BUSINESS STATISTICS

QUESTION ONE [25 MARKS]

  • Although millions of elephants once roamed across Africa, by the mid-1980s elephant populations in African nations had been devastated by poaching. Elephants are important to African ecosystems. In tropical forests, elephants create clearings in the canopy that encourage new tree growth. In savannas, elephants reduce bush cover to create an environment that is favorable to browsing and grazing animals. In addition, the seeds of many plant species depend on passing through an elephant’s digestive tract before germination.

The status of the elephant now varies greatly across the continent; in some nations, strong measures have been taken to effectively protect elephant populations, while in other nations the elephant populations remain in danger due to poaching for meat and ivory, loss of habitat, and conflict with humans. The table below shows elephant populations for several African nations in 1979, 1989, and 2007.

       Required:

  • The mean annual change in elephant population for each country in the 10 years from 1979 to 1989, and a discussion of which countries saw the largest changes in elephant population over this 10-year period.                                                [3 marks]
  • The mean annual change in elephant population for each country from 1989 to 2007, and a discussion of which countries saw the largest changes in elephant population over this 18-year period.                                                          [3 marks]
  •  A comparison of your results from parts 1 and 2, and a discussion of the conclusions you can draw from this comparison.                                     [4 marks]
  • When Nike introduced its glow-in-the-dark Foamposite One Galaxy sneakers, fanatics lined up at distributors around the country. As crowds became restless, jockeying for position at the front of increasingly long lines for the limited-supply shoes, Footlocker cancelled some events. It’s been suggested that Nike should sell its limited-release introductions online rather than in stores to avoid putting its customer’s safety in jeopardy. Explain clearly the sample procedure you would suggest Nike use to assess this suggestion?                                              [5 marks]
  • Discuss the importance of Consumer Price Index in Business.                [5 marks]
  • The closing prices of Kakuzi stock, adjusted for splits and dividends, for the final trading days of December 2014-2018 are given in the following table. The consumer price index (CPI) for December of each year is also given. Deflate the stock price series and comment on the financial performance of Kakuzi stock. [5 marks]
YearPrice (Sh.)CPI
201418.73209.3
201518.24232.1
201621.80233.3
201743.30242.8
201854,70244.3

QUESTION TWO [25 MARKS]

  • A study is made by the recording industry in the United States of the number of music CDs owned by 25 senior citizens and 30 young adults. The information is reported below.
  • Find the median and the first and third quartiles for the number of CDs owned by senior citizens. Construct a box plot for the information.   [4 marks]
  •  Find the median and the first and third quartiles for the number of CDs owned by young adults. Construct a box plot for the information.   [4 marks]
  •  Compare the number of CDs owned by the two groups.                [2 marks]
  • Pfizer, Inc., a major U.S. pharmaceutical company, is developing a new drug aimed at reducing the pain associated with migraine headaches. Two drugs are currently under development. One consideration in the evaluation of the medication is how long the painkilling effects of the drugs last. A random sample of 12 tests for each drug revealed the following times (in minutes) until the effects of the drug were neutralized. The random samples are as follows:
  • Calculate the mean and standard deviation for each of the two drugs. [3 marks]
  • Based on the sample means calculated in part (i), which drug appears to be effective longer? Explain [2 marks]
  •  Based on the sample standard deviations calculated in part (i), which drug appears to have the greater variability in effect time? Explain [2 marks]
  •  Calculate the sample coefficient of variation for the two drugs. Based on the coefficient of variation, which drug has the greater variability in its time until the effect is neutralized? Explain [2 marks]
  • Suppose a quality manager for Dell Computers has collected the following data on the quality status of disk drives by supplier. She inspected a total of 700 disk drives.
  • Based on these inspection data, what is the probability of randomly selecting a disk drive from company B?                                         [2 marks]
  • What is the probability of a defective disk drive being received by the computer company?                                                                        [2 marks]

What is the probability of a defect given that company B supplied the disk drive?                                                                                               [2 marks]

representative of a reputable financial services company has approached you as manager of a four-person group of anesthesiologists with an opportunity to purchase a 10-year annuity due for each member of the group. The annuity due would pay $40,000 each year beginning 5 years from now (i.e., at time = 5). What is the most you would be willing to pay now, per each physician, for this investment? Assume an appropriate discount rate of 7%.

· 13-2The hospital’s marketing and finance departments have just provided you, as chief financial officer, with pro forma income statements for your proposed sonogram center. These statements appear in the following.

Pro forma Income Statement

(000)

Timet+ 1t+ 2t+ 3t+ 4
Service Revenues (net)$425$500$580$700
Expenses$400$450$525$600
Depreciation Expense$ 35$ 35$ 35$ 35
Net Income($ 10)$ 15$ 20$ 65

What is the project’s IRR? Assume an initial investment of $175,000 and an appropriate discount rate of 6%. The hospital is operated as a not-for-profit facility.

· 13-3The chief operating officer (COO) of a small, not-for-profit community hospital has to make a recommendation to the board of trustees on choosing among three project options for an unrestricted gift of $250,000 that has just been received. The board has established a time horizon of 5 years on this project. The options are described in the following.

o a. Purchase a 5-year treasury note at an interest rate (annual) of 7%.

o b. Purchase the practice of a young physician (the hospital’s third highest admitter). Estimates of projected cash flows for the practice (post-purchase), are:

Probability of Cash Flow

Time60%20%20%
t+ 1$ 40,000$20,000$ 60,000
t+ 2$ 60,000$30,000$ 80,000
t+ 3$ 75,000$40,000$100,000
t+ 4$100,000$50,000$125,000
t+ 5$100,000$50,000$125,000

o c. Purchase an upgraded analyser for the laboratory. Based on forecasts of laboratory utilization, the net cash flows for this project are:

TimeNet Cash Flow
t+ 1$75,000
t+ 2$75,000
t+ 3$50,000
t+ 4$50,000
t+ 5$50,000

o Which investment should the COO recommend and why?

· 13-4What are some of the factors that can influence the riskiness of projects (investments) in healthcare organizations?

1. How do we control whether a load applied to a face is in the outward or inward direction?

2. Define degrees of freedom (DOF).

3. How do we end the Inventor Stress Analysis Module and return to the model in Autodesk Inventor?

1. Describe the required steps in performing a stress analysis using Inventor Stress Analysis Environment.

2. Describe two ways the material properties can be defined or edited.

3. What is meant by the term Constraints in Inventor Stress Analysis Module?

1. Describe the steps involved in using the Inventor Contact Solver

2. Can we perform a constrained move on fully constrained components?

3. Can Autodesk Inventor calculate the center of gravity of an assembly model? How do you activate this option?

4. When and why would you use the Collision Detection option available in Autodesk Inventor?

1. Can we edit the AutoCAD DWG entities that are in AutoCAD Layout under Autodesk Inventor?

2. List and describe three commands available in the Drawing Review panel.

3. What does the Contact Solver allow us to do?

1. What information is available through the Interference Analysis in Autodesk Inventor?

2. Can we control the speed of the simulation in Autodesk Inventor? How?