Mat 318

Project 1 Due Friday 9/21

The point of the first project is to compare two sets of data. They should be of similar nature, but with a distinguishing characteristic (such as weather in different cities). You need to get your own data for this; no sharing datasets. (You may, however, use the same source.) Here are some useful websites (but feel free to look elsewhere):

1. Weather: http://www.engr.udayton.edu/weather/ gives daily averages for cities worldwide, since 1995.
2. Education: http://nces.ed.gov/ especially http://nces.ed.gov/quicktables/ .
3. Fuel economy: go to http://www.greenhybrid.com/ and get the fuel economy data for 2 different types of cars. (Getting the data into Minitab might be more difficult.)

You should not use very small data sets; at least 50 observations (times 2).

Assignment:

1. Use appropriate graphs to compare the two data sets. Comment on differences in shapes, centers and variability that can be seen from the graphs. Interpret these in the context of the data.
2. Compute the descriptive statistics to confirm or refute your visual estimate.
3. Identify any extreme observations, either using the IQR criterion or large z-scores.

In addition your report should have:

q A title

q Your name

q Brief introduction, including nature of data and the source

Try to fit the report on 1 page. Do not print the graphs separately, insert them in the text and type the comments next to them. (Not only is this good for your printing quota, but also is much easier to read.)

Do not hand in this instruction sheet.