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Topic 2: Health value of cereals

Topic 2: Health value of cereals
You can input the data into RStudio from the following table or download/upload the .csv file provided in the zip folder in the ‘Downloads‘ section in Step 2.13 that lists 20 popular cereals and the amounts of sodium (in milligrams) and sugar (in grams) contained in a single serving. The amounts are rounded to the nearest integer. The variable ‘Type’ classifies the cereal as being popular with adults (A) or children (C). The data is repeated in this table if you would find it easier to input into RStudio compared to the .csv file already given in the earlier hyperlink.

Cereal Sodium (mg) Sugar (g) Type
Frosted Mini Wheats 0 11 A
Raisin Bran 340 18 A
All Bran 70 5 A
Apple Jacks 140 14 C
Cap’n Crunch 200 12 C
Cheerios 180 1 C
Cinnamon Toast Crunch 210 10 C
Crackling Oat Bran 150 16 A
Fiber One 100 0 A
Frosted Flakes 130 12 C
Froot Loops 140 14 C
Honey Bunches of Oats 180 7 A
Honey Nut Cheerios 190 9 C
Life 160 6 C
Rice Krispies 290 3 C
Honey Smacks 50 15 A
Special K 220 4 A
Wheaties 180 4 A
Corn Flakes 200 3 A
Honeycomb 210 11 C

Answer the following questions:

  • Obtain the sample means, standard deviations and summary tables for the variables ‘Sodium’ and ‘Sugar’.
  • Construct dot plots and box plots for the sodium and sugar values.
  • Construct histograms for the sodium and sugar values. If necessary, experiment with different choices of breaks.
  • Describe the shape of the distributions of sodium and sugar. Is a normal approximation appropriate? Is there anything unusual in the distribution of sugar? What could be an explanation? (Referring to ‘Type’ may be useful.)

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Statistical Methods

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