MAT 104 Quantitative Reasoning – Module 2 Review

Lessons 2.1 – 2.7

(1) Which of the following choices are equivalent to a population density of 2,000 people/100 mi 2?
Hint: There may be more than one correct choice. Pick all of the choices that are correct.
(a) 200 people/10 mi2
(b) 2 people/mi2
(c) 2 people/10 mi2
(d) 20 people/mi2
(e) 0.2 people/mi2

Solution: (a) and (d)

(2) A 2012 census estimate by the United States government gave the population of Los Angeles, CA as
3,820,000 people and the population of Chicago, IL as 2,707,000 people. The data also showed the land
area of Los Angeles to be 469 square miles, and the land area of Chicago to be 227 square miles.
Which of the following statements is true?
(a) The population density of Los Angeles is approximately 1.4 times that for Chicago.
(b) The population density of Chicago is approximately 2 times that of Los Angeles.
(c) The population density of Los Angeles is approximately 16,800 people per square mile.
(d) The population density of Chicago is approximately 11,900 people per square mile.
(e) The population density of Chicago is approximately the same as that for Los Angeles.

Solution: (d)
Population density of Los Angeles = 3 820 000 / 469 ≈ 8 145 people per square mile
Population density of Chicago = 2 707 000 / 227 ≈ 11 925 people per square mile

(3) In 2010, the US population was 311,000,000 people. The US population ate 12,040 thousand metric
tons of beef per year.
In 2010, the world population was 6,853,000,000 people. The world population consumed 56,544
thousand metric tons of beef per year.1
The world population and US population have different rates of eating beef. If the whole population of
the world ate beef at the same rate per person as the United States, then what would the world
consumption rate be?

1
Retrieved from www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/international_statistics.html

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 (a) Between 50,000 and 100,000 thousand metric tons of beef per year
(b) Between 100,000 and 150,000 thousand metric tons of beef per year
(c) Between 150,000 and 200,000 thousand metric tons of beef per year
(d) Between 200,000 and 250,000 thousand metric tons of beef per year
(e) Between 250,000 and 300,000 thousand metric tons of beef per year

Solution: (e)
Per person consumption rate for U.S. = (12 040 x 103 pounds) / (311 x 106 people) ≈ 0.039 pounds person.
World consumption rate, if the world’s per person consumption matches the U.S. per person consumption,
is 0.039 x 6 853 x 106 ≈ 267 267 000 ≈ 267 267 x 103 pounds.

(4) A school lunch program serves 13,000 students. The program orders 3,250 pounds of chicken for the
students.
What is the unit rate for this situation?

Solution: 3 250 pounds / 13 000 students = 0.25 pounds per student

(5) US housing prices dropped in many regions from 2009 to 2011. The average price of a house in
Tucson, Arizona, was $172,500 in 2009 and decreased to $150,000 in 2011. In Seattle, Washington,
the average price of a house in 2009 was $306,200 and $293,000 in 2011.
Which of the following statements is true?
(a) Seattle had the larger absolute change and relative change in the average price of a house from
2009 to 2011.
(b) Tucson had the larger absolute change and relative change in the average price of a house from
2009 to 2011.
(c) Tucson had the larger absolute change. Seattle had the larger relative change in the average
price of a house from 2009 to 2011.
(d) Seattle had the larger absolute change. Tucson had the larger relative change in the average
price of a house from 2009 to 2011.
(e) Seattle had the larger absolute change. Both cities had the same relative change in the average
price of a house from 2009 to 2011.

Solution: (a)
Tucson: Absolute change = 150 000 – 172 500 = -22 500 people. Relative change = -22 500 / 172 500 ≈
- 0.13 = -13%.
Seattle: Absolute change = 293 000 – 306 200 = -13 200 people. Relative change = -13 200 / 306 200 ≈
- 0.043 = -4.3%.

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(6) At many universities and colleges, tuition increased for the 2018-2019 academic year. Tuition at
universities and colleges in Minnesota increased by 4.8%.
The choices below describe the amount of tuition at different types of colleges. Which type of
college will have the greatest absolute increase in tuition?
(a) The community colleges with tuitions between $2,480 and $4,708.
(b) The public four-year universities with tuitions between $3,258 and $6,639.
(c) The private universities with tuitions between $27,450 and $52,110.
(d) All will have the same absolute increase.

Solution: (c)
The private universities have the greatest tuition, so their tuition increase will be the greatest.

(7) Scientists study the number of children who are overweight or obese. They study children ages 12 to
19 years old.
In 1995, 11% of children were obese. In 2000, the percentage had increased to 22%.
Calculate the absolute change from 1995 to 2000. Then calculate the relative change from 1995 to
2000.

Solution: 11 percentage points and 100% 0r 1.00

The absolute change from 1995 to 2000 is 0.22 – 0.11 = 0.11 or 11 percentage points.
The relative change from 1995 to 2000 is (0.22–0.11) / 0.11 or (0.22/0.11) – 1= 1.00 = 100%.

(8) A Pew Internet Study takes a look at the texting habits of cell phone owners. The study found in 2011
that cell phone owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchanged an incredible 3200 texts per
month. Back in 2009, a similar Nielsen study found that the same age range averaged 2899 texts per
month.
Calculate the relative change in the number of text messages for cell phone owners between the ages
of 18 and 24 from 2009 to 2011.

Solution: 0.104 or 10.4%

The absolute change from 2009 to 2011 is 3200 – 2899 = 301 texts per month.
The relative change from 2009 to 2011 = 301 / 2 899 000 ≈ 0.104 = 10.4%.

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Use the graph below to answer Questions 9 and 10. It shows the Consumer Price Index in the United
Kingdom. The Consumer Price Index shows how the prices for goods and services change over time. This
graph gives changes in prices in percent value each month from January 2010 to January 2011.

(9) Which number is the best estimate for the CPI in the UK in May of 2010?
(a) 4%
(b) 3%
(c) 3.5%
(d) 2.5%
(e) 1%
Solution: (c)

(10) The graph above is divided into monthly periods. During what monthly period did the CPI increase by
the largest amount?
(a) Sep 2010 – Oct 2010
(b) Feb 2010 – Mar 2010
(c) Oct 2010 – Nov 2010
(d) May 2010 – Jun 2010
(e) Jul 2010 – Aug 2010

Solution: (b)

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(11) The chart below shows the distribution of the world’s population in 2010. There were approximately
6,853,000,000 people in the world in 2010. Helpful hint: The continent of Oceana is Australia, New
Zealand and outlying islands.

Read the following statements:

Statement I: In 2010, Asia’s population was approximately four times the population of Africa.
Statement II: Africa’s population was approximately 1 billion in 2010.
Statement III: Oceania has 0% in the graph. This means it has no population.

Based on the information in the chart and the total population, decide if each of the statements are
true or not true. Provide a clear mathematical justification for why each statement is correct or
incorrect.
Pick the best option below:
(a) Only Statement I is true.
(b) Only Statement II is true.
(c) Both Statements I and II are true, and Statement III is not true.
(d) Both Statements II and III are true, and Statement I is not true.
(e) All three statements are true.

Solution: (c)
Statement I – True. Asia’s percentage (60%) is four times Africa’s percentage (15%)
Statement II – True. Africa’s population was approximately 15% of 6.9 billion which is 1 035 000 000, or
about 1 billion people.

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Statement III – False. Oceania’s population is less than 1%, so it is being reported as 0% in the graph, but
there are people living in these countries.
(12) Many women die of breast cancer each year in the United States. One way to prevent death for a
woman with breast cancer is to find the cancer early before it affects other parts of her body.
Doctors can find breast cancer through mammograms. A mammogram is an x-ray examination of the
breasts.
In 2009, scientists studied if mammograms reduced the risk of death due to breast cancer. They
studied women aged 50-75 years old. The scientists found that mammograms reduced the risk of
death due to breast cancer in women aged 50–75 who are afflicted with breast cancer by 15%. 2
Imagine that you want to figure out how many lives could be saved by mammograms. What
information would you need to know to figure this out?
(a) The number of women in the population.
(b) The number of women in the population between the ages of 50 and 75.
(c) The number of women in the population between the ages of 50 and 75 who are likely to get
breast cancer.
(d) The number of women in the population between the ages of 50 and 75 who are likely to get any
kind of cancer.

Solution: (c)
The number of lives that can be saved is 15% of the number of women in the population between the ages
of 50 and 75 who are likely to get breast cancer.

(13) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a government agency that studies different
diseases in the US. One disease the agency studies is heart disease. The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention estimates that 0.2% of the U.S. population died of heart disease in 2006. Imagine
that a new medical treatment plan reduced the risk of dying of heart disease by 12%. There are
approximately 311 million people in the United States.
With a new treatment plan, how many people could be saved in a year?

Solution: 74 640 people

The number of people in the U.S. at risk of dying from heart disease is (0.002)(311 x 10 6) = 622 000 people
per year. 12% of 622 000 is 74 640 people. This is the number of people who could be saved with the new
treatment plan.

(14) According to the oil company BP, in 2010, the United States used 19,148,000 barrels of oil a day, and
worldwide, people used around 87,382,000 barrels of oil per day. This includes oil used for (among
other things) fuel and manufacturing. Assume there were 309 million people in the United States and
6.89 billion people in the world in 2010. If the world used oil at the same rate as the United States,

2
Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer_screening

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 how many barrels of oil per day would the world have used? Round your calculations to the nearest
hundredth of a barrel.

Solution: 427 180 000 barrels of oil per day

Per person oil consumption rate for U.S. = (19 148 x 103 barrels) / (309 x 106 people) ≈ 0.062 barrels per
person per day.
World consumption rate, if the world’s per person oil consumption matches the U.S. per person oil
consumption, is 0.062 x 6.89 x 109 ≈ 427 180 000 barrels of oil per day.

(15) Nine friends studied for a math quiz separately. They all studied for different lengths of time. After
the quiz was over, they reported the following study times: 25, 30, 45, 50, 60, 60, 75, 80 and 100
minutes.
Find the mean, median and mode of the study times.

Solution: Mean ≈ 58.33, Median = 60, Mode = 60

(16) Which of the following statements are true?

Statement I: 376 is the mode of 25 numbers. There must be more numbers with the value of 376
than any other number in the group of 25 numbers.
Statement II: 376 is the median of 25 numbers. If you sort the numbers from smallest to largest,
the 13th number in the list must be 376.
Statement III: The mean of 25 numbers is 376. Half of the numbers must be more than 376.
(a) Only Statement II is true.
(b) Only Statement III is true.
(c) Statements I and II are true but statement III is false.
(d) Statements I and III are true but statement II is false.
(e) Statements II and III are true but statement I is false.

Solution: (c) Statement (e) is false since the mean does not have to be the same as the median.

(17) Researchers study the number of televisions in different countries. They want to learn the average
number of televisions per person. The data in Table 1 is from 2003.3
Which country has the lowest average number of televisions per person?

Table 1
Number of
Country Population
Televisions
3
Retrieved from www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_tel-media-televisions

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 China 400,000,000 1,307,000,000
France 34,800,000 60,180,000
Malta 280,000 400,000

Solution: China

China: Number of televisions per person = (400 x 106) / (1307 x 106) ≈ 0.31 televisions per person
China: Number of televisions per person = (34.8 x 106) / (60.18 x 106) ≈ 0.58 televisions per person
China: Number of televisions per person = (280 x 103) / (400 x 103) ≈ 0.7 televisions per person

(18) A baseball supply store has many inexpensive baseball gloves. In fact, over half of the
gloves in stock cost less than $50. However, there are also a few high-end, more expensive gloves in
stock. Some of those gloves cost over $300.
The store owner wants to advertise her store. She wants to advertise to local children’s baseball
teams. She wants to advertise that her store is a place to buy reasonably priced items.
Should the store use the median price or the mean price in the advertisement for the gloves? Why?

Solution: The store should advertise the median price, as this price will be close to $50. The mean price will
be larger than the median because of the small number of very expensive items. The store will likely attract
more interest if they advertise lower prices.

(19) Instructors at a college wanted to learn about how much sleep college students get. They asked 14
students how long they slept one night. The amount of time the students slept ranged from 5 hours
to 9 hours. The number of hours that each student slept is shown below.

Student Hours slept

Aaron 6
Abdul 6
Alicia 7
Carol 5
Dayna 8
Felicita 6
Jane 8
Juan 6
Jim 7
Nia 7
Nicole 8
Pasha 6
Phan 6
Tarif 9

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 Identify the mean, median and mode of data the college collected.
Solution: Mean ≈ 6.8, Median = 6.5, Mode = 6

(20) Use the graph below from the Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool, UK, to answer the question
below. The graph shows the average of the measured sea level rise recorded at nine measuring
stations around the world over the past century.

What was the relative sea level change from 1940 to 1980? Round your answer to the nearest percent.
Show your work.
Solution: 0.67 or 67%

From 1940 to 1980, the cumulative sea level change rose from 75 mm to 125 mm.

Relative change = (125 – 75) / 75 = 50 / 75 ≈ 0.67 or 67%.