Question from 2012 Neap exam

[chikka]

This is probably the easiest question ever but I still got it wrong! Maybe I'm just tired from english today, but I swear that the solutions are wrong!

It says:
The number of computers in the home of 30 class members is recorded. The best way to display this data would be a:
A. stem and leaf plot
B. box plot
C. scatter plot
D. frequency diagram
E histogram

The solutions say that:
The data is categorical and a frequency table is the best way to display it.

Doesn't 'the number of' usually indicate numerical...I think I'm missing the point somewhere :|

[Stick]

Hmm... that is weird. The number of computers in the home of 30 class members is discrete numerical data under normal circumstances, but this question must treat is as categorical (which is possible, you could have "none", "one" and "more than one" as categories). Well, let's break down each choice:

A: Incorrect. Realistically, you'd be dealing with single digit integers so this display of data would be inappropriate.
B: Possible, but doesn't take the discrete nature of the data into account. I'd imagine the range would also be quite small.
C: Incorrect. The data is univariate.
D: Possible, if we consider the data to be categorical.
E: Possible, but again doesn't really take the discrete nature of the data into account.

Personally, I probably would have selected E, but D does fit best if we knew the data was categorical. VCAA usually makes these sort of questions a bit more obvious, so don't stress.

[StumbleBum]

This is a pretty ambiguous question IMO, but I'm assuming their take on it is that people wouldn't own more than say three computers. Therefor, the number of computers can be treated as categorical as it will only be the categories one, two and three.

With that being said, I personally think that's the wrong interpretation and I would have gone with histogram. Also VCAA wouldn't be as vague with their wording.

[chikka]

Thanks guys!