Mean, Median, Descriptive Statistics, and Graphs
[16/0%]Morningstar and other Internet web sites have data on the total returns (dividends plus capital gains) for mutual funds in various fund categories (e.g., US Equity Small Value). Pick a category within US Equity Funds and select a horizon (e.g., 5 years). Summarize your data with a box plot and histogram, and compare the mean and median returns for the funds in your sample to the return for the SP 500 index that year. (Make sure that your SP 500 return is not just the change in the SP, but the SP total return, dividends plus capital gains.) Also calculate the fractions of your sample that are within one and two standard deviations of the mean return for your data.
Go to a local grocery store and collect these data for at least 50 breakfast cereals: cereal name; grams of sugar per serving; and shelf location (bottom, middle, or top). Group the data by shelf location and use three box plots to compare the sugar content by shelf location.
At a local grocery store, identify two categories of chips (e.g., potato chips and tortilla chips) and, in each category, find the grams of fat and the milligrams of sodium per serving on the nutritional labels of at least ten different varieties. (Do not include any low-fat or low-salt brands.) Use two box plots to compare the fat in these two categories; do the same with the sodium data.
Go to a local grocery store and collect data for at least 20 different soups from each of two major soup makers; for example, Campbell's and Progresso. For each of these soups, record the per-serving amounts of calories, fat, and sodium. Summarize these data.
Display some interesting data from the most recent US News World Report college rankings (or a similar source); for example, the distribution of resources/spending per student.
Summarize and display some cross-section or time series data on deaths due to COVID-19.
The real interest rate is (approximately) equal to the nominal (dollar) interest rate minus the rate of inflation. Some people argue that inflation and the interest rates on Treasury bonds move up and down together so that real interest rates are constant. Summarize and display some data that might shed light on this assertion. (One data source is https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)
Some people argue that the real inflation-adjusted interest rates on Treasury bonds are constant. The returns from Treasury InflationProtected Securities, or TIPS, are adjusted for inflation so that the quoted interest rates are real interest rates. Summarize and display some TIPS data that might indicate whether real interest rates are constant. (One data source is https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)
Summarize and display data on the calories, fat, and salt equivalent in a McDonald's Big Mac in at least 20 countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Japan, Israel, and Turkey.
Summarize and display data on the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the United Kingdom since 1855. (One data source is https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)
Summarize and display data on consol (long-term bond) yields in the United Kingdom since 1753. (One data source is https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)
Summarize and display data on the monthly percentage changes in the Share Price Index (weighted by market capitalization) in the United Kingdom since 1709. (One data source is https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)
Compare the monthly percentage changes since 1914 in the Share Price Index (weighted by market capitalization) in the United Kingdom and the Dow-Jones Industrial Stock Price Index for the United States. (One data source is https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)
Compare the monthly changes in the seasonally adjusted CaseShiller NV-Las Vegas, TX-Dallas, and FL-Miami Home Price Indexes. (One data source is https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)
Compare the monthly changes in the seasonally adjusted CaseShiller CA-Los Angeles, CA-San Diego, and CA-San Francisco Home Price Indexes. (One data source is https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)
Compare the monthly changes in the seasonally adjusted CaseShiller CA-San Francisco, MA-Boston, and NY-New York Home Price Indexes. (One data source is https://fred.stlouisfed.org/.)