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Box Plots Exam Questions

The document is a GCSE Statistics exam paper focused on box plots, featuring a series of questions related to analyzing and interpreting box plots for various datasets, including test scores, weights of cereals, race times, reaction times, house prices, and tree heights. Each question includes instructions for drawing box plots, comparing distributions, and interpreting statistical measures. The total marks available for the exam is 65, with specific marks allocated to each question.

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zohas514
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21 views15 pages

Box Plots Exam Questions

The document is a GCSE Statistics exam paper focused on box plots, featuring a series of questions related to analyzing and interpreting box plots for various datasets, including test scores, weights of cereals, race times, reaction times, house prices, and tree heights. Each question includes instructions for drawing box plots, comparing distributions, and interpreting statistical measures. The total marks available for the exam is 65, with specific marks allocated to each question.

Uploaded by

zohas514
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Name: _______________________________________________

GCSE Statistics

Box Plots

Total marks available: 65

Total marks achieved: ______

Instructions
• Use black ink or ball-point pen.
• Fill in the boxes at the top of this page with your name,
Centre number and candidate number.
• Answer all questions.
• Answer the questions in the spaces provided
– There may be more space than you need.
• Scientific calculators may be used.
• You must show all your working out with your answer clearly identified
At the end of your solution.

Information
• The marks for each question are shown in brackets
– use this as a guide as to how much time to spend on each question.

Advice
• Read each question carefully before you start to answer it.
• Try to answer every question.
• Check your answers if you have time at the end.
Q1. Matthew recorded the scores in a memory test taken by some teenagers and by their parents.
The teenagers took the same test as their parents.
The box plot shows information about the recorded test scores for the teenagers.

The table gives information about the recorded test scores for the parents.

(a) On the grid above, draw a box plot for the recorded test scores for the parents.
(2)
(b) Compare the distributions.
Give three comparisons and interpret one of your comparisons.
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(4)
The information for the teenagers is based on data collected from 56 teenagers.

(c) Estimate the number of these teenagers whose recorded test score was greater than 24

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(2)
(Total for question = 8 marks)
Q2.

The box plot shows information about the weight of sugar (in grams per serving) in each of the breakfast
cereals on the top shelf in a supermarket.

(a) Work out the interquartile range for the weights of sugar in the top shelf breakfast cereals.

........................................................... Grams
(2)
The table gives some information about the weight of sugar (in grams per serving) in each of the
breakfast cereals on the bottom shelf in the supermarket.

(b) On the grid above, construct a box plot to represent this information.
(3)

*(c) Discuss whether or not the distribution of weights of sugar for bottom shelf breakfast cereals is
symmetrical.

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(2)
(Total for Question = 7 marks)
Q3.

Some athletes ran a 5 km race in January and in July.

The box plots give information about the times taken, in minutes, for the same athletes to complete these
races.

*(a) Compare the distributions of the race times in January and in July.

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(2)
(b) Compare the proportion of athletes completing the race in less than 24 minutes in January and in
July.

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(2)

(Total for question = 4 marks)


Q4.
The box plots show information about the reaction times, in milliseconds, for 20–29 year old men and for
30–39 year old men.

The table below gives information about the reaction times, in milliseconds, for 40–49 year old men.

(a) On the grid above, draw a box plot for the information in the table.
(2)
(b) Compare the distributions of the reaction times.
Interpret one of your comparisons.
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(4)
(Total for question = 6 marks)
Q5. Alexander measured the reaction times of Year 7 and Year 9 students.

The box plot shows information about the reaction times of the Year 7 students.

The incomplete table shows some information about the reaction times of the Year 9 students.

The Year 7 and Year 9 distributions have the same median.

The Year 7 and Year 9 distributions have the same interquartile range.

(a) On the grid above, use this information to draw the box plot for the reaction times of the Year 9
students.
(3)
(b) Describe the skew of each distribution.

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(2)
The box plot for Year 7 was based on data collected from 76 students in Year 7

(c) Estimate the number of these Year 7 students with a reaction time less than 2.10 seconds.

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(2)

(Total for question = 7 marks)


Q6.

Ashley collected information about house prices in her town last year.

She drew this box plot for this information.

Ashley says that more than half the houses had a price greater than £200 000

(a) Explain how the box plot can be used to support what Ashley says.

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(1)
The greatest price was £500 000

(b) Show, by calculation, that this price is an outlier.

(3)

(Total for question = 4 marks)


Q7. The box plot shows the distribution of weights of a sample of salad potatoes.

(a) Find the median and the interquartile range (IQR).

Median =........................................................... g

IQR =........................................................... g
(3)
The mean and standard deviation of this sample are

Mean = 85.5 g standard deviation = 9.4 g

A sample of new potatoes has the following summary statistics

Sally wants to compare the distributions of the weights of the sample of salad potatoes and the sample of
new potatoes.

For the comparison she can use one of two options.


Option 1: the values of median and IQR.
Option 2: the values of mean and standard deviation.
*(b) Explain which of these options would be best for Sally to use to compare these distributions.

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(2)
*(c) Compare the distributions of the weights of the samples of salad potatoes and new potatoes.

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(2)
(Total for question = 7 marks)
Q8.

The cumulative frequency diagram gives information about the heights, in metres, of a sample of 100 oak
trees in Camden, London.

(a) Using the cumulative frequency diagram, complete the table below for the heights of these 100 trees.

(2)
The box plot shows information about the heights, in metres, of a sample of maple trees in Camden,
London.

For the sample of oak trees


The least height is 2.0 m
the greatest height is 22.3 m
(b) On the grid above, draw a box plot for the heights of the sample of oak trees.
(2)
(c) Compare the two distributions of heights.
Give three comparisons and interpret one of these comparisons.

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(4)

(Total for question = 8 marks)


Q9.

The cumulative frequency diagram shows the distribution of ages of a sample of 100 teachers in the UK.

(a) Complete this table for the ages of these 100 teachers.

(2)
The box plot shows the distribution of ages of a sample of teachers in the USA.

(b) On the same grid, draw a box plot for the ages of the sample of teachers in the UK.
(2)

A Head teacher thinks that teachers in the UK are younger than teachers in the USA.

(c) Use the box plots to compare the distributions of the ages of the teachers in the UK and the ages of
the teachers in the USA.
Is the Head teacher correct?
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(4)
(Total for Question = 8 marks)
Q10.

Rachel has collected information on the minimum wage, in US dollars per hour, for each of 50 US
regions.

She uses a spreadsheet to sort the data into ascending order of size.

Part of her spreadsheet is shown below.

Rachel uses statistical software to summarise the data.

The output is shown below.

Using the information in the table and the spreadsheet, draw a box plot with any outliers clearly marked.
You must show any calculations you use.

(Total for question = 6 marks)

Common questions

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Symmetry in a box plot indicates that the data are evenly distributed around the median, implying that the mean and median of the weights of sugar are approximately equal. If the box plot is not symmetrical, it suggests either positive or negative skewness, indicating that the majority of the breakfast cereal sugars are either above or below the median .

To interpret and compare the distributions, observe the median, interquartile range, and range from each box plot. For example, if the median of the teenagers’ scores is lower than the parents’, it suggests teenagers generally performed worse. If the interquartile range is wider for teenagers, it indicates more variability in their scores compared to parents, showcasing higher inconsistency among teenagers. These aspects help identify central tendencies and variability among the two groups .

Cumulative frequency diagrams allow for precise extraction of quartiles by observing cumulative frequencies at 25%, 50%, and 75%, which equates to lower quartile, median, and upper quartile, respectively. Plotting these values provides a visual summary of data spread, helping to construct the corresponding box plot and understand the distribution of tree heights .

Compare the medians and the overall spread (range and IQR) of the box plots. A lower median age and a lower upper quartile in the UK box plot compared to the USA box plot suggest younger age distributions among teachers in the UK. Additionally, if the entire UK box plot is shifted leftwards on the age axis compared to the USA, it supports the argument .

Assess skewness by examining the position of the median line within the box plot and the lengths of the whiskers. If the median is closer to the lower or upper quartile, it indicates negative or positive skewness, respectively. Similarly, unequal whisker lengths suggest that one tail is more elongated than the other, reinforcing the skew direction .

Estimate by determining the position of the threshold relative to the quartiles on the box plot. If the threshold is beyond the median and within the upper quartile, assume the upper half of the population is considered. Interpolating this with the known population size (e.g. the 56 teenagers) provides an estimate of individuals surpassing the threshold .

To determine if house prices are outliers in a box plot, calculate the IQR (interquartile range) and identify any value that is more than 1.5 times the IQR above the third quartile as an outlier. For instance, if the greatest value is £500,000 and it significantly surpasses the defined boundary, it qualifies as an outlier .

Comparing distributions across age groups in box plots, if older age groups show a higher median reaction time and a wider interquartile range, it reveals that reaction times generally increase with age and variability among individuals may also increase. Such a trend supports the theory that aging negatively impacts reaction times, leading to slower reactions as age increases .

Outliers significantly affect data analysis as they can distort the mean and often provide valuable insights into anomalies or data errors. Marking outliers helps in better understanding data spread and identifying exceptional cases that may need separate consideration or could indicate incorrect data reporting .

Sally should consider the presence of skewness or outliers. If the distribution is skewed or contains outliers, median and IQR are preferred as they are less affected by extreme values. Median and IQR offer a more robust measure of central tendency and variability, whereas mean and standard deviation are suitable for normal distributions without outliers .

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