Lesson 2
Using Dot Plots to Answer Statistical Questions
Let's use dot plots to describe distributions and answer questions.
Problem 1
Three sets of data about ten sixth-grade students were used to make three dot plots. The person who made these dot plots forgot to label them. Match each dot plot with the appropriate label.
![Three dot plots labeled A, B, C.](https://cms-im.s3.amazonaws.com/Ct786eNdxfHcEyfifaaCMhR6?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%226.8.B.PP.Image.11smush.png%22%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%276.8.B.PP.Image.11smush.png&response-content-type=image%2Fpng&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAXQCCIHWF3XOEFOW4%2F20240718%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240718T033333Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=1ee6560008d548b295506db903cdd2d9657984233401bbe295b59436d59478a2)
Problem 2
The dot plots show the time it takes to get to school for ten sixth-grade students from the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
![Five dot plots.](https://cms-im.s3.amazonaws.com/4y8FAw1BMz8ReDpZDyEXm6b8?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%226-6.8.D.PP.Image.09.png%22%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%276-6.8.D.PP.Image.09.png&response-content-type=image%2Fpng&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAXQCCIHWF3XOEFOW4%2F20240718%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240718T033333Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=65f8cdb52b4c187b24d3d7f282d2edef0994ad1533701acf4a2ac510f44d95dd)
- List the countries in order of typical travel times, from shortest to longest.
- List the countries in order of variability in travel times, from the least variability to the greatest.
Problem 3
Twenty-five students were asked to rate—on a scale of 0 to 10—how important it is to reduce pollution. A rating of 0 means “not at all important” and a rating of 10 means “very important.” Here is a dot plot of their responses.
![A dot plot, importance of reducing pollution, 2 to 10 by ones. Beginning with 2, the number of dots above each increment is 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6.](https://cms-im.s3.amazonaws.com/naPj9s7FFWsGRzJCB9HLCigZ?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%226-6.8.B.PP.Image.10.png%22%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%276-6.8.B.PP.Image.10.png&response-content-type=image%2Fpng&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAXQCCIHWF3XOEFOW4%2F20240718%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240718T033333Z&X-Amz-Expires=604800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=3482fa174a7d385766aaa5dbd48e89623c028821df1ce70aae50465002eea511)
Explain why a rating of 6 is not a good description of the center of this data set.