Khan Academy | Comparing distributions

Before sending track and field athletes to the Olympics, the U.S. holds a qualifying meet.

The upper dot plot shows the distances (in meters) of the top 8 shot putters in the preliminary round of the 2012 Olympic games. The lower dot plot shows the top 8 throwers in the shot put at the U.S. qualifying meet.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these dot plots?

Choose all answers that apply:

The top 8 Olympic shot putters in the preliminary round threw farther on average than the top 8 U.S qualifiers.

Before sending track and field athletes to the Olympics, the U.S. holds a qualifying meet.

The box plots below show the distances (in meters) achieved in the final round by the top 11 women's discus throwers at the 2012 Olympic games and the top 12 women's discus throwers at the U.S. qualifying meet.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these box plots?

Choose all answers that apply:

The distances in the Olympic final were farther on average.

Macaws are tropical birds that can live a very long time. The box plots below show the life spans (in years) of a random sample of Macaws that lived in captivity and a random sample that lived in the wild.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these box plots?

Choose all answers that apply:

The life spans for the Macaws in the wild varied noticeably more than those in captivity.

At the Olympic games, many events have several rounds of competition. One of these events is the men's 100-meter backstroke.

The upper dot plot shows the times (in seconds) of the top 8 finishers in the semifinal round at the 2012 Olympics. The lower dot plot shows the times of the same 8 swimmers in the final round.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these dot plots? (Remember that lower swim times are faster.)

Choose all answers that apply:

None of the above

People seem to like movies about comic book heroes.

The histograms below show the gross revenue (in hundreds of millions of dollars) of movies based on heroes from the two most popular comic book companies.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these histograms?

Choose all answers that apply:

Movies based on Marble heroes bring in more money on average.

The histograms below show the mass (in kilograms) of the offensive linemen on the University of Mount Union and the University of Alabama football teams.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these histograms?

Choose all answers that apply:

None of the above

Before sending track and field athletes to the Olympics, the U.S. holds a qualifying meet.

The lower dot plot shows the times (in seconds) of the 8 sprinters who competed in the final of the women's 100-meter dash at the 2012 Olympic games. The upper dot plot shows the times (in seconds) of the top 888 sprinters at the U.S. qualifying meet for that event.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these dot plots? (Remember that lower sprint times are faster.)

Choose all answers that apply:

A. The times in the Olympic final were faster on average than the top 8 U.S. qualifier times.

C. The Olympic final times varied noticeably more than the times of the top 8 U.S. qualifiers.

Minneapolis, Minnesota and Portland, Oregon have very similar latitudes. (Latitude measures how far north or south a place is, which in turn affects the temperature.)

The histograms below show the daily high temperatures (in degrees Celsius) that were recorded during January 2013 in each city.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these histograms?

Choose all answers that apply:

On average, Minneapolis was colder during January.

The daily high temperatures in January vary more noticeably in Minneapolis.

St. Louis, Missouri and Washington, D.C. have very similar latitudes. (Latitude measures how far north or south a place is, which in turn affects the temperature.)

The box plots below show the daily high temperatures (in degrees Celsius) that were recorded during July 2013 in each city.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these box plots?

Choose all answers that apply:

The daily high temperatures in July were hotter on average in Washington, D.C.

The Baltimore Ravens won the American football championship in 2013. In the same season, the Kansas City Chiefs had a record of 2 wins and 14 losses.

The dot plots below show the 40-yard dash times (in seconds) of the defensive backs on each team's roster. Defensive backs mainly defend against passes, and the 40-yard dash is the main measure of speed used in American football.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these dot plots? (Remember that lower 40-yard dash times are faster.)

Choose all answers that apply:

None of the above

Minneapolis, Minnesota and Portland, Oregon have very similar latitudes. (Latitude measures how far north or south a place is, which in turn affects the temperature.)

The histograms below show the daily high temperatures (in degrees Celsius) that were recorded during July 2013 in each city.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these histograms?

Choose all answers that apply:

Minneapolis had the coldest daily high temperature of these two cities.

The box plots below show the heights (in centimeters) of the players on the University of Maryland women's basketball and field hockey teams.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these box plots?

Choose all answers that apply:

The basketball players are taller on average.

The heights of the basketball players vary noticeably more than those of the field hockey team.

At the Olympic games, many events have several rounds of competition. One of these events is the men's 100-meter backstroke.

The upper dot plot shows the times (in seconds) of the top 8 finishers in the final round of the 2012 Olympics. The lower dot plot shows the times of the same 8 swimmers, but in the semifinal round.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these dot plots? (Remember that lower swim times are faster.)

Choose all answers that apply:

The swimmers had faster times on average in the final round.

The times in the final round vary noticeably more than the times in the semifinal round.

The histograms below show the heights (in meters) of the tallest buildings in China and the United States.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these histograms?

Choose all answers that apply:

The United States has the tallest building of these two countries.

China has more buildings over 390 meters tall.

Before sending track and field athletes to the Olympics, the U.S. holds a qualifying meet.

The upper box plot shows the top 12 men's long jumpers at the U.S. qualifying meet. The lower box plot shows the distances (in meters) achieved in the men's long jump at the 2012 Olympic games.

Which pieces of information can be gathered from these box plots?

Choose all answers that apply:

The Olympic jumps were farther on average than the U.S. qualifier jumps.

The Olympic jumps vary noticeably more than the U.S. qualifier jumps.