Discussion Question

DISCUSSION BOARD FORUM 1/PROJECT 2 INSTRUCTIONS
Standard Deviation and Outliers
Thread:
For this assignment, you will use the Project 2 Excel Spreadsheet to answer the questions below. In each question, use the spreadsheet to create the graphs as described and then answer the question.
Put all of your answers into a thread posted in Discussion Board Forum 1/Project 2.
You must use your own work for answers to Questions 1–5. If something happens that leads you to want to make a second post for any of your answers to Questions 1–5; you must get permission from your instructor.
1. A. Create a set of 5 points that are very close together and record the standard deviation. Next, add a sixth point that is far away from the original 5 and record the new standard deviation.
What is the impact of the new point on the standard deviation? Do not just give a numerical value for the change. Explain in sentence form what happened to the standard deviation.
B. Create a data set with 8 points in it that has a mean of approximately 10 and a standard deviation of approximately 1. Use the second chart to create a second data set with 8 points that has a mean of approximately 10 and a standard deviation of approximately 4. What did you do differently to create the data set with the larger standard deviation?

2. Go back to the spreadsheet and clear the data values from Question 1 from the data column and then put values matching the following data set into the data column for the first graph.
50, 50, 50, 50, 50.
Notice that the standard deviation is 0. Explain why the standard deviation for this one is zero. Do not show the calculation. Explain in words why the standard deviation is zero when all of the points are the same. If you don’t know why, try doing the calculation by hand to see what is happening. If that does not make it clear, try doing a little research on standard deviation and see what it is measuring and then look again at the data set for this question.

3. Go back to the spreadsheet one last time and put each of the following three data sets into one of the graphs. Record what the standard deviation is for each data set and answer the questions below.
Data set 1: 0, 0, 0, 100, 100, 100
Data set 2: 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100
Data set 3: 0, 40, 45, 55, 60, 100
Note that all three data sets have a median of 50. Notice how spread out the points are in each data set and compare this to the standard deviations for the data sets. Describe the relationship you see between the amount of spread and the size of the standard deviation and explain why this connection exists. Do not give your calculations in your answer—explain in sentence form.
For the last 2 questions, use the Project 1 Data Set.
4. Explain what an outlier is. Then, if there are any outliers in the Project 1 Data Set, what are they? If there are no outliers, say no outliers.
5. Which 4 states have temperatures that look to be the most questionable or the most unrealistic to you? Explain why you selected these 4 states. For each state, give both the name and the temperature.