Histograms, Frequency Polygons, and Time Series Graphs · Exercise 12

Suppose that three book publishers were interested in the number of fiction paperbacks adult consumers purchase per month. Each publisher conducted a survey. In the survey, adult consumers were asked the number of fiction paperbacks they had purchased the previous month. The results are as follows:

\begin{array}{|c|c|c|}\hline \text{# of books} & \text{Freq.} & \text{Rel. Freq.} \\ \hline \text{0} & \text{10} & \\ \hline \text{1} & \text{12} & \\ \hline \text{2} & \text{16} & \\ \hline \text{3} & \text{12} & \\ \hline \text{4} & \text{8} & \\ \hline \text{5} & \text{6} & \\ \hline \text{6} & \text{2} & \\ \hline \text{8} & \text{2} & \\ \hline\end{array}

\begin{array}{|c|c|c|}\hline \text{# of books} & \text{Freq.} & \text{Rel. Freq.} \\ \hline \text{0} & \text{18} & \\ \hline \text{1} & \text{24} & \\ \hline \text{2} & \text{24} & \\ \hline \text{3} & \text{22} & \\ \hline \text{4} & \text{15} & \\ \hline \text{5} & \text{10} & \\ \hline \text{7} & \text{5} & \\ \hline \text{9} & \text{1} & \\ \hline\end{array}

\begin{array}{|c|c|c|}\hline \text{# of books} & \text{Freq.} & \text{Rel. Freq.} \\ \hline \text{0–1} & \text{20} & \\ \hline \text{2–3} & \text{35} & \\ \hline \text{4–5} & \text{12} & \\ \hline \text{6–7} & \text{2} & \\ \hline \text{8–9} & \text{1} & \\ \hline\end{array}

(a) Find the relative frequencies for each survey. Write them in the charts.
(b) Using either a graphing calculator, computer, or by hand, use the frequency column to construct a histogram for each publisher's survey. For Publishers A and B, make bar widths of one. For Publisher C, make bar widths of two.
(c) In complete sentences, give two reasons why the graphs for Publishers A and B are not identical.
(d) Would you have expected the graph for Publisher C to look like the other two graphs? Why or why not?
(e) Make new histograms for Publisher A and Publisher B. This time, make bar widths of two.
(f) Now, compare the graph for Publisher C to the new graphs for Publishers A and B. Are the graphs more similar or more different? Explain your answer.

Its source prints no answer for this problem, so there's nothing to check against.

OpenStax, Introductory Statistics 2e · §2.2 Histograms, Frequency Polygons, and Time Series Graphs · Exercise 12