Question

I have several times heard HCC students who take classes at Laurel College Center advise other students, “Buy your gas in Laurel. It’s cheaper.” As of 8 July 2019, prices in Columbia and Laurel for a gallon of gasoline (regular unleaded) are listed. Source: http://www.marylandgasprices.com/

Columbia:   2.51 2.65 2.69 2.69 2.71 2.84 2.85 2.89 2.95 2.99 2.99 2.99

Laurel:     2.55 2.62 2.65 2.67 2.69 2.69 2.72 2.74 2.74 2.75 2.75 2.99

a) Find the mean and standard deviation for both locations.

(b) For each location, which is the better measure of center and spread?

(c) If you commute from HCC to LCC for classes, where will you buy your gas? Why did you make this choice

Answer 1

Result:

Excel used for calculations.

I have several times heard HCC students who take classes at Laurel College Center advise other students, “Buy your gas in Laurel. It’s cheaper.” As of 8 July 2019, prices in Columbia and Laurel for a gallon of gasoline (regular unleaded) are listed. Source: http://www.marylandgasprices.com/

Columbia:   2.51 2.65 2.69 2.69 2.71 2.84 2.85 2.89 2.95 2.99 2.99 2.99

Laurel:     2.55 2.62 2.65 2.67 2.69 2.69 2.72 2.74 2.74 2.75 2.75 2.99

a) Find the mean and standard deviation for both locations.

	Columbia:	Laurel:
Mean	2.8125	2.713333
Standard Deviation	0.159551929	0.105773

(b) For each location, which is the better measure of center and spread?

Since there are no extreme values mean and standard deviations are is the appropriate measure of center and spread.

(c) If you commute from HCC to LCC for classes, where will you buy your gas? Why did you make this choice

We buy from Laural because its mean and standard deviations are smaller than Columbia.

Excel output:

	Columbia:	Laurel:
Mean	2.8125	2.713333
Standard Error	0.046058675	0.030534
Median	2.845	2.705
Mode	2.99	2.69
Standard Deviation	0.159551929	0.105773
Sample Variance	0.025456818	0.011188
Kurtosis	-0.87100987	4.365439
Skewness	-0.451475249	1.454968
Range	0.48	0.44
Minimum	2.51	2.55
Maximum	2.99	2.99
Sum	33.75	32.56
Count	12	12