Qualitative Questions

Specimen paper
Q1b
Write down a random variable which could be modeled by
1. a discrete uniform distribution
2. a normal distribution
• The no showing on the uppermost side of a die after it has been rolled
• The height of adult males

Q4b
Interpret the slope of your regression line
• For every extra revolution / minute the life of the drill is reduced by 3 hours

Q5a
Explain briefly the advantages and disadvantages of using the quartiles to summarize
a set of data
Advantages:
• Uses central 50% data
• Not affected by extreme values (outliers)
• Provide an alternative measure of spread to the variance / standard deviation,
ie IQR / STQR
Disadvantages:
• Not always a simple calculation, eg interpolation for a grouped frequency
distribution
• Different measures of calculation – no single argued method
• Does not use all the data directly

Q5b
Describe the main features and uses of box plot
• Indicates max / min observations and possible outliers / range / IQR / spread
• Indicates relative positions of the quartiles
• Indicate skewness
• When plotted on the same scale enables comparisons of distributions

Jan 2001
Q2b
Give two reasons why normal distribution is suitable to model height of adult males
• Male height in UK approx 177cm (mean)
• Distribution of male height approx symmetrical
• Most male height in the range of (177 + 19.2 ) cm
• Male height is result of many inputs

Q2c
Explain briefly why mathematical models can help to improve our understanding of
real-world problems
• Simplify real world problem
• Model can be analysed mathematically
• Calculations, hence predictions, made more simply and quicker than real life
Q5b
Give a reason to justify the use of a histogram to represent data
• Data / variable (X) is continuous

Q5f
Explain why normal distribution may not be suitable to model the no of minutes that
motorists are delayed by this roadworks
• For normal distribution, skewness is zero
• In this case, skewness is 0.329 which is too large, therefore, normal may not
be suitable

Q6c
Explain why this value might support the fitting of a linear regression model of the
form y = a + bx
• │r│ close to 1 indicates near perfect (strong positive) correlation, hence linear
related

Q6e, f and g in notes

June 2001
Q1b
Given mean is 43. Two other students surfed the net on the same day for 35 and 51
minutes respectively. Without further calculations, explain the effect on the mean of
including these two students
• One value is 8 below mean and the other is 8 above mean
• Therefore mean is unchanged

Q2c
Given coefficient of r is – 0.976…Give an interpretation of the coefficient
• As height increases, temperature decreases (must be in context)

Q7c
Give an interpretation of the slope and the intercept of regression line y = 19.4-0.968x
• b for every extra hour of practice 1(- 0.968) less error will be made
• a without practice, 19.4 errors will be made

Q7d
State whether or not you think the regression model is suitable
1) for the range of x-values given in the table
2) for all possible x-values
• Yes – all points reasonably close top the line
• No – more likely to be