MIDTERM EXAM

Course Title: Probability & Statistics for Business I (BCOR150)

Lecturers: Amira Dridi, Riadh Aloui, Amor Messaoud

Grade /100 Name: ………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Last Name: ………………..…………………………………………………………………………………

Student ID: ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………

Group: ……….………………..………………....……………………………………................................................

Date: March 9th, 2020

Working time: 2 hours

Number of pages: 12

Instructions

- Books and notes are not permitted

- Calculators are allowed
- It is not allowed to use mobile phones
- It is not allowed to share writing instruments

MCQs: Choose the right answer (20 marks)

1. Which one of the following is not appropriate for studying the relationship between two
quantitative variables?

a. Scatterplot
b. Bar chart
c. Correlation
d. Covariance
2. Using the below histogram that represents the hospital lengths of stay (in days) for patients
at a nearby medical facility, determine the relationship between the mean and the median.
a. Mean = Median
b. Mean ≈ Median
c. Mean < Median
d. Mean > Median

3. A five-number summary for a data set is 35, 50, 60, 70, 90. What percent of the
observations are between 35 and 70?

a. 25%
b. 50%
c. 75%
d. 100%

4. Consider the following 15 lengths in centimeters: 55, 56, 56, 56.5, 57, 57, 57, 57.5, 58, 58,
58, 58.5, 59, 59, 63. If the last measurement (63 cm's) was incorrectly recorded as 73, which
one of the following statistics would change?

a. Q1 (1st quartile)
b. Standard deviation
c. Median
d. Q3 (3rd quartile)

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5. The possible values for a standardized score (z-score)

a. can be any number: positive, negative, or 0.

b. must be within the range from -3 to 3
c. must be non-negative.
d. must be strictly positive.

6. A contingency table allows you to tally the responses of two quantitative variables.

a. True
b. False

7. Suppose that the average number of years to graduate at a university is 4 years, with a
standard deviation of 0.5 years. Assume a bell-shaped distribution for years to graduate. From
the Empirical Rule, what is a range of values that 99.7% of the students should graduate
between?

a. 2.5 to 5.5 years

b. 3.5 to 4.5 years
c. 3 to 5 years

8. Which of the following is a discrete quantitative (numerical) variable?

a. The Dow Jones Industrial average

b. The volume of water released from a dam
c. The distance you drove yesterday.
d. The number of employees of an insurance company

9. The average score on a pre-employment test is 26 with standard deviation 7. Using the
Chebyshev’s Theorem, at least 84% of the scores will reside

a. 8.5 to 43.5
b. 12 to 40
c. 13.8 to 38.3
d. 25.7 to 26.3

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10. In a survey of 1300 American high school students, 32% of the respondents reported that
someone had bullied them in school. Which term best describes the value 32%?

a. parameter
b. population
c. statistic
d. sample

Exercise #1 (15 marks)

Develop the frequency distribution table of the time (in hours) that 20 students studied for a
statistics test.

1. (3 marks) What is the class width if you consider 5 classes?

2. (6 marks) Develop the frequency distribution table using 2 as the lower limit of the
first class. (Hint. Consider the obtained class width in question #1 and add classes if
needed)
3. (6 marks) Develop a relative frequency distribution and a cumulative relative
frequency

Exercise #2 (35 marks)

The file contains the cost per ounce of Dark Chocolate in ($) for a sample of 14 dark
chocolate bars:

0.68 0.72 0.92 1.14 1.42 0.94 0.77

0.57 1.51 0.57 0.55 0.86 1.41 0.90

Source: Data extracted from “Dark Chocolate: Which Bars Are Best?” Consumer Reports,
September 2007, p. 8.

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1. (5 marks) Compute the mean, median, and mode. Interpret each measure
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2. (10 marks) Compute the variance, standard deviation, range and coefficient of
variation. Interpret.
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3. (5 marks) Are the data skewed? If so, how?

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4. (5 marks) Compute the first quartile, the third quartile and the interquartile range.
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5. (5 marks) Are there any mild outliers?
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 6. (5 marks) Construct a boxplot. Interpret.
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Exercise #3 (20 marks)

A consumer goods company has been studying the effect of advertising on total profits. As
part of this study, data on advertising expenditures (in thousands of dollars) and total sales (in
thousands of dollars) were collected for a 5-month period and are as follows:

Advertising expenditure Total sales

10 100

15 200

7 80

12 120

14 150

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1. (5 marks) Interpret the scatter diagram (Figure 1).
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2. (15 marks) Calculate the covariance and the coefficient of correlation. Show all
details of the calculations. (Hint. Suppose that this is a sample data)
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Figure 1: Scatter diagram of advertising expenditure and total sales

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Exercise #4 (10 marks)
Simplot Agri-Chemical has decided to implement a new incentive system for the managers of
its three plants. The plan calls for a bonus to be paid next month to the manager whose plant
has the greatest relative improvement over the average monthly production volume. The
following data reflect the historical production volumes at the three plants:

At the close of next month, the monthly output for the three plants was

Suppose the division manager has awarded the bonus to the manager of Plant 2 since her plant
increased its production by 300 units over the mean, more than that for any of the other
managers. Do you agree with the award of the bonus for this month? Explain, using the
appropriate statistical measures to support your position.

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GOOD LUCK

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