The following times were recorded by the quarter-mile and mile runners of a university track team (times are in minutes).
Quarter-Mile Times:0.910.961.010.920.99
Mile Times:4.534.364.604.714.49
After viewing this sample of running times, one of the coaches commented that the quarter milers turned in the more consistent times. Use the standard deviation and the coefficient of variation to summarize the variability in the data.
Quarter milers
Standard deviation (to 4 decimals)
Coefficient of variation (to 1 decimal),
Milers
Standard deviation (to 4 decimals)
Coefficient of variation (to 1 decimal),
Does the use of the coefficient of variation indicate that the coach's statement should be qualified?
(i) Yes, the coefficient shows that as a percentage of the mean the quarter milers' times show more variability.
(ii) No, the coefficient doesn't show that as a percentage of the mean the quarter milers' times show more variability.