,Solution and Answer Guide: Camm/Cochran/Fry/Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 2nd Edition, © 2025,
9780357929766; Chapter 1: Introduction
Solution and Answer Guide
CAMM/COCHRAN/FRY/OHLMANN, DATA VISUALIZATION - EXPLORING AND EXPLAINING WITH
DATA, 2ND EDITION, © 2025, 9780357929766; CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
End of Section Problem Solutions ......................................................................................1
END OF SECTION PROBLEM SOLUTIONS
1. Types of Analytics. Indicate which type of analytics (descriptive, predictive, or prescriptive
analytics) each of the following represents. LO 1
a. a data dashboard
b. a model that finds the production schedule that minimizes overtime
c. a model that forecasts sales for the next quarter
d. a bar chart
e. a model that allocates your financial investments to achieve your financial goal
Solution:
a. descriptive
b. prescriptive
c. predictive
d. descriptive
e. prescriptive
2. Transportation Planning. An analytics professional is asked to plan the shipment of a
product for the next quarter. She employs the following process:
Step 1. For each of the 12 distribution centers, she plots the quarterly demand for the
product over the last three years.
Step 2. Based on the plot for each distribution center, she develops a forecasting model
to forecast demand for next quarter for each distribution center.
Step 3. She takes the forecast for next quarter for each distribution center and inputs
those forecasts, along with the capacities of the company’s four factories and
transportation rates from each factory to each distribution center, into an
optimization model. The optimization model suggests a shipping plan that
minimizes the cost of how to satisfy the forecasted demand from the company’s
four different factories to the distribution centers.
Describe the type of analytics being utilized in each of the three steps outlined
above. LO 1
© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly 1
accessible website, in whole or in part.
,Solution and Answer Guide: Camm/Cochran/Fry/Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 2nd Edition, © 2025,
9780357929766; Chapter 1: Introduction
Solution:
Step 1. Data visualization is descriptive analytics.
Step 2. A forecasting model is predictive analytics.
Step 3. An optimization mode is prescriptive analytics.
3. Wall Street Journal Subscriber Characteristics. A Wall Street Journal subscriber
survey asked a series of questions about subscriber characteristics and interests. State
whether each of the following questions provides categorical or quantitative data. LO 2
a. What is your age?
b. Are you male or female?
c. When did you first start reading the WSJ? High school, college, early career,
midcareer, late career, or retirement?
d. How long have you been in your present job or position?
e. What type of vehicle are you considering for your next purchase? Nine response
categories for this question include sedan, sports car, SUV, minivan, and so on.
Solution:
a. quantitative
b. categorical
c. categorical
d. quantitative
e. categorial
4. Comparing Smartwatches. Consumer Reports provides product evaluations for its
subscribers. The following table shows data from Consumer Reports for five smartwatches
on the following characteristics:
Overall Score—a score awarded for a variety of performance factors
Price—the retail price
Recommended—does Consumer Reports recommend purchasing the smartwatch based on
performance and strengths?
Best Buy—if Consumer Reports recommends purchasing the smartwatch, does it also
consider it a “best buy” based on a blend of performance and value?
For each of the four pieces of data, indicate whether the data are quantitative or
categorical and whether the data are cross-sectional or time series. LO 2
Make Overall Score Recommended Best Buy Price
Apple Watch Series 5 84 Yes No $395
Fitbit Versa 2 78 Yes Yes $200
Garmin Venu 77 Yes No $350
Fitbit Versa Lite 65 No No $100
Solution:
Overall Score and Price are quantitative. Recommended and Best Buy are categorical (both
are yes or no). All of these data are cross-sectional.
© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly 2
accessible website, in whole or in part.
, Solution and Answer Guide: Camm/Cochran/Fry/Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 2nd Edition, © 2025,
9780357929766; Chapter 1: Introduction
5. House Price and Square Footage. Suppose we want to better understand the relationship
between house price and square footage of the house, and we have collected house price
and square footage for 75 houses in a particular neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, from
the Zillow website on January 3, 2021. LO 2, 3
a. Are these data quantitative or categorical?
b. Are these data cross-sectional or times series?
c. Which of the following type of chart would provide the best display of these data?
Explain your answer.
i. Bar chart
ii. Column chart
iii. Scatter chart
Solution:
a. House price and square footage are quantitative.
b. The data were collected at a single point in time, so these data are cross-sectional.
c. iii Bar charts and column charts are better for categories. Here we do not have
categories, we have pairs of numerical data for each of 75 houses (price, square
footage). Therefore, a scatter chart with square footage as the horizontal axis and
price as the vertical axis would be appropriate.
6. Netflix Subscribers. The following chart displays the total number of Netflix subscribers
from 2010 to 2019. LO 1, 2, 3
a. Are these data quantitative or categorical?
b. Are these data cross-sectional or time series?
c. What type of chart is this?
Solution:
a. Number of Netflix subscribers is quantitative.
b. Since these data are collected at several points in time, they are time series data.
c. This is a column chart.
7. U.S. Netflix Subscribers. Refer to the previous problem. Suppose that in addition to the
total number of Netflix subscribers, we have the number of those subscribers by year for
the years 2010–2019 who live in the United States. Our message is to emphasize how
© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly 3
accessible website, in whole or in part.
9780357929766; Chapter 1: Introduction
Solution and Answer Guide
CAMM/COCHRAN/FRY/OHLMANN, DATA VISUALIZATION - EXPLORING AND EXPLAINING WITH
DATA, 2ND EDITION, © 2025, 9780357929766; CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
End of Section Problem Solutions ......................................................................................1
END OF SECTION PROBLEM SOLUTIONS
1. Types of Analytics. Indicate which type of analytics (descriptive, predictive, or prescriptive
analytics) each of the following represents. LO 1
a. a data dashboard
b. a model that finds the production schedule that minimizes overtime
c. a model that forecasts sales for the next quarter
d. a bar chart
e. a model that allocates your financial investments to achieve your financial goal
Solution:
a. descriptive
b. prescriptive
c. predictive
d. descriptive
e. prescriptive
2. Transportation Planning. An analytics professional is asked to plan the shipment of a
product for the next quarter. She employs the following process:
Step 1. For each of the 12 distribution centers, she plots the quarterly demand for the
product over the last three years.
Step 2. Based on the plot for each distribution center, she develops a forecasting model
to forecast demand for next quarter for each distribution center.
Step 3. She takes the forecast for next quarter for each distribution center and inputs
those forecasts, along with the capacities of the company’s four factories and
transportation rates from each factory to each distribution center, into an
optimization model. The optimization model suggests a shipping plan that
minimizes the cost of how to satisfy the forecasted demand from the company’s
four different factories to the distribution centers.
Describe the type of analytics being utilized in each of the three steps outlined
above. LO 1
© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly 1
accessible website, in whole or in part.
,Solution and Answer Guide: Camm/Cochran/Fry/Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 2nd Edition, © 2025,
9780357929766; Chapter 1: Introduction
Solution:
Step 1. Data visualization is descriptive analytics.
Step 2. A forecasting model is predictive analytics.
Step 3. An optimization mode is prescriptive analytics.
3. Wall Street Journal Subscriber Characteristics. A Wall Street Journal subscriber
survey asked a series of questions about subscriber characteristics and interests. State
whether each of the following questions provides categorical or quantitative data. LO 2
a. What is your age?
b. Are you male or female?
c. When did you first start reading the WSJ? High school, college, early career,
midcareer, late career, or retirement?
d. How long have you been in your present job or position?
e. What type of vehicle are you considering for your next purchase? Nine response
categories for this question include sedan, sports car, SUV, minivan, and so on.
Solution:
a. quantitative
b. categorical
c. categorical
d. quantitative
e. categorial
4. Comparing Smartwatches. Consumer Reports provides product evaluations for its
subscribers. The following table shows data from Consumer Reports for five smartwatches
on the following characteristics:
Overall Score—a score awarded for a variety of performance factors
Price—the retail price
Recommended—does Consumer Reports recommend purchasing the smartwatch based on
performance and strengths?
Best Buy—if Consumer Reports recommends purchasing the smartwatch, does it also
consider it a “best buy” based on a blend of performance and value?
For each of the four pieces of data, indicate whether the data are quantitative or
categorical and whether the data are cross-sectional or time series. LO 2
Make Overall Score Recommended Best Buy Price
Apple Watch Series 5 84 Yes No $395
Fitbit Versa 2 78 Yes Yes $200
Garmin Venu 77 Yes No $350
Fitbit Versa Lite 65 No No $100
Solution:
Overall Score and Price are quantitative. Recommended and Best Buy are categorical (both
are yes or no). All of these data are cross-sectional.
© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly 2
accessible website, in whole or in part.
, Solution and Answer Guide: Camm/Cochran/Fry/Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 2nd Edition, © 2025,
9780357929766; Chapter 1: Introduction
5. House Price and Square Footage. Suppose we want to better understand the relationship
between house price and square footage of the house, and we have collected house price
and square footage for 75 houses in a particular neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, from
the Zillow website on January 3, 2021. LO 2, 3
a. Are these data quantitative or categorical?
b. Are these data cross-sectional or times series?
c. Which of the following type of chart would provide the best display of these data?
Explain your answer.
i. Bar chart
ii. Column chart
iii. Scatter chart
Solution:
a. House price and square footage are quantitative.
b. The data were collected at a single point in time, so these data are cross-sectional.
c. iii Bar charts and column charts are better for categories. Here we do not have
categories, we have pairs of numerical data for each of 75 houses (price, square
footage). Therefore, a scatter chart with square footage as the horizontal axis and
price as the vertical axis would be appropriate.
6. Netflix Subscribers. The following chart displays the total number of Netflix subscribers
from 2010 to 2019. LO 1, 2, 3
a. Are these data quantitative or categorical?
b. Are these data cross-sectional or time series?
c. What type of chart is this?
Solution:
a. Number of Netflix subscribers is quantitative.
b. Since these data are collected at several points in time, they are time series data.
c. This is a column chart.
7. U.S. Netflix Subscribers. Refer to the previous problem. Suppose that in addition to the
total number of Netflix subscribers, we have the number of those subscribers by year for
the years 2010–2019 who live in the United States. Our message is to emphasize how
© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly 3
accessible website, in whole or in part.
