Question: 2

Question

Polly and Sergei are working on a project to explain how the rise in oil prices is leading to a rise in lunch prices at their school.

Polly wants to have a chart showing the oil prices every day over the past 18 months and a different chart showing the lunch prices every day over the past 18 months. Sergei argues that having two separate charts won’t show the relationship between oil prices and lunch prices. He also thinks that the charts are showing too many data points. Instead, he wants to use a program to make a chart that shows both the oil prices and the lunch prices on the same chart. In addition, rather than plotting the prices for every day, he only wants to chart the average monthly prices for oil and lunch.

Why would Sergei’s approach make it easier for other people to analyze the data than Polly’s approach?

Sergei’s chart would be much smaller than Polly’s chart, so people wouldn’t be overloaded with visual information.

It is always better to put all of the data you want to analyze on the same chart.

Polly’s presentation is more likely to be misunderstood because it uses two charts.

By transforming and summarizing the available data, Serge’s chart would more effective in showing any trends that may have occurred.

Answer 1

Sergei’s approach would make it easier for other people to analyze the data because:

By transforming and summarizing the available data, Sergei's chart would be more effective in showing any trends that may have occurred.

This method simplifies the information by reducing the number of data points and focusing on average monthly prices, which helps to highlight any correlations or trends between oil prices and lunch prices over time. This clear and concise representation can make it easier for viewers to understand the relationship between the two variables without being overwhelmed by excessive detail.