Statistics worksheet — GCSE Foundation

1.A quality inspector weighs a random sample of 50 packets of crisps from one day's production and finds their mean mass is 32.4 g. The factory makes 20,000 packets that day. Work out an estimate for the total mass, in kg, of all the packets made that day.

2.A school has 1200 pupils. A teacher wants to take a random sample of 60 of them. Write down which of these methods gives a random sample.

3.A study found that people who drink more coffee tend to concentrate better at work. A coffee company says that this shows that drinking coffee improves concentration. Give the reason why this conclusion cannot be drawn.

4.In a random sample of 40 pupils at a school, 6 are left-handed. The school has 900 pupils. Work out an estimate for the number of left-handed pupils in the school.

5.A survey of 25 pupils in Derby records how many siblings each has: 0 siblings — 6 pupils, 1 sibling — 10 pupils, 2 siblings — 6 pupils, 3 siblings — 3 pupils. Calculate the mean number of siblings.

6.A school has 1,500 pupils. The head teacher takes a random sample of 150 of them from the school register and asks how long they spend on homework. Rory says the sample is too small for the result to mean anything. Is Rory right? Give a reason for your answer.

7.A survey of 200 car owners in Bristol records the colour of each car: silver 74, black 52, blue 40 and red 34. Write down which average should be used to describe a typical car in this survey, and give a reason for your answer.

8.Four pairs of variables are listed below. Write down the pair that you would expect to show negative correlation.

9.A sports club has 300 women members and 200 men members, 500 members in total. The club committee wants to choose a sample of 40 members that is in proportion to the club's membership. Work out how many women should be in the sample.

10.A scatter graph shows the height, x cm, and the mass, y kg, of 20 pupils in Year 10. The heights on the graph run from 150 cm to 180 cm, and the line of best fit is y = 0.9x − 85. Nadia puts x = 90 into this equation to estimate the mass of a two-year-old child who is 90 cm tall. Is her estimate reliable? Give a reason for your answer.

11.On a scatter graph of the arm span and the height of some pupils, the points rise from left to right. Write down the type of correlation this shows.

12.A straight line is drawn on a scatter graph to show the trend of the points. Write down the name given to this line.

13.A pupil writes this question for a school survey: “Do you agree that learning matters and that we should be set more homework?” Write down what is wrong with the survey question.

14.For each of 30 fires in one county, the number of fire engines sent and the cost of the damage were recorded. The scatter graph of the data shows strong positive correlation. A newspaper prints the headline "Sending more fire engines causes more damage". Is the newspaper right? Give a reason for your answer.

15.There are 10,000 pupils in a city. A researcher picks a sample of 500 of them by drawing names at random from a list of every pupil in the city. Give the reason why this method gives a representative sample.