Esther wants to know if the number of words on a page in her language arts book is generally more than the number of words on a
page in her social studies book. She takes a random sample of 25 pages in each book and then calculates the mean, median, and mean absolute deviation for the 25 samples of each book. Book Mean Median Mean Absolute Deviation
Language arts 78.5 60 14.2
Social studies 68.7 65 9.8
She claims that because the mean number of words on each page of the language arts book is greater than the mean number of words on each page of the social studies book, the language arts book has more words per page. Based on the data, is this a valid inference?
Yes, because there is a lot of variability in the language arts book data
No, because there is a lot of variability in the language arts book data
Yes, because the mean is larger in the language arts book
No, because the mean is larger in the social studies book
Answer: The correct answer is "No, because there is a lot of variability in the language arts book data."
The mean of the language arts book is higher than the mean of the social studies book, however, there is a lot of variability in the language arts book. This means that the language arts book could actually be lower than the social studies book. It is not likely but it could happen.
