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C-35.

Calculator OK The Dallas University Health Center is running a clinical trial comparing two medicines to treat fibromyalgia. They need to compare the ages of the two groups receiving the medicines. The ages follow:

Group 7A:
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Group 7B:
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  1. Use your calculator to make a sketch of the combination histogram and boxplot for each treatment group. Sketch the graphs in your notebook. Compare and contrast the distributions of ages between the two groups, using the center, shape, spread, and outliers of the two groups.

    An example combination histogram and boxplot has been provided.
    The data sets have been reordered from least to greatest for you.

    Group 7A:

    Group 7B:

    Histograms & box plots, for the 2 sets of data, x axis scaled in equal segments by 5, from 25 to 85.  Blue: Histogram, bar heights: 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 1, 3, 2, 2, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0. Box plot: Left whisker: 48 to 53, Box: 53 to 70, with vertical line at 60, Right whisker: 70 to 72. Red: histogram, bar heights: 2, 2, 0, 0, 2, 1, 1, 1 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1. Box plot: Outlier points: 28, 29, 32, 34, 94, whisker: 45 to 51, Box: 51 to 79, with vertical line at 68, Right whisker: 79 to 85.

  1. When reporting the typical age in each group, which is a more appropriate measure of center, the mean or the median? Explain.

    The mean can be heavily affected by outliers.
    Median is not as strongly affected by outliers.
    Which one would more accurately represent the average?