How reliable might they be? Representing data S2.3 Core Starter Amy collected this information from the Lancaster Priory gravestone website. It gives the ages of people, with last names from A to H, who were buried between 1800 and 1810, with their gender. (All children aged 1 or less are counted as being 1.) 31(m) 43(m) 23(f) 36(m) 39(f) 50(m) 77(f) 74(f) 7(m) 1(m) 40(m) 1(m) 1(f) 5(f) 39(m) 17(f) 45(f) 2(m) 2(f) 34(f) 1(m) 36(m) 91(m) 12(m) 55(f) 17(f) 1(m) 76(f) 16(f) 1(m) 80(f) 1(m) 7(f) 73(f) 79(f) 79(m) 28(m) 1(m) 68(f) 28(m) How would you best display this information? What conclusions can you draw? How reliable might they be? Preamble This open-ended task is probably best started by directing small groups to consider how best to proceed – pupils tend to neglect the planning stage. However, allow a free ranging discussion as to what the figures might show, or appear to show, and how this can best be displayed. Depending on circumstances this sort of data lends itself to drawing a stem and leaf diagram to get an overall impression of the data. Possible content Using graphical methods to display and compare data. Resources Depending on circumstances use could be made of the graphical display facilities of some graphing software, calculator. Solution/Notes Here are the more common ways of looking at the data. From these diagrams the following conclusions may be drawn. More baby boys died. Women, on average lived longer than men. The longest lived was a male. Not really any evidence of women dying during childbirth (somewhat surprisingly). Original Material © Cambridge University Press 2009 Photograph © Dariusz Majgier / Shutterstock Original Material © Cambridge University Press 2009