Statistics/ 13 Application Questions And Calculations / Show Workings / Analysis Req
MATH 153 P R Dwarka Spring 2019
Project 1- BGE Monthly Energy and Temperature Analysis
1
Context: Every month, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) provides an energy usage statement along with
the bill to be paid. On this statement there is some basic information provided for the month to which
the statement applies. The variables that are listed are the total amount of kilo-Watt hours (kWh) used
since the last statement, the number of days included on the current bill, the average daily kWh for this
statement, and the average temperature outside over the number of days on the current bill. For
thirteen years, I have recorded the information provided in these statements and have created
spreadsheets based on years and months, among other things. In general, I was initially interested in
monitoring the energy usage and determining when I use the most or least amounts, out of curiosity. Of
course, the amount of energy used is directly related to how much money I spent on this utility. As a
consequence, my interest grew into concern as I noticed the patterns and inconsistencies that would
affect the overall financial and physical comfort of my family. Things such as when and on what
temperature the thermostat was set, whether my entire system was working as efficiently as it could be,
or even how the usage fluctuated in response to the changing temperatures. All this led to a closer
examination of these data with the objective of summarizing the energy usage as well as the average
monthly temperatures over the months and years that had passed. This exercise has provided me with
some important insights and some simply interesting findings that I have been able to use to make
inferences about future energy usage on a practical level, and to investigate wider questions on a
personal level.
In this project, you, as new students of the statistics discipline, will have the opportunity to
learn and apply statistical concepts as you summarize, describe, and display the information I
have collected from my BGE statements. Complete the following steps that will guide you
through the “process of statistics:”
1. According to the context provided, what could be identified as the research objective of this
study?
2. Would the collection of data for each month from the past 13 years be considered a population
or a sample from that time period? Explain your response.
3. Explain why this type of study would be considered observational as opposed to experimental.
4. Specify which type of observational study this could be categorized as by providing the
characteristic details involved in the collection of these data.
MATH 153 P R Dwarka Spring 2019 Project 1- BGE Monthly Energy and Temperature Analysis
2
5. Looking at all average daily usage totals for each month throughout the years, the data can be
separated into months with high, medium, or low usage. What type of summary is the table
below considered? Describe the characteristics that support your answer.
Usage Categorization Frequency
High 33
Medium 65
Low 58
6. Explain whether “Usage Categorization” is a qualitative or quantitative variable.
7. As noted, one of the variables included in the monthly BGE statements received is the number
of days included in the current bill. Identify whether this variable is a discrete or continuous
quantitative variable. Explain your response.
8. Use the following list (from two specific months*) to create a relative frequency distribution for
the number of days included on the bill.
29, 31, 29, 29, 29, 28, 29, 29, 30, 30, 29, 28, 29, 29, 31, 30, 33, 32, 31, 29, 29, 30, 30, 29, 29, 28
9. Although the average monthly temperatures are given in whole number form (as is often the
case) and appears to be discrete, explain why temperature is actually a continuous variable.
10. Below is a form of a stem-and-leaf plot for the average monthly temperatures reported for each
month over the years 2005-2007. This rudimentary display has a few important features: 1) it is
often used to provide a quick look at the shape, the center, and the spread of a distribution of
the data, 2) the original variable values recorded are preserved, and 3) if the original data list is
re-created from this display as they are provided, an ordered list of the values will be shown,
something useful in other particular statistical measures and displays. Review these features in
your textbook, then based on the third feature, provide an ordered list of the original average
monthly temperatures as provided on the BGE bills.
2 8
3 3 55577
4 001224
4 9
5 0013
5 6789
6 13
6 8
7 002334
7 788889
MATH 153 P R Dwarka Spring 2019 Project 1- BGE Monthly Energy and Temperature Analysis
3
11. Use the list of average monthly temperatures you just re-created to create a frequency
histogram. You should do this using 6 classes, with a class width of 9, and the lower class limit
for the first class being 27. Whether you do this by hand or using Statcrunch, be sure you use
and display the correct information in your histogram. Provide the histogram.
12. Below is a table of the total monthly kWh usage data from January and February for the years
2005-2017. These two months are in the dead of winter and represent when it would be
expected that the most energy would be used to heat homes. Combine these two sets of data
into one and then provide the 5-number summary.
January February
3217 2964
2949 2483
2707 3142
2720 3078
3310 2747
3740 3471
3278 3023
2720 2067
2543 2353
3138 2730
3004 3145
2321 2744
2287 1880
13. An interesting question to ask is whether our HVAC system requires more energy to cool or to
heat the house. This may be revealed through the amount of energy used in June, when
summer officially begins, compared to the amount of energy used in December, when winter
officially begins. Create separate boxplots for the June and December data provided below.
Compare and contrast the shape, center, and spread of these months. Also, determine if there
are any outliers within each month.
June December
1736 2910
1363 2361
1290 2859
1600 2983
1178 3740
1643 3395
1877 1877
972 1779
1129 2290
1008 2190
1314 2103
944 1969
1191 1818
MATH 153 P R Dwarka Spring 2019 Project 1- BGE Monthly Energy and Temperature Analysis
4
What you need to turn in:
A. A cover sheet containing your name and identification as Project 1 for spring 2019.
B. Typed responses to each of the tasks above (in order).
C. Print-outs or hand-drawn displays that are requested, inserted in appropriate order.
D. Project is due no later than
