Myth busters with Excel
Name ____________
Period ___________
Instructions
1. For each part of this assignment, use the spreadsheet available at
www.StudyOffice.org to analyze data.
2. Most answers below will require a properly labeled chart. You can copy the chart
from Excel to this document.
Be sure that every chart in this assignment includes the following five items.
1) The correct columns of data points (blue diamonds)
2) A title
3) Axis labels
4) A trend line
5) The Rˆ2 value
Weight (kg)
Weight
90
85
R² = 0.8851
80
75
70
130
140
150
Height
160
170
3. Answers should be in complete sentences. Short paragraphs may be necessary to
fully explain your answers.
Part 1 - Understanding Correlation
1. Copy the table and chart you created in the introduction.
2. Which of these sets of data are likely highly correlated? Write “correlated” or
“not”.
_________________ Height and weight
_________________ Age and probability of having heart disease
_________________ Years of schooling and annual income
_________________ Number of pets and income
_________________ Age of car and number of people in family
_________________ Weight of lunch bag and number of calories in the lunch
_________________ Number of branches on a Saguaro cactus and the age of the cactus
_________________ Size of the desk and the GPA of a student
_________________ Number of friends on Facebook and the age of a person
_________________ Typing speed (WPM) and graduation year
_________________ Crime rate and poverty rate
_________________ Money spent per pupil and graduation rate
_________________ Income and years of education
_________________ Vaccination and autism
Correlation doesn’t always mean causation!
3. It can be proved that shoe size is correlated with reading ability. Therefore
we should buy bigger shoes for Kindergarten students. Shoes probably
are not the real factor. What is the real factor that affects reading level?
4. A recent study showed that sale of ice cream cones was strongly correlated to
the number of deaths by drowning. Does eating ice cream increase your risk
of drowning? If not, what reasonable explanation could you give for the
correlation of ice cream sales with drowning accidents?
Part 2
Collect data in your group
1. Measure each person in your group in cm - height, handwidth, and shoe size.
2. Enter the data on this spreadsheet.
3. Create three scatter plot charts. Add a trendline and R value on each chart.
- Chart 1 - plot length of name and height.
- Chart 2 - plot the hand width and height.
- Chart 3 - plot the shoe size and height
Question:
Which of these three factors (name length, hand width and shoe size) is the most
closely correlated with the person's height? Give evidence for your answer from the
graphs.
Part 3 - What causes people to buy ice cream?
The Question: Which factor is more closely related to ice cream sales?
The experiment: Ice cream consumption was measured over 30 four-week periods
from March 18, 1951 to July 11, 1953. The purpose of the study was to determine if
ice cream consumption depends on the variables price, income, or temperature.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions
1. What is the correlation between the price of ice cream and sales?
2. What is the correlation between the income of people and ice cream sales?
3. What is the correlation between the temperature and ice cream sales?
Part 4 - Should you tailgate behind a truck to save gas?
The Question: Does following close behind a truck save gas?
The experiment: It is believed that following close behind a truck can improve gas
milage on a car. The team at the Mythbusters TV show setup an experiment to test
this theory. Use their data to make a graph and test the correlation between
distance and milage.
You can watch the test at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lttgT1XZVvE
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions
1. Create a formula in column C to answer this question: What is the improvement in
MPG from no truck (200 feet) to 10 feet away from the truck?
2. Create a formula in column D to answer this question: What is the improvement
in % gain? hint: percent gain = difference / original
3. Create a scatter plot of the data. What is the correlation (R value) between the
following distance and gas milage?
4. Create a formula in column "e" for this question. If you traveled 100 miles while
tailgating, how many gallons of gas would you consume?
5. If you traveled 100 miles while NOT tailgating, how many gallons of gas would
you consume?
6. How much money would you save on a 100 mile trip if you tailgated?
Part 5 - Is a person's height related to their voice?
The Question: Do short people sing higher?
The experiment: Each singer in the NY Choral Society in 1979 self-reported his or
her height to the nearest inch. Their voice parts in order from highest pitch to
lowest pitch are Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass. The first two are typically sung by
female voices and the last two by male voices.
One can examine how height varies across voice range, or make comparisons of
sopranos and altos and separate comparisons of tenors and basses.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions
1. What is the average height for each of the four singing groups? (insert a new row
in Row #9 and put the average for the column there)
2. Create a line graph that compares the average height in each group. Add a trend
line. What is the correlation between height at voice category?
Part 6 - How to Get Smarter
The Question: What is the best way to improve a test score, study alone, with a
tutor or eat breakfast?
The experiment: A school gave a standard IQ test to their students at the
beginning of the year. Later, a group of students took a 100 point math test. Each
person tried to improve his/her score through studying alone, going to a tutor and
eating breakfast some of the days between the tests.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions.
1. Create a formula in column H to calculate the points gained for every student.
Hint: Gained = final score - pretest score
2. How much of a correlation is there between the person's IQ and the pretest?
(create a chart with a regression line to answer)
3. How much of an effect does studying have on raising the final score? (create a
chart with a regression line to answer)
4. How much of an effect does going to a tutor have on raising the final score?
(create a chart with a regression line to answer)
5. How much of an effect does eating breakfast have on raising the final score?
(create a chart with a regression line to answer)
5. Under Chart Layout choose Axis Titles to add an X and Y label.
Part 7 - How to Run Faster
The Question: What is the best way to improve your running time?
The experiment: A group of students ran two laps (1/2 mile) on a track. Each
person tried to improve his/her time through running, weight lifting and taking
vitimian pills. A second running trial was timed.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions?
1. Create a formula in column H to calculate the seconds gained for every student.
Hint: Gained = Starting Time - Final Time
2. How much of an effect does running extra hours help or hurt a person's final
time? (create a chart with a regression line to answer)
3. How much of an effect does lifting weights help or hurt a person's final time?
(create a chart with a regression line to answer)
4. How much of an effect does taking vitimian pills help or hurt a person's final time?
(create a chart with a regression line to answer)
Part 8 - Do firemen cause damage?
The Question: Is there more damage done (measured in dollars of property
damage) the more firemen show up to a fire?
The experiment: Data from 24 fires shows the amount of damage done, the number
of firemen who were called to the scene, the distance the fire was from the nearest
firestation, the size of the building (square feet) and the number of floors of the
building.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions
Create several scatter plot graphs to compre the amount of damage (column b) with
the other data in the table.
1. Is there a correlation between the number of firemen and the amount of damage
done at the fire? Do firemen cause damage?
2. Is the distance from the fire station correlated to the amount of damage done?
3. How much is the size of the building correlated to damage costs?
4. How much is the number of floors correlated to damage costs?
Part 9 - How to Grow Longer Hair
The Question: Does a new hair growth tonic work faster than normal hair growth?
The experiment: A group of students did a one month trial of a hair growth
formula. Each day half of the students washed their hair using the tonic. The other
half washed using their regular shampoo.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions?
1. How many inches did the average hair length grow using the tonic?
2. What percent increase did the average hair length grow using the tonic?
3. How many inches did the average hair length grow WITHOUT using the tonic?
4. What percent increase did the average hair length grow WITHOUT using the
tonic?
5. How much of an effect does the hair tonic have (if any)?
Part 10 - Does filling a football with helium help you kick it farther?
The Question: If a football is filled with helium instead of normal air, does it travel
farther when punted?
The experiment: Two identical footballs, one air-filled and one helium-filled, were
used outdoors on a windless day at The Ohio State University's athletic complex.
Each football was kicked 39 times and the two footballs were alternated with each
kick. The experimenter recorded the distance traveled by each ball.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions?
1. How many yards did the air-filled football travel on the average punt?
2. How many yards did the helium-filled football travel on the average punt?
3. How much of an effect does the helium have (if any)?
Part 11 - What makes a baby crawl early?
The Question: Does the weather affect how early you learned to crawl?
The experiment: Researches observed the age at which 414 babies learned to
crawl. The researchers wanted to know whether the age at which a baby first
crawls is related to the weather.
The file contains summary data including the number of infants born during each
month, the mean and standard deviation of their crawling ages, and the average
monthly temperature six months after the birth month.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions
1. What effect does the temperature six months after birth have on learning to
crawl?
Part 12 - Does a high-altitude stadium help athletes perform better?
The Question: If a football is filled with helium instead of normal air, does it travel
farther when punted?
The experiment: From 1896 to 1984, we recorded the statistics for Gold Medal
performance in several Track and Field events. The gold medal performance in the
men's long jump, shot put, and high jump (measured in inches) for the modern
Olympic series starting in 1900.
It has been suggested that the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 saw unusually good
track and field performances, possibly because of the high altitude.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions
1. What is the trend of gold-medal performances? By how much do althetes improve
between Olympic games?
2. How much better than expected were the results for 1968 in Mexico City?
3. If the Olympic gold medalist (Los Angeles, CA) in 1984 competed in Mexico City,
what would you predict the winning long jump to be?
Part 13 - Is there such thing as a MegaMind person?
The Question: Do smart people have bigger brains?
The experiment: Are the size and weight of your brain indicators of your mental
capacity? How do you measure the size of brain? In this study by Willerman (1991)
the researchers use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to determine the brain size
of the subjects.
The MRI Scans were performed at the same facility for all 40 subjects. The scans
consisted of 18 horizontal MR images. The computer counted all pixels with nonzero gray scale in each of the 18 images and the total count served as an index for
brain size.
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions
1. The people all took three IQ tests. What is the average score for each person on
the three tests (column e)?
2. What is the ratio of brain to weight (column i) for each person?
3. What is the ratio of brain to height (column j) for each person?
4. Why is it important to find the brain/body ratio rather than just measure the size
of the brain and compare it to IQ scores?
5. Create a scatter plot graph that compares the brain/body ratio to the IQ test
results. Does a bigger brain mean you are more likely to be smarter?
6. Did Einstein have a huge brain? To answer this question look here
http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/was-einstein-brain-ever-different
Part 14 - Does smoking cause cancer?
The Question: How much of an effect does smoking cause on cancer deaths?
The experiment: In the 1960's medical research had not yet determined whether
or not smoking was killing people.
The data collected here is from cigarette sales (hundreds per person) and cancer
deaths (deaths per 100,000 people) for bladder cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer
and leukemia (cancer of the blood cells). Two states, Nevada and Washington DC,
are considered "outliers". That is, their data does not fit in with existing trends. You
can delete these from the data table to get more accurate results.
The explanation for the outliers is that cigarettte sale are increased by tourism
(Nevada)
and tourism and commuting workers (District of Columbia).
The assignment: Using the graphing tools of Excel, answer the following questions
1. What effect does smoking have on bladder cancer?
2. What effect does smoking have on lung cancer?
3. What effect does smoking have on kidney cancer?
4. What effect does smoking have on leukemia cancer?