Chapter 2: Graphs, Charts, and Tables--Describing Your Data

CHAPTER 2 • GRAPHS, CHARTS, AND TABLES—DESCRIBING YOUR DATA 79
between the independent and dependent variables
by deleting the data point with the smallest
x-value. What appears to be the relationship
between the dependent and independent variables?
2-50. The district manager for a corporation has collected
the following data on annual sales and the
years of experience of members of his sales staff:
Sales $K: 200 191 135 236 305 183 50 192 184 73
Years: 10 4 5 9 12 6 2 7 6 2
a. Construct a scatter plot representing these data.
b. Determine the kind of relationship that exists
(if any) between years of experience and
sales.
c. Approximate the increase in sales that accrues
with each additional year of experience for a
member of the salesforce.
Business Applications
2-51. In July 2005, Greg Sandoval of the Associated
Press authored a study of the video game
industry that focused on the efforts of the
industry to interest women in the games.
In that study, he cited another report by the
Entertainments Software Association that
indicated the percentage of women who play
video games in 2004 was 43% while only
12.5% of the software developers were female.
Sandoval also presented the following data
showing the U.S. computer/video game
sales:
Year
Sales (Billions)
1996 $3.80
1997 $4.30
1998 $5.70
1999 $6.10
2000 $6.00
2001 $6.30
2002 $6.95
2003 $7.00
2004 $7.30
Construct a line chart showing these
computer/video game sales data. Write a short
statement describing the graph.
2-52. Recent changes in the U.S. federal tax code have
increased the popularity of dividend-paying stocks
for some investors. Shown here are the diluted net
earnings per common share and the dividends per
common share for the Procter & Gamble Company
for the years 1996–2005. (Source: 2005 P&G
Annual Report.)
Diluted Net Earnings Dividends per
Year per Common Share Common Share
1996 $1.00 $0.40
1997 $1.14 $0.45
1998 $1.28 $0.51
1999 $1.29 $0.57
2000 $1.23 $0.64
2001 $1.03 $0.70
2002 $1.54 $0.76
2003 $1.85 $0.82
2004 $2.32 $0.93
2005 $2.66 $1.03
a. Construct a line chart of diluted net earnings
per common share for the years 1996–2005.
b. Construct a line chart of dividends per common
share for the years 1996–2005.
c. Construct a chart that can be used to determine
whether there is a relationship between the two
variables for the years 1996–2005. What relationship,
if any, appears to exist between the
two variables?
2-53. Amazon.com celebrated its 10th anniversary in
July 2005. Its growth can be seen by examining its
increasing sales volume (in $billions) as reported
by Hoovers Inc.
Sales 0.0005 0.0157 0.1477 0.6098 1.6398
Year 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Sales 2.7619 3.1229 3.9329 5.2637 6.9211
Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
a. Construct a line plot for Amazon’s sales.
b. Describe the type of relationship that exists
between the years in business and Amazon’s
sales volume.
c. In which year does it appear that Amazon had
the sharpest increase in sales?
2-54. Business Week (Reed, Stanley, et al., “Open Season on
Big Oil,” September 26, 2005) reported on data provided
by A. G. Edwards & Sons concerning the profits
($billions) for 10 of the largest integrated oil and
gas companies over the period from 1999 to 2005.
Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Profit 33.3 62.5 58.3 41.7 66.7 91.7 118.0