The histogram shows murder rates per 100,000 residents and the number of U.S. states

Chapter 12, Problem 74

(choose chapter or problem)

The histogram shows murder rates per 100,000 residents and the number of U.S. states that had these rates for a recent year. Use this histogram to solve Exercises 73–74.

a. Find the median murder rate per 100,000 residents for the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

b. Find the first quartile by determining the median of the lower half of the data. (This is the median of the items that lie below the median that you found in part (a).)

c. Find the third quartile by determining the median of the upper half of the data. (This is the median of the items that lie above the median that you found in part (a).)

d. Use the following numerical scale:

Above this scale, show five points, each at the same height. (The height is arbitrary.) Each point should represent one of the following numbers:

lowest data value, first quartile, median, third quartile, highest data value.

e. A box-and-whisker plot consists of a rectangular box extending from the first quartile to the third quartile, with a dashed line representing the median, and line segments (or whiskers) extending outward from the box to the lowest and highest data values:

Use your graph from part (d) to create a box-and-whisker plot for U.S. murder rates per 100,000 residents.

f. If one of the whiskers in a box-and-whisker plot is clearly longer, the distribution is usually skewed in the direction of the longer whisker. Based on this observation, does your box-and-whisker plot in part (e) indicate that the distribution is skewed to the right or skewed to the left?

g. Is the shape of the distribution of scores shown by the given histogram consistent with your observation in part (f)?