Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis | Probability & Statistics for Engineers & Scientists 8th Ed | Walpole| Problem 1.2

According to the journal Chemical Engineering, an important property of a fiber is its water absorbency. A random sample of 20 pieces of cotton fiber is taken and the absorbency on each piece was measured. The following are the absorbency values:

18.71	21.41	20.72	21.81	19.29	22.43	20.17
23.71	19.44	20.50	18.92	20.33	23.00	22.85
19.25	21.77	22.11	19.77	18.04	21.12

a. Calculate the sample mean and median for the above sample values.

b. Compute the 10% trimmed mean.

c. Do a dot plot of the absorbency data.

SOLUTION:

Part a

We are given

$\displaystyle n=20$

$\displaystyle \sum f=18.71+21.41+20.72+21.81+19.29+22.43+20.17+23.71+19.44+20.50+18.92+20.33+23.00+22.85+19.25+19.25+21.77+22.11+19.77+18.04+21.12$

$\displaystyle \sum f=415.35$

The mean is

$\displaystyle \overline{x}=\frac{415.35}{20}$

$\displaystyle \overline{x}=20.7675$

If we arrange the data from least to greatest, the 10th and 11th data are 20.5 and 20.72. The median therefore is

$\displaystyle \widetilde{x}=\frac{20.5+20.72}{2}$

$\displaystyle \widetilde{x}=20.61$

Part b

If we removed the 10% from the bottom and 10% from the top of the data arranged from least to greatest, the 4 values will be eliminated. The values eliminated are 18.04, 18.71, 23, and 23.71. Therefore, the sum of the remaining data is

$\displaystyle \sum f=331.89$