:
Any values on a set of data that are extremely high or low are referred to as OUTLIERS.
Let us examine their effect on a set of data.
2.1 Write the data in an ordered array and calculate the arithmetic mean of all 9 numbers.
2.2 Now ignore the outliers and calculate the arithmetic mean of the remaining numbers. How does
this compare with your previous answer?
2.3 Does an outlier significantly affect the mode or the median. Justify your answer.
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TYPES OF DATA
There are two types of data:
This is a way of writing the information (data) that you have collected in a logical and easy to
read way. The number of times a particular item occurs is called its frequency.
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EXERCISE 3: Answer in exercise book
1. The number of matches in 60 boxes of matches was counted and the following results were
obtained:
1.2 What is the most common number of matches that was found in these boxes of matches?
2. The following are the marks (out of 10) which a group of 30 learners obtained in a test:
2.2 With reference to the frequency table, answer the following questions:
60 of the standard model were sold – half were red and one fifth were green.
Of the deluxe model, 5 more red ones were sold than of the standard model, and
4 fewer blue ones were sold than of the standard model.
3.2 What fraction of the total items sold were blue ones?
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Stem-and-Leaf Plots
In a stem-and-leaf plot – the tens digit forms the stem and the units digits form the leaves.
NOTE:
1. The leaf is the digit in the place furthest to the right in the number.
The stem is the digit or digits that remain when the leaf is dropped. So if the list of
numbers included 120 ; 134 ; 127 then 12 and 13 would be the stems and 0 ; 4
and 7 would be the leaves.
2. If the list of numbers included a single digit number then the stem must be zero. So if
the list of numbers includes the numbers 2 ; 3 ; 7 you write them as 02 ; 03 ; 07.
The stem is 0 and the leaves are 2 ; 3 ; 7.
3. Before organizing data into a stem-and-leaf plot it is useful to put the information into an
ordered array.
EG: Suppose the members of your maths class scored the following in a maths test:
1. The mean:- add each number together and divide the total by the number of terms
97 ; 99 ; 81 ; 78 ; 73 ; 95 ; 33 ; 97 ; 64 ; 100 ; 85 ; 83 ; 85 ; 88 ; 79 ; 81 ; 93 ; 86 ; 83 ; 71.
1.2 What are the mean , median, mode and range of the data?
1.3 Given this information, would you say that the learners did well on the exam? Explain your
answer.
2. Lindi works as a waitress. She keeps a record of what she earns each day. This is what she earns:
R120 ; R90 ; R150 ; R170 ; R200 ; R120 ; R90 ; R60 ; R130 ; R150 ; R110 ; R170 ;
R180 ; R140 ; R150 ; R200 ; R250 ; R130 ; R120 ; R150 ; R190.
2.2 What are the mean, median and mode of the data?
stem leaf
10 5
11 023
12 055
13 025
A bar graph uses bars, side by side, to display data. The bars can go up or across the
page.
The length of the bar stands for the size of the data it shows. This makes it easy to
compare data.
The bars can be drawn horizontally or vertically. If the data is discrete (counted), the
bars do not touch (BAR GRAPH). If the data is continuous (measured) the bars touch
(HISTOGRAM).
1.4 What is the difference between the number of learners who voted for soccer and the number of
learners who voted for netball?
TV 3 75
2.1 Draw a bar graph to illustrate this information. Draw vertical
MNET 33
bars.
2.2 Make up two more questions of your own about this graph. Swop E TV 23
questions with someone else and answer each other’s questions.
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DUAL BAR GRAPHS
1. The bar graph below shows how long men and women, in six different countries, are expected to
live.
1.3 In which countries do women have the lowest life expectancy? Approximately how may years?
1.4 What is the difference in life expectancy between men and women in Russia?
1.5 In which country is there the largest difference in life expectancy? Approximately how many
years?
2. A population survey was carried out in the two suburbs of Northvale and Eastvale. The residents
were asked how many people live in each house. The information was collected and entered into a
frequency table.
2.1 Draw a dual bar graph to illustrate the information gathered in the survey.
2.2 What differences do you notice between the number of people living in each house in Northvale
and Eastvale?
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SECTIONAL BAR GRAPHS
We use sectional bar graphs when we have two, or more, different sets of information on the
same topic. They are very useful when we are also interested in the total of the two or more
bars.
1. The number of bakkies and cars sold by a garage in the first six month of the year are as follows:
1.1 In which month were the most vehicles sold? How many?
1.2 In which month were the smallest numbers of cars sold? How many?
1.3 In which month were the smallest number of bakkies sold? How many?
1.4 In which month were the greatest number of cars sold? How many?
2. Twenty people were asked to keep a record of which television channel they were watching at
8:15 pm on two successive nights.
You can replace a bar graph by a line graph if the horizontal axis is continuous ( e.g.
time, temperature, age)
The data is plotted as a series of points joined by straight lines.
Line graphs are useful as they show trends that can be easily extended. This means
that with some graphs it might be possible to continue the line to show what might
happen in the future.
EXAMPLE
This table shows a country's grape production (in thousands ('000s) of tonnes) for the years
1950, 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990.
Grapes ('000 36 28 69 74 58
tonnes)
We have no information for the years between 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990, so we join the
points with straight lines.
The following table shows the temperature ( in 0C ) as measured at certain times during the day.
Time ( in hours) 7h00 8h00 11h00 12h00 13h00 15h00 17h00 19h00
Temp ( 0 C ) 8 12 16 20 22 18 10 6
PIE GRAPHS
EXAMPLE:
120 learners in Grade 9 were asked how they came to school and a pie graph was drawn to
illustrate the results.
________________________
2. What fraction (decimal) of learners walked?
________________________
3. What percentage of learners came to school by car?
________________________
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Sometimes you cannot find the fractions or percentages by just looking at the pie graph.
You must then use the angles at the centre of the circle to work out the size of each fraction.
EXAMPLE
There are 36 students in a class. The number of students belonging to the respective sports
houses of the school are represented in the pie graph below:
Re d
White
Gre en
Blue
1. Sihle decided to draw a pie graph to show what he did during an average day.
1.2 Draw a pie graph to illustrate how Sihle spends his time on an average day. Do not forget to label
each sector and give the graph a heading.
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2. This pie graph shows what a bran breakfast cereal is made of:
__________________________________
Protein
2.2 What fraction of the circle represents the 37
__________________________________
Fibre
2.3 The mass of an average serving of this 93
cereal is 45 grams. What is the mass of
fat in the serving of cereal?
__________________________________
Fat
SCATTER DIAGRAMS
We get a scatter diagram when we plot values of one quantity against corresponding values of
another quantity
Ex
erc
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ise 10 Answer in exercise book.
1 Do exercise 12.5 nr 1, 2
2. The length from beak to tail and the wing span of some birds are shown in the following table:
2.2 Do you think there is a strong/definite correlation between the two measurements? Explain your
answer.