Exercises This symbol denotes data on the CD.

All computational exercises can be performed either manually or by using Excel.

1 Complete the sentence: ‘A picture is worth a .......................’.
2 What is the name given to the chart that displays:
(a) the summarised data of a single categorical variable?
(b) the summarised data of two categorical variables
simultaneously? the summarised data of a single numeric
(c) variable? the relationship between two numeric
3 (d) variables?
What is the name given to the table that summarises the data of two categorical
variables?
4 Explain at least three differences between a bar chart and a histogram.
5 What is the name of the chart that is used to display time series data?
6 X2.6 – magazines
(a) Construct a pie chart showing the percentage of 500 young female readers
surveyed who most prefer each of the following magazines:

Magazine Count
True Love 95

Seventeen 146

Heat 118

Drum 55

You 86

(a) Construct a categorical frequency table of these job grades.

(b) Show the frequency table in percentage terms.
(c) What percentage of employees are in job grade D?
(d) Show the percentage frequency table as a pie chart and as a bar chart.
 Chapter 2 – Summarising Data: Summary Tables and Graphs

9 X2.9 – office rentals

The monthly rental per square metre for office space in 30 buildings in Durban
central (in rand) are shown below.

Rental (R)
189 156 250 265 376 300
350 315 290 285 225 242
324 280 212 310 395 360
285 225 230 255 185 193
325 248 340 250 285 300

(a) Construct a numerical frequency distribution of office rentals by using

the classes: 150 – ≤ 200; 201 – ≤ 250; 251 – ≤ 300; 301 – ≤ 350; 351 – ≤
(b) 400. Compute the percentage frequencies and cumulative percentage
frequencies for office rentals.
(c) From the frequency distribution, answer the following questions:
(i) What percentage of office space costs less than or equal to R200/m2?
(ii) What percentage of office space costs at most R300/m2?
(iii) What percentage of office space costs more than R350/m2?
(iv) If a legal company that is looking to hire office space is prepared to
pay between R300/m2 and R400/m2, how many buildings can
they consider?
10 X2.10 – storage dams
The capacities (in millions of litres) of each of the four major storage dams that
supply the water requirements of Cape Town are shown in the table below.

Storage dam Capacity (mℓ)

Wemmershoek 158 644
Steenbras 95 284
Voëlvlei 244 122

440 255
Theewaterskloof
(a) Construct a pie chart showing the percentage of water supplied by each storage
dam. (Use Excel’s Pie option in the Insert > Chart tab.)
(b) What percentage of Cape Town’s water supply is provided by:
(i) the Voëlvlei dam?
(ii) Wemmershoek and Steenbras dams together?
11 X2.11 – taste test
A sample of 250 regular fruit juice drinkers were given a blind taste test of five
different fruit juice brands labelled A, B, C, D and E. Each person was asked to

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indicate which fruit juice (by the alphabetic label) they most preferred. The
results are given below.

Blind label Brand Number

A
Liqui-Fruit 45

B
Fruiti Drink 26
C
D Yum Yum 64

Fruit Quencher 38
E

Go Fruit 77

(a) Construct a percentage frequency table and then show the results
graphically both as a percentage bar chart and as a percentage pie chart.
(Use Excel’s Pie and Column (Bar) chart options in the Insert > Chart tab).
(b) What percentage of the sample prefer Liqui-Fruit?
(c) What percentage of the sample prefer either Yum Yum or Go Fruit?
12 X2.12 – annual car sales
The following table shows the number of passenger cars sold by each manufacturer
last year.
Manufacturer Annual sales

Toyota 96 959

Nissan 63 172

Volkswagen 88 028

Delta 62 796

Ford 74 155

MBSA 37 268

BMW 51 724

MMI 25 354

For (a) and (b), use Excel’s Column (Bar) and Pie chart options in the Insert >
Chart tab.
(a) Construct a bar chart to show the number of passenger cars sold by
each manufacturer.
(b) Construct a percentage pie chart to show the market share of the passenger car
market held by each of the car manufacturers last year.
(c) What percentage of the total passenger car market is held by the top three
car manufacturers?

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13 X2.13 – half-yearly car sales

The following table shows the number of passenger cars sold by each manufacturer
in each half-year (first and second half) of last year.

Manufacturer First half Second half Annual sales

Toyota 42 661 54 298 96 959
Nissan 35 376 27 796 63 172
Volkswagen 45 774 42 254 88 028
Delta 26 751 36 045 62 796
Ford 32 628 41 527 74 155
MBSA 19 975 17 293 37 268
BMW 24 206 27518 51 724
MMI 14 307 11 047 25 354

(a) Construct a multiple bar chart showing the number of new car sales
by manufacturer between the first and the second half of last year.
(Use Excel’s Column (Bar) chart option in the Insert > Chart tab.)
(b) By inspection of the multiple bar chart, identify which car manufacturers
performed better in terms of new car sales in the first half of the year compared
to the second half of the year.
(c) Also by inspection of the multiple bar chart, identify which car manufacturer
showed the largest percentage change (up or down) in sales from the first half
to the second half of the year.
14 X2.14 – television brands
A survey of a random sample of 125 households recorded the brand of televisions
owned.
(a) Construct a categorical percentage frequency table of TV brands owned. (Use
Excel’s PivotTable option in the Insert > Table tab.)
(b) Show the findings from (a) graphically as a percentage bar chart.
(c) Which brand of TV is least popular amongst households?
(d) What percentage of households own the most popular TV brand?
15 X2.15 – estate agents
The Estate Agency Affairs Board analysed the number of residential properties
sold by each estate agent in the second half of last year in East London. A random
sample of 48 estate agents was selected and the number of houses each sold during
this period was recorded. The data is as follows:

5 4 8 4 6 8 8 3 5 6 4 4
7 4 5 4 4 3 3 7 5 3 7 3
6 3 5 3 5 4 4 7 6 3 3 4
3 4 6 4 7 4 3 6 3 4 4 6

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(a) Construct a frequency count table to show the sales performance of the sample
of East London estate agents.
Note: Since the numeric data is discrete and in a limited data range, it is
possible to use Excel’s PivotTable option in the Insert > Table tab.
(b) Construct a histogram of the frequency count distribution.
(c) What is the most frequent number of residential properties sold by an
estate agent in the second half of last year in East London?
(d) Repeat (a) and (b) using the Excel’s Histogram option in Data Analysis (Data >
Data Analysis > Histogram). Set a bin range to each discrete value of 3; 4; 5; 6;
7 and 8.
16 X2.16 – fast foods
Keen competition exists amongst fast-food outlets for the food spend of
consumers. A recent survey established consumers’ preferences for various fast-
food outlets and type of fast foods (chicken, pizzas, beef burgers and fish).

Fast food outlet Count

KFC (chicken) 56
St Elmo’s (pizza) 58
Steers (beef burgers) 45
Nandos (chicken) 64
Ocean Basket (fish)
24
Butler’s (pizza)
78

For (a) and (b), use Excel’s Column (Bar) and Pie chart options in the Insert >
Chart tab.
(a) Construct a percentage bar chart to show customers’ preferences for different
fast-food outlets.
(b) Construct a pie chart to show the percentage of customers who prefer each
food type (i.e. chicken, pizza, beef burger and fish).
(c) Write a short summary on the findings of (a) and (b).
17 X2.17 - airlines
A travel agency surveyed 70 passengers to identify which airline (SAA, kulula or
Comair) they prefer to use for domestic travel. The passenger’s type of travel, namely
business or tourist, was also recorded.
(a) Construct a cross-tabulation (two-way pivot) table between the choice of airline
and type of travel. (Use Excel’s PivotTable option in the Insert > Table tab.)
(b) Show the pivot table as a percentage of each passenger type per airline.
(c) Display the percentage cross-tabulation (two-way pivot) table as a multiple bar
chart.
(d) What percentage of passengers prefer to fly with SAA?
(e) Which airline is most preferred by tourists?
(f) Can it be stated that most business travellers prefer to fly with kulula?

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18 X2.18 – car occupants

A traffic survey was conducted in central Cape Town recently to establish the
number of occupants per car commuting into the CBD between 8.00 a.m. and 9.00
a.m. daily from the northern suburbs. Sixty cars were randomly selected at an entry
point into the CBD and the number of occupants was noted. The following data was
recorded:
1 1 1 5 3 2 1 2 1 1 2 2
3 2 2 5 3 1 3 2 5 2 1 3
2 4 3 2 3 5 1 1 4 1 2 2
1 4 1 1 1 1 2 4 3 1 1 2
5 1 1 1 3 1 2 3 5 4 1 5

(a) Define the random variable and the data type.

(b) Use Excel’s Data > Data Analysis > Histogram option to prepare:
(i) a numeric percentage frequency distribution (Hint: Use the discrete
values as bins.)
(ii) a histogram of occupants per car
(iii) a less-than cumulative frequency distribution and ogive of car occupants.
(c) From the results, determine:
(i) what percentage of motorists travel alone
(ii) what percentage of vehicles have at least three occupants
(iii) what percentage of vehicles have no more than two occupants.
19 X2.19 – courier trips
The distance travelled (in km) by a courier service motorcycle on 50 trips was
recorded by the driver.

24 30 20 6 28 23 17 16 21 20
18 19 22 26 31 21 13 15 20 9
18 20 34 29 24 23 25 17 35 29
19 10 17 11 14 15 27 18 8 22
13 28 26 18 16 27 22 25 14 24

(a) Define the random variable and the data type.

(b) Use Excel’s Data > Data Analysis > Histogram option to prepare:
(i) a numeric frequency distribution (use bin ranges: 10, 15, 20, 25, 30
and 35)
(ii) a percentage frequency distribution
(iii) a histogram of the distances travelled by the courier per trip.
(c) From the results, determine:
(i) the percentage of deliveries that were between 25 km and 30 km
the percentage of deliveries within a 25 km radius
(ii) the percentage of deliveries beyond a 20 km radius
(iii) below which distance 52% of the deliveries were made
(iv) above which distance the longest 24% of the deliveries were made.
(v)
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(d) If the company has a policy that no more than 10% of all deliveries should
be more than 30 km from their depot, are they adhering to this policy? Justify
your answer.
20 X2.20 – fuel bills
The monthly expenditures (in rand) on fuel by 50 randomly sampled motorists in
Tshwane are given below.

289 312 400 368 514 415 550 348 774 528
450 330 278 394 662 380 295 560 360 736
515 365 460 433 602 425 265 450 545 414
385 485 293 646 448 350 495 792 456 385
256 680 696 486 356 390 285 400 408 544

(a) Define the random variable and the data type.

(b) Use Excel’s Data > Data Analysis > Histogram option to prepare:
(i) a numeric frequency distribution with bin ranges 300, 400, 500, 600,
700 and 800
(ii) a percentage frequency distribution
(iii) a histogram of monthly fuel bills.
(c) What percentage of Tshwane motorists spend between R500 and
R600 (inclusive) per month on fuel?
(d) Construct the less-than cumulative percentage distribution for fuel bills and
show it graphically as an ogive.
(e) From the cumulative graph, approximate the percentage of Tshwane motorists
that spend less than R550 on fuel per month.
(f) From the graph, find the percentage of Tshwane motorists that spend more
than R500 on fuel per month.
21 X2.21 – car sales
The sales records of an Opel car dealer in Durban show the quarterly sales of the
Opel Corsa light passenger vehicle for the past six years. Refer to the Excel file X2.21.
(a) Use Excel’s Line chart option in the Insert > Chart tab to construct a line graph
showing the pattern of quarterly sales of the Corsa vehicle by the
(b) dealer. If you were the dealer, would you renew your dealership of the
Opel Corsa range next year based on past sales performance? Comment.
22 X2.22 – market shares
The following table shows the market shares for each of two makes of motor vehicles
for the past ten years.

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Year Volkswagen Toyota

1
13.4 9.9

11.6 9.6

9.8 11.2

14.4 12.0

17.4 11.6

18.8 13.1

21.3 11.7

19.4 14.2

19.6 16.0

19.2 16.9

(a) Produce a trendline graph showing the trend in market share (%)
for Volkswagen and Toyota motor vehicle sales over the past ten
years. (Use Excel’s Line chart option in the Insert > Chart tab.)
(b) Describe the trend in market shares for each car manufacturer over the past ten
years.
(c) If you were to be offered a five-year dealership of one of these motor vehicle
makes, which one would you choose? Why?
23 X2.23 – defects
The production manager of a crockery (cups, saucers, plates and bowls)
manufacturer recorded the inspection time (in minutes) by the quality controller
on each of 30 consignments consisting of 500 items each, and noted the number
of defective items found in each consignment. Refer to the Excel file X2.23.
(a) Produce a scatter plot for the inspection time (x) and the number of defects
found (y). (Use Excel’s Scatter plot (with only markers) option in the Insert >
Chart tab.)
(b) By inspection of the scatter plot, does there appear to be a relationship between
the amount of time spent on inspection of a consignment and the number of
defective items founds in the batch? Briefly explain your answer.
24 X2.24 – leverage
A financial analyst surveyed 30 JSE-listed companies and recorded the leverage
ratio (percentage of capital financed by debt) and their percentage growth in net
profits over the past year. The analyst wants to know if leverage influences profit
growth. Refer to the Excel file X2.24.
(a) Produce a scatter plot between the leverage ratio (x) and the profit growth (y)
of the JSE-listed companies. (Use the Scatter plot (with only markers) option
in the Insert > Chart tab. Also set the minimum scale on the x-axis to 30.)
(b) Can the analyst conclude that the degree of leverage influences a company’s
growth in net profits (as a percentage)? In what way? Explain briefly.

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