Statistics and Probability-Part 2

Examine the two dot plots above and compare the variability of the data for the two cities. Make some observations about the spread of each city’s data. Be sure to include information about clustering of data around certain temperatures. Also, identify any areas of overlap between the two cities. Jerome is convinced that the dot plots prove his claim, even if the ranges of the two data sets are similar. Explain what you think Jerome sees in the dot plots that the range alone does not show. Would you expect the mean to be in the middle of the data plots? What do you notice in regard to the location of the mean as compared to the spread of the data. Explain.

Mean Absolute Deviation After locating the mean on the dot plot, Evelyn thought that there was a large spread, or a lot of variability in the data. She also remembered that the temperatures last July varied often. Another way to measure variability is to use the mean absolute deviation. Deviation refers to how far the data point is from the mean of the data set.

What does the mean deviation tell you about the high temperatures in each city in July? Considering the mean absolute deviations, do you think a difference of 4 degrees between the two cities is small or large? Explain. Why do we use the absolute value of the distances when finding Mean Absolute Deviation?