Question

Many people say the civil justice system is overburdened. Many cases center on suits involving businesses. The following data are based on a Wall Street Journal report. Researchers conducted a study of lawsuits involving 1908 businesses ranked in the Fortune 1000 over a 20-year period. They found the following distribution of civil justice caseloads brought before the federal courts involving the businesses. Note: Contracts cases involve disputes over contracts between businesses. Case Type Number of Filings (in thousands) Contracts General torts (personal injury) Asbestos liability Other product liability All other 107 191 49 38 21

(a) Make a Pareto chart of the caseloads. Maple Generated Plot Maple Generated Plot Maple Generated Plot Maple Generated Plot Which type of cases occur most frequently? contracts other product liability general torts asbestos liability all other
(b) Make a pie chart showing the percentage of cases of each type. Maple Generated Plot Maple Generated Plot Maple Generated Plot Maple Generated Plot . . .

Answer 1

Explanation:

a) Pareto charts are column charts showing frequency for each category, plus a line chart showing the cummulative values for all categories. They usually start with the most frequent category first, which is general torts in your case.so the first column will be

General torts: column at a height of 191, line point at 191.

next is,

Contracts: column at a height of 107, line point at 191 + 107 = 298.

next is,

Asbestos liability: column at a height of 49, line point at 191 + 107 + 49 = 347

next is,

Other product liability: column at a height of 38, line point at 191 + 107 + 49 + 38 = 385

next is,

All other: column at a height of 21, line point at 191 + 107 + 49 + 38 + 21 = 406

b) A pie chart is a circle divided into webges based on the portion that each category contributes to the total. In your case, the total number of suits is:

107 + 191 + 49 + 38 + 21 = 406

so the first category , Contracts represents 107 / 406 of the total cases,

107 / 406 = 26.4%

you can convert this to an angle of the wedge by applying the same percentage to the number of degrees in a circle, 3600.

26.4% * 3600 = 95.00.

so the wedge for contract would be labeled 26.4%, and the wedge makes an angle of 95.00.

Like wise,

for General torts, the wedge would be labeled as 191 / 406 = 47.0%

and the wedge makes an angle of 47.0% * 3600 = 169.20.

for Asbestos liability, the wedge would be labeled as 49 / 406 = 12.1%

and the wedge makes an angle of 12.1% * 3600 = 43.60.

for Other product liability, the wedge would be labeled as 38 / 406 = 9.4%

and the wedge makes an angle of 9.4% * 3600 = 33.80.

for All other, the wedge would be labeled as 21 / 406 = 5.2%

and the wedge makes an angle of 5.2% * 3600 = 18.70.