In this assignment we compute two measures of location (the mean and median) and to measures of dispersion (the standard deviation and interquartile range) using data on vehicle characteristics compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to estimate fuel efficiency.
Each of the datasets on the EPA website is a comma delimited (.csv) file that contains many columns of data.
You will be assigned a particular dataset and column to use.
Then use MINITAB to generate a frequency histogram.
=AVERAGE(B:B) for the average of column B or =QUARTILE(C:C,3) for the third quartile of column C.
You can compute the interquartile range with a spreadsheet by subtracting the first quartile from the third.
For MINITAB, you can download the file to your Desktop area and use the OPEN WORKSHEET function of the FILE pulldown menu to open the comma delimited file.
| Name | MPG Data Set | Column Name |
| Adam_S | 2008 | mpg (miles per gallon) |
| Amanda_S | 2008 | etw (vehicle weight) |
| Andrew_B | 2008 | rhp (horsepower) |
| Caitlin_C | 2007 | cid (cubic inches displacement) |
| Caitlin_R | 2007 | rhp (horsepower) |
| Casey_G | 2007 | mpg (miles per gallon) |
| Christina_S | 2006 | RATED HP (horsepower) |
| Christina_W | 2006 | DESIGN ETW (vehicle weight) |
| Erin_G | 2006 | NUM_CYL (number of cylinders) |
| Gregory_S | 2005 | rhp (horsepower) |
| Ian_D | 2005 | mpg (miles per gallon) |
| Janelle_D | 2005 | etw (vehicle weight) |
| Jessie_M | 2004 | cid (cubic inches displacement) |
| Justin_S | 2004 | rhp (horsepower) |
| Khalid_A | 2004 | mpg (miles per gallon) |
| Lauren_B | 2003 | rhp (horsepower) |
| Lauren_S | 2003 | etw (vehicle weight) |
| Margaux_F | 2003 | mpg (miles per gallon) |
| Nicholas_P | 2002 | rhp (horsepower) |
| Patrick_M | 2002 | etw (vehicle weight) |
| Patrick_O | 2002 | mpg (miles per gallon) |
| Rebecca_W | 2001 | cid (cubic inches displacement) |
| Sanjay_M | 2001 | etw (vehicle weight) |
| Terrell_C | 2001 | mpg (miles per gallon) |
| Thomas_S | 2000 | mpg (miles per gallon) |
See the Histogram HowTo page for help with MINITAB histograms.