Chapter 3, Problem 18CR

Agriculture: Bell Peppers The pathogen Phytophthora capsici causes hell pepper plants to will and die. A research project was designed to study the effect of soil water content and the spread of the disease in fields of hell peppers (Source: Journal of Agricultural. Biological, and Environmental Statistics. Vol. 2, No. 2). It is thought that loo much water helps spread the disease. The fields were divided into rows and quadrants. The soil water content (percent of water by volume of soil) was determined for each plot. An important first step in such a research project is to give a statistical description of the data.

Soil Water Content for Bell Pepper Study

15	14	14	14	13	12	11	11	11	11	10	11	13	16	10
9	15	12	9	10	7	14	13	14	8	9	8	11	13	13
15	12	9	10	9	9	16	16	12	10	11	11	12	15	6
10	10	10	11	9

(a) Make a box-and-whisker plot of the data. Find the interquartile range.

(b) Grouped Data Make a frequency table using four classes. Then estimate the mean and sample standard deviation using the frequency table. Compute a 75% Chebyshev interval centered about the mean.

(c) If you have a statistical calculator or computer, use it to find the actual sample mean and sample standard deviation.