Question

At a certain driver's license testing station only 40% of all new drivers pass the behind-the-wheel test the first time they take it. A sample of 50 new drivers from a certain high school found that 18 of them had passed the test the first time. Which of these numbers is a statistic?

At a certain driver's license testing station only 40% of all new drivers pass the behind-the-wheel test the first time they take it. A sample of 50 new drivers from a certain high school found that 36% of them had passed the test the first time. Which of these numbers is a statistic? Which of these numbers is a parameter?

Answer 1

The number 36% is a statistic as it represents a sample of new drivers from the high school, while the 40% is a parameter since it describes the entire population of new drivers at the testing station.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the context of the student's question, a statistic is a numerical measurement describing some characteristic of a sample. The number 36% represents the proportion of new drivers from the high school sample that passed the test, making it a statistic because it describes a sample of 50 new drivers.

A parameter, on the other hand, is a numerical measurement describing some characteristic of a population. The number 40% represents the proportion of all new drivers that pass the behind-the-wheel test at the given testing station, making it a parameter because it describes the larger population of new drivers.