ISP 120 - Quantitative Reasoning
Group Activity 4:  More Percents

All group activities must include a signed statement from each group member that they participated fully in the assignment.

Please do the following at the beginning of every computer activity.

a. Open a new MS Word or OpenOffice Writer document.

b. Click on the "File" on the top menu bar, then go to "Save As".   Give your document a somewhat descriptive name (e.g. "Group Activity 4"). Also save the document to the desktop by setting the "Save in" textbox to "Desktop". (Saving to the desktop makes it easy to retrieve your work when you are finished.)

Activity

1.  Registered Voters:

Open the file RegisteredVoters2000.xls which contains Census Bureau estimates of the percentage of the voting age population who is registered to vote for each state and the percentage of those registered voters who actually voted in the November 2000 election.

  1. Which two states had the highest percentage of registered voters?
  2. Which two states had the highest percentage of  registered voters that actually voted? Which state had the least?
  3. Fill column D with the percentage of the voting population that actually voted. Sort this table to find the states with the smallest voter turnout.  Paste the ten rows of your table that contain the states with the smallest voter turnout.
  4. Using the Thematic Mapping Tool, make a shaded map of the voter turnout (column D) and paste it into your Word/Writer document. In a short well-written paragraph describe the geographic patterns of the map. Make sure you describe where voter turnout is high, describe where it is low, and cite notable outliers.
  5. The United States prides itself as being a model democracy, a country where government "by the people and for the people" really works. Does the data here confirm this view or contradict it?  In a short paragraph that makes reference to the data, give your opinion and your reasons.

2. Poverty: Good News or Bad News?  According to Census Bureau figures, in 1990 13.1% of the U.S. population lived in poverty, while only 12.4% of the population lived in poverty in 2000. Assume populations of 249 million and 281 million in 1990 and 2000, respectively.

    a.  By how many percentage points did the percent below poverty change from 1990 to 2000. In other words, what is the absolute change in the percentages?

    b.  By what percent did the percentage below poverty change from 1990 to 2000.

    c.  Did the actual number of people living in poverty increase or decrease between 1990 and 2000?  Show your work.

    d.  Is the new about poverty good or bad?  Justify your answer.

3. Video Store:

At the local Video Station, you pay a total of $15.50 for a DVD, after tax had been added. Assuming a local sales tax of 7.5%, what is the retail (before-tax) price of the DVD?

 

4. Obesity in American Kids:  A study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (December 12, 2001) reports on obesity American Children. According to the study, the percentage of overweight black and Hispanic children "more than doubled" between 1986 and 1998; the percentage of overweight white children increased by 50%. Specifically, in 1986 the percentage of overweight 4-12-year olds was 8%, 10%, and 8% for black, Hispanic, and white children, respectively. In 1998, the percentages had risen to 22%, 22%, and 12%, respectively. Among the reasons given for the increases were increased television watching, increased us of computers and video games, and more reliance on fast food. The study was based on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which followed a sample of 8270 children from 1986 to 1998.  

    a.  What types of percentages were used in this article:  percent of, percent change, percent more or less than?

    b. The article says that the percentage of overweight black and Hispanic children "more than doubled" between 1986 and 1998.  "Double" represents what percent increase?

    c.  Given the figures in this summary, is it true that  the percentage of overweight white children increased by 50% between 1986 and 1998?   Show calculations to confirm or deny.

    d.  If the percentage of overweight white children increased by 50%, can you conclude that the number of overweight white children increased by 50% between 1986 and 1998?  Why or why not?

    e.  The number of white 4-12 year olds in 1998 was 23 million which is 17 % larger than the number of such children in 1986.  How many white 4-12 year olds were there in 1986? 

    f.  Calculate the number of overweight white children in 1986 and 1998.  What was the percent increase in the number of overweight white children from 1986 to 1998?

    g.  Can the rates of increase in the percentage of the population that is overweight continue indefinitely? Discuss how long these increases could reasonably continue.