Comparison of Two Sets of Data - Lab Report Example

?COMPARE AND CONTRAST TWO SETS OF DATA Introduction Gross vehicle domestic weight refers to the maximum weight of a vehicle based on the manufacturer’s specification. It normally indicates the combined weights of all elements of a vehicle such as the frame, body, engine, devices, luggage, and passengers. This information is contained in vehicles’ registration documents. Engineering applications have experienced modifications for improvements in potential and efficiency of devices through change in technology and developments in innovation. This has led to an increasing trend in gross vehicle domestic weights (Faber, 350). Motor vehicles falls within this category and has experienced a positively changing trend in gross weight. Statistical applications that offer ground for comparing and contrasting records of motor vehicle weights over periods can be used to investigate existence of change in trend of gross weights. This paper seeks to investigate existing data of gross weights for trucks. The paper will consider a set of data of gross motor vehicle domestic weights from the year 2002 and another set of weights from the year 2004 with the aim of comparing and contrasting the weights as were recorded during the two periods. Methods This report applied information from a secondary source for its investigation. The collected data was then subjected to statistical analysis using excel from which cumulative were developed. Further, histograms were developed to facilitate analysis of the two sets of data. Results and discussion The following excel spreadsheet was obtained to summarize the distribution of the gross vehicle weights as recorded in the year 2002. Frequency distribution table for the year 2002 Bin Frequency % 120 Kips 0 0.0% 42075 Similarly, the following table summarizes the data as was reported in the year 2004 Frequency distribution table for the year 2004 Bin Frequency % 120 Kips 13 0.0% In order to gain a clearer insight into the two sets of data, histograms were developed as shown bellow, Histogram for the year 2002 Histogram for the year 2004 Combined results tor the two period were also calculated as shown bellow Frequency distribution table for the year 2002 and the year 2004 Bin 2002 2004 120 Kips 0.0% 0.0% Stacked histogram for the years 2002 and 2004 Combination of statistics from the two periods of time allows for easier analysis into identifying similarities and differences between the two sets of data. A review of the combined frequency distribution table, for example, identifies a comparative trend in the weights of the vehicles between the intervals from less that 20 kipps upto 69.9 kipps. Though the paired frequensies within this range varies across the two years, the differences are significantly small, falling within a one percent disparity. A difference is however observed beyond 70 kipps at which frequencies reported in the year 2004 are significantly higher than the frequencies reported in the year 2002. This observation is clearly identified from the stacked histogram that identifies higher percentage frequencies in the year 2002 for values lower than 70 kipps. The percentage frequencies in 2002 however goes bellow those in the year 2004 for the intervals that falls above 70 kipps. The similarity in trend of the reported data for the intervals that falls bellow 70 kipps indicates that the percentage distribution in demand, and hence production and use of vehicles whose weights fall within this range did not significantly change over the period. It also indicates that the manufacturers have almost retained their production mix for vehicle brands that falls within this range. The difference as obsered in intervals beyond 70 kipps weight on the other hand indicates introduction of heavier vehicles in to the market after the yeat 2002. It also shows that consumers, by propotions, have increased their demand for the heavier vehicles since the commparative percecentage frequencies beyond the 70 kipps mark are higher in in the year 2004 than the corresponding percentage frequencies reported in the year 2002. The two distributions however converge to a similar, almost normally distributed, trend with highest propotion of vehicles falling within the interval from 70 kipps to 79.9 kipps. Conclusion The similarity in trend of percentage frequency of weights shows that preference and demand that stimulates availability of trucks in the market have significantly remained the same, especially for vehicles whose weights lie bellow 70 kipps. The change in trend after the 70 kipps mark on the other hand indicates changes into introduction of heavier trucks in the market. This can be attributed to technological advancement that continues to generate new products for consumer’s needs. The paper therefore concludes that while the trend in existance of previously low capacity vehicles remains fairly constant, by propotion, the market continues to develop vehicles with higher gross domestic weights. Works cited Faber, Michael. Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering. London, UK: CRC Press, 2011. Print Read More