During the first week of class we discussed descriptive statistics versus inferential statistics. For this week's project, you will analyze the Buena Vista School Bus Data using both descriptive and inferential statistics, and you will compare them using the following questions:
The mean maintenance cost of the Buena Vista School District buses is $450.29, with a standard deviation of $53.69. Based on that information (and assuming that the maintenance costs are Normally distributed), use the Normal Distribution to estimate what percentage of school buses cost more than $500 in maintenance. This is an example of inferential statistics, in which you use available data to predict other values. Next, calculate the actual percentage of buses that cost more than $500 in maintenance. This is an example of descriptive statistics, in which you analyze only the available data. How do the inferential and descriptive statistics compare with each other?
The mean number of miles driven is 830.11, with a standard deviation of 42.19 miles. Use that information, just as you did with the maintenance cost, to estimate (inferential statistics) the percentage of buses that travelled more than 900 miles. Next, calculate the actual (descriptive) percentage of buses that travelled more than 900 miles. How do the inferential and descriptive statistics compare with each other?
