Standard Deviation of the Cigarette Activity

In this activity, you will be calculating the standard deviation of different ingredients present in cigarettes. The data is a collection of statistics published by the manufacturers of each product and describes the tar, nicotine, and carbon dioxide content in each brand of cigarette. Using either Excel or the TI-83 graphing calculator, calculate the standard deviation and the range for both the tar and nicotine data columns.

This data exists in three files; one is in Excel Data format, one is in Text format, and one is in TI-83 Group file format. If you want to calculate the standard deviation using the TI-83, you will have to import the text data into the calculator from the computer after you have downloaded the file.

Which, of the tar and nicotine, has the smaller standard deviation? What is the range for the tar? ... the nicotine? Which data set, the tar or the nicotine, has data points that tend to cluster more around its mean?

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