The first part of the project explores the statistically interesting data on the length (duration) of eruptions of the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park. When Old Faithful erupts, it does so from about one and a half minutes to five minutes. Park rangers have discovered that they can use the duration of the eruption to predict the time the next eruption will occur. In this project, you will examine and interact with their data.
There are actually a few geysers with this same name. In this project, you will be exploring the 'Old Faithful' geyser in Yellowstone National Park. You may find it helpful, however, to review some general information on geysers, to help you understand the nature of the data you will be analyzing.
Calculating statistics is quite easy, but knowing what statistical technique to apply in different situations is our goal. Read this 'executive summary' for a good orientation to the difference between the mean and the median. Note that these links will open in a new window. Please exit the window to return to this page.
The second part of the project explores a collection of data on income level for several different occupations: CEOs, programmers, pharmacists, and executives. Exploring these data sets will help you understand what the shape of a distribution can tell you about the real world.