Solution and Answer Guide
ESSENTIALS OF MODERN BUSINESS STATISTICS WITH MICROSOFT® EXCEL® 9TH EDITION COPYRIGHT
2025 BY JEFFREY D. CAMM, JAMES J. COCHRAN, MICHAEL J. FRY
CHAPTER 1: DATA AND S TATISTICS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Supplementary Exercises ........................................................................................................................... 1
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISES
1. Wall Street Journal Subscriber Characteristics. A Wall Street Journal subscriber survey asked 46 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 married?
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 include sedan,
sports car, SUV, minivan, and so on.
Solutions:
a. Quantitative
b. Categorical
c. Categorical
d. Quantitative
e. Categorical
2. Comparing Tablet Computers. Tablet PC Comparison provides a wide variety of information about tablet
computers. Their website enables consumers to easily compare different tablets using factors such as cost, type
of operating system, display size, battery life, and CPU manufacturer. A sample of 10 tablet computers is shown
in Table 1.6 (Tablet PC Comparison website). LO 1, 2
Table 1.6 Product Information for 10 Tablet Computers
Operating Display Size Battery Life CPU
Tablet Cost ($) System (inches) (hours) Manufacturer
Acer Iconia W510 599 Windows 10.1 8.5 Intel
Amazon Kindle Fire HD 299 Android 8.9 9.0 TI OMAP
Apple iPad 4 499 iOS 9.7 11.0 Apple
HP Envy X2 860 Windows 11.6 8.0 Intel
Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 668 Windows 10.1 10.5 Intel
© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly 1
accessible website, in whole or in part.
, Microsoft Surface Pro 899 Windows 10.6 4.0 Intel
Motorola Droid XYboard 530 Android 10.1 9.0 TI OMAP
Samsung Ativ Smart PC 590 Windows 11.6 7.0 Intel
Samsung Galaxy Tab 525 Android 10.1 10.0 Nvidia
Sony Tablet S 360 Android 9.4 8.0 Nvidia
a. How many elements are in this data set?
b. How many variables are in this data set?
c. Which variables are categorical and which variables are quantitative?
d. What type of measurement scale is used for each of the variables?
Solutions:
a. The 10 elements are the 10 tablet computers.
b. Five variables: Cost ($), Operating System, Display Size (inches), Battery Life (hours), CPU Manufacturer
c. Categorical variables: Operating System and CPU Manufacturer
Quantitative variables: Cost ($), Display Size (inches), and Battery Life (hours)
d.
Variable Measurement Scale
Cost ($) Ratio
Operating System Nominal
Display Size (inches) Ratio
Battery Life (hours) Ratio
CPU Manufacturer Nominal
3. Tablet PCs: Cost, CPU, and Operating System. Refer to Table 1.6. LO 3
a. What is the average cost for the tablets?
b. Compare the average cost of tablets with a Windows operating system to the average cost of tablets with an
Android operating system.
c. What percentage of tablets use a CPU manufactured by TI OMAP?
d. What percentage of tablets use an Android operating system?
Solutions:
a. Average cost = 5,829/10 = $582.90
b. Average cost with a Windows operating system = 3,616/5 = $723.20
Average cost with an Android operating system = 1,714/4 = $428.5
The average cost with a Windows operating system is much higher.
c. 2 of 10 or 20% use a CPU manufactured by TI OMAP.
d. 4 of 10 or 40% use an Android operating system.
4. Comparing Phones. Table 1.7 shows data for eight phones (Consumer Reports). The Overall Score, a measure
of the overall quality for the phone, ranges from 0 to 100. Voice Quality has possible ratings of poor, fair, good,
very good, and excellent. Talk Time is the manufacturer’s claim of how long the phone can be used when it is
fully charged. LO 1, 2
Table 1.7 Data for Eight Phones
Brand Model Price ($) Overall Score Voice Quality Talk Time (hours)
© 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.
, AT&T CL84100 60 73 Excellent 7
AT&T TL92271 80 70 Very Good 7
Panasonic 4773B 100 78 Very Good 13
Panasonic 6592T 70 72 Very Good 13
Uniden D2997 45 70 Very Good 10
Uniden D1788 80 73 Very Good 7
Vtech DS6521 60 72 Excellent 7
Vtech CS6649 50 72 Very Good 7
a. How many elements are in this data set?
b. For the variables Price, Overall Score, Voice Quality, and Talk Time, which variables are categorical and
which variables are quantitative?
c. What scale of measurement is used for each variable?
Solutions:
a. There are eight elements in this data set; each element corresponds to one of the eight models of cordless
telephones.
b. Categorical variables: Voice Quality and Handset on Base
Quantitative variables: Price, Overall Score, and Talk Time
c. Price – ratio measurement
Overall Score – interval measurement
Voice Quality – ordinal measurement
Handset on Base – nominal measurement
Talk Time – ratio measurement
5. Summarizing Phone Data. Refer to the data set in Table 1.7. LO 3
a. What is the average price for the phones?
b. What is the average talk time for the phones?
c. What percentage of the phones have a voice quality of excellent?
Solutions:
a. Average Price = 545/8 = $68.13
b. Average Talk Time = 71/8 = 8.875 hours
c. Percentage rated Excellent: 2 of 8 2/8 = 0.25, or 25%
6. New Automobile Owners Survey. J.D. Power and Associates surveys new automobile owners to learn about
the quality of recently purchased vehicles. The following questions were asked in the J.D. Power Initial Quality
Survey. Comment on whether each of the following questions provides categorical or quantitative data. LO 2
a. Did you purchase or lease the vehicle?
b. What price did you pay?
c. What is the overall attractiveness of your vehicle’s exterior? (Unacceptable, Average, Outstanding, or
Truly Exceptional)
d. What is your average number of miles per gallon?
e. What is your overall rating of your new vehicle? (l- to 10-point scale with
1 Unacceptable and 10 Truly Exceptional)
Solutions:
a. Categorical
b. Quantitative
© 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.
, c. Categorical
d. Quantitative
e. Quantitative
7. Airline Customer Satisfaction. Many service companies collect data via a follow-up survey of their customers.
For example, to ascertain customer sentiment, Delta Air Lines sends an e-mail to customers immediately
following a flight. Among other questions, Delta asks:
How likely are you to recommend Delta Air Lines to others?
The possible responses are:
Definitely Probably May or May Probably Will Definitely Will
Will Will Not Not Not
❍ ❍ ❍ ❍ ❍
Use this information to answer the following questions. LO 2, 4
a. Are the data collected by Delta in this example quantitative or categorical?
b. What measurement scale is used?
Solutions:
a. Since there are five choices, the response is a categorical response.
b. The five responses are the labels for the customer responses. A nominal scale is being used.
8. Readership Poll. The Tennessean, an online newspaper located in Nashville, Tennessee, conducts a daily poll
to obtain reader opinions on a variety of current issues. In a recent poll, 762 readers responded to the following
question: “If a constitutional amendment to ban a state income tax is placed on the ballot in Tennessee, would
you want it to pass?” Possible responses were Yes, No, or Not Sure (The Tennessean website). LO 1, 2, 3
a. What was the sample size for this poll?
b. Are the data categorical or quantitative?
c. Would it make more sense to use averages or percentages as a summary of the data for this question?
d. Of the respondents, 67% said Yes, they would want it to pass. How many individuals provided this
response?
Solutions:
a. 762
b. Categorical
c. Percentages
d. 0.67(762) = 510.54
510 or 511 respondents said they want the amendment to pass.
9. College-Educated Workers. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, a Pew Research study showed that the
percentage of employed individuals ages 25–29 who are college educated is at an all-time high. The study showed that
the percentage of employed individuals aged 25–29 with at least a bachelor’s degree in 2016 was 40%. In the year 2000,
this percentage was 32%, in 1985 it was 25%, and in 1964 it was only 16% (Pew Research website). LO 4
a. What is the population being studied in each of the four years in which Pew has data?
b. What question was posed to each respondent?
c. Do responses to the question provide categorical or quantitative data?
Solutions:
a. The population is employed individuals in the United States aged 25–29.
b. Have you earned a bachelor’s degree (or higher)?
© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly 4
accessible website, in whole or in part.
ESSENTIALS OF MODERN BUSINESS STATISTICS WITH MICROSOFT® EXCEL® 9TH EDITION COPYRIGHT
2025 BY JEFFREY D. CAMM, JAMES J. COCHRAN, MICHAEL J. FRY
CHAPTER 1: DATA AND S TATISTICS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Supplementary Exercises ........................................................................................................................... 1
SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISES
1. Wall Street Journal Subscriber Characteristics. A Wall Street Journal subscriber survey asked 46 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 married?
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 include sedan,
sports car, SUV, minivan, and so on.
Solutions:
a. Quantitative
b. Categorical
c. Categorical
d. Quantitative
e. Categorical
2. Comparing Tablet Computers. Tablet PC Comparison provides a wide variety of information about tablet
computers. Their website enables consumers to easily compare different tablets using factors such as cost, type
of operating system, display size, battery life, and CPU manufacturer. A sample of 10 tablet computers is shown
in Table 1.6 (Tablet PC Comparison website). LO 1, 2
Table 1.6 Product Information for 10 Tablet Computers
Operating Display Size Battery Life CPU
Tablet Cost ($) System (inches) (hours) Manufacturer
Acer Iconia W510 599 Windows 10.1 8.5 Intel
Amazon Kindle Fire HD 299 Android 8.9 9.0 TI OMAP
Apple iPad 4 499 iOS 9.7 11.0 Apple
HP Envy X2 860 Windows 11.6 8.0 Intel
Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 668 Windows 10.1 10.5 Intel
© 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.
, Microsoft Surface Pro 899 Windows 10.6 4.0 Intel
Motorola Droid XYboard 530 Android 10.1 9.0 TI OMAP
Samsung Ativ Smart PC 590 Windows 11.6 7.0 Intel
Samsung Galaxy Tab 525 Android 10.1 10.0 Nvidia
Sony Tablet S 360 Android 9.4 8.0 Nvidia
a. How many elements are in this data set?
b. How many variables are in this data set?
c. Which variables are categorical and which variables are quantitative?
d. What type of measurement scale is used for each of the variables?
Solutions:
a. The 10 elements are the 10 tablet computers.
b. Five variables: Cost ($), Operating System, Display Size (inches), Battery Life (hours), CPU Manufacturer
c. Categorical variables: Operating System and CPU Manufacturer
Quantitative variables: Cost ($), Display Size (inches), and Battery Life (hours)
d.
Variable Measurement Scale
Cost ($) Ratio
Operating System Nominal
Display Size (inches) Ratio
Battery Life (hours) Ratio
CPU Manufacturer Nominal
3. Tablet PCs: Cost, CPU, and Operating System. Refer to Table 1.6. LO 3
a. What is the average cost for the tablets?
b. Compare the average cost of tablets with a Windows operating system to the average cost of tablets with an
Android operating system.
c. What percentage of tablets use a CPU manufactured by TI OMAP?
d. What percentage of tablets use an Android operating system?
Solutions:
a. Average cost = 5,829/10 = $582.90
b. Average cost with a Windows operating system = 3,616/5 = $723.20
Average cost with an Android operating system = 1,714/4 = $428.5
The average cost with a Windows operating system is much higher.
c. 2 of 10 or 20% use a CPU manufactured by TI OMAP.
d. 4 of 10 or 40% use an Android operating system.
4. Comparing Phones. Table 1.7 shows data for eight phones (Consumer Reports). The Overall Score, a measure
of the overall quality for the phone, ranges from 0 to 100. Voice Quality has possible ratings of poor, fair, good,
very good, and excellent. Talk Time is the manufacturer’s claim of how long the phone can be used when it is
fully charged. LO 1, 2
Table 1.7 Data for Eight Phones
Brand Model Price ($) Overall Score Voice Quality Talk Time (hours)
© 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.
, AT&T CL84100 60 73 Excellent 7
AT&T TL92271 80 70 Very Good 7
Panasonic 4773B 100 78 Very Good 13
Panasonic 6592T 70 72 Very Good 13
Uniden D2997 45 70 Very Good 10
Uniden D1788 80 73 Very Good 7
Vtech DS6521 60 72 Excellent 7
Vtech CS6649 50 72 Very Good 7
a. How many elements are in this data set?
b. For the variables Price, Overall Score, Voice Quality, and Talk Time, which variables are categorical and
which variables are quantitative?
c. What scale of measurement is used for each variable?
Solutions:
a. There are eight elements in this data set; each element corresponds to one of the eight models of cordless
telephones.
b. Categorical variables: Voice Quality and Handset on Base
Quantitative variables: Price, Overall Score, and Talk Time
c. Price – ratio measurement
Overall Score – interval measurement
Voice Quality – ordinal measurement
Handset on Base – nominal measurement
Talk Time – ratio measurement
5. Summarizing Phone Data. Refer to the data set in Table 1.7. LO 3
a. What is the average price for the phones?
b. What is the average talk time for the phones?
c. What percentage of the phones have a voice quality of excellent?
Solutions:
a. Average Price = 545/8 = $68.13
b. Average Talk Time = 71/8 = 8.875 hours
c. Percentage rated Excellent: 2 of 8 2/8 = 0.25, or 25%
6. New Automobile Owners Survey. J.D. Power and Associates surveys new automobile owners to learn about
the quality of recently purchased vehicles. The following questions were asked in the J.D. Power Initial Quality
Survey. Comment on whether each of the following questions provides categorical or quantitative data. LO 2
a. Did you purchase or lease the vehicle?
b. What price did you pay?
c. What is the overall attractiveness of your vehicle’s exterior? (Unacceptable, Average, Outstanding, or
Truly Exceptional)
d. What is your average number of miles per gallon?
e. What is your overall rating of your new vehicle? (l- to 10-point scale with
1 Unacceptable and 10 Truly Exceptional)
Solutions:
a. Categorical
b. Quantitative
© 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.
, c. Categorical
d. Quantitative
e. Quantitative
7. Airline Customer Satisfaction. Many service companies collect data via a follow-up survey of their customers.
For example, to ascertain customer sentiment, Delta Air Lines sends an e-mail to customers immediately
following a flight. Among other questions, Delta asks:
How likely are you to recommend Delta Air Lines to others?
The possible responses are:
Definitely Probably May or May Probably Will Definitely Will
Will Will Not Not Not
❍ ❍ ❍ ❍ ❍
Use this information to answer the following questions. LO 2, 4
a. Are the data collected by Delta in this example quantitative or categorical?
b. What measurement scale is used?
Solutions:
a. Since there are five choices, the response is a categorical response.
b. The five responses are the labels for the customer responses. A nominal scale is being used.
8. Readership Poll. The Tennessean, an online newspaper located in Nashville, Tennessee, conducts a daily poll
to obtain reader opinions on a variety of current issues. In a recent poll, 762 readers responded to the following
question: “If a constitutional amendment to ban a state income tax is placed on the ballot in Tennessee, would
you want it to pass?” Possible responses were Yes, No, or Not Sure (The Tennessean website). LO 1, 2, 3
a. What was the sample size for this poll?
b. Are the data categorical or quantitative?
c. Would it make more sense to use averages or percentages as a summary of the data for this question?
d. Of the respondents, 67% said Yes, they would want it to pass. How many individuals provided this
response?
Solutions:
a. 762
b. Categorical
c. Percentages
d. 0.67(762) = 510.54
510 or 511 respondents said they want the amendment to pass.
9. College-Educated Workers. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, a Pew Research study showed that the
percentage of employed individuals ages 25–29 who are college educated is at an all-time high. The study showed that
the percentage of employed individuals aged 25–29 with at least a bachelor’s degree in 2016 was 40%. In the year 2000,
this percentage was 32%, in 1985 it was 25%, and in 1964 it was only 16% (Pew Research website). LO 4
a. What is the population being studied in each of the four years in which Pew has data?
b. What question was posed to each respondent?
c. Do responses to the question provide categorical or quantitative data?
Solutions:
a. The population is employed individuals in the United States aged 25–29.
b. Have you earned a bachelor’s degree (or higher)?
© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly 4
accessible website, in whole or in part.
