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How does a defensive lineman weighing 321 pounds affect the mean weight of the football team?

a) It increases the mean
b) It decreases the mean
c) It has no effect on the mean
d) It depends on other player weights

1 Answer

4 votes

Final answer:

The effect of a defensive lineman weighing 321 pounds on the mean weight of a football team depends on the team's existing mean weight. Option B is correct.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a defensive lineman weighing 321 pounds joins a football team, the effect on the mean weight of the team depends on the existing mean weight of the team before he joined. If the defensive lineman's weight is higher than the current mean weight of the team, he will increase the mean. If his weight is less than the current mean weight, he would decrease the mean. However, without additional data, we cannot determine the exact effect on the team's mean weight.

Considering the California quarterback who weighed 205 pounds and the fact that the mean weight for the Texas football team was 240.08 pounds with a standard deviation of 44.38 pounds, we can calculate how many standard deviations away the quarterback's weight is from the mean to evaluate his comparative weight. The formula to calculate the z-score is (player's weight - mean weight) / standard deviation. For the California quarterback: (205 - 240.08) / 44.38 = -0.791, which means he is approximately 0.791 standard deviations below the mean.

Comparatively, a player from the Texas football team weighed 209 pounds. Using the z-score formula for this player: (209 - 240.08) / 44.38 = -0.701, which is approximately 0.701 standard deviations below the mean of the Texas team. Since the z-score of the California quarterback is farther from the mean than the Texas player, the California quarterback is comparatively lighter with respect to their respective team averages.

To determine who was lighter between the California quarterback and the Texas player, z-scores were calculated: -0.791 for the quarterback, -0.701 for the Texas player, indicating the quarterback was lighter relative to his team.

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