1) Cigarette Taxes The increases (in cents) in cigarette taxes for 17 states in a 6-month period are 60, 20, 40, 40, 45, 12, 34, 51, 30, 70, 42, 31, 69, 32, 8, 18, 50
Use the range rule of thumb to estimate the standard deviation. Compare the estimate to the actual standard deviation.
Source: Federation of Tax Administrators.
Range = 70 - 8 = 62
Estimated Standard Deviation = 62 / 4 = 15.5
When computed in Excel the actual standard deviation = 18.231
Therefore the estimate standard deviation is less than the actual standard deviation.
2) Stories in the Tallest Buildings The number of stories in the 13 tallest buildings for two different cities is listed below. Which set of data is more variable?
Houston: 75, 71, 64, 56, 53, 55, 47, 55, 52, 50, 50, 50, 47
Pittsburgh: 64, 54, 40, 32, 46, 44, 42, 41, 40, 40, 34, 32, 30
Source: World Almanac.