Question

He dot plots show the number of hours a group of fifth graders and seventh graders spent playing outdoors over a one-week period.

Time Spent Playing Outdoors
for Fifth Graders and Seventh Graders
2 dot plots with number lines going from 0 to 10. A dot plot titled fifth grade has 0 dots above 0, 2 above 1, 3 above 2, 1 above 3, 4 above 4, 5 above 5, 5 above 6, 2 above 7, 2 above 8, and 0 and 9 and 10. A dot plot titled seventh grade has 2 dots above 0, 2 above 1, 3 above 2, 5 above 3, 5 above 4, 3 above 5, 3 above 6, 1 above 7, and 0 above 8, 9, and 10.

Which statement correctly compares the shape of the data in the plots?
Both sets of data have a peak at 5 hours and 6 hours.
The left side of the data looks similar to the right side in the seventh-grade data, but not in the fifth-grade data.
In both sets, the data cluster around 3 hours.
There is a gap in the fifth-grade data, but not in the seventh-grade data.

Answer 1

b

Explanation:

Answer 2

The left side of the data looks similar to the right side in the seventh-grade data, but not in the fifth-grade data.

Explanation:

In the seventh-grade data, we can split dots into two equal groups, one from 0 to 3 and the other one from 4 to 7. In the first group the dot distribution is {2, 2, 3, 5}. In the second group the dot distribution is {5, 3, 3, 1}. Then, the left side looks similar to the right side (they are symmetrical).

If we perform a similar division between dots for fifth-graders data, we obtain one group, from 1 to 4, which dot distribution is {2, 3, 1, 4}; and another group, from 5 to 8, which dot distribution is {5, 5, 2, 2}. Then, the left side doesn't look similar to the right side (they aren't symmetrical).