Wetlands offer a diversity of benefits. They provide habitat for wildlife, spawning grounds for U.S. commercial fish, and renewable timber resources. In the last 200 years the United States has lost more than half its wetlands. Suppose Environmental Almanac gives the percentage of wet lands lost in each state in the last 200 years. Assume that for the lower 48 states, the percentage loss of wetlands per state is as follows: $$\begin{array} { l l l l l l l l l l }
46 & 37 & 36 & 42 & 81 & 20 & 73 & 59 & 35 & 50 \
87 & 52 & 24 & 27 & 38 & 56 & 39 & 74 & 56 & 31 \
27 & 91 & 46 & 9 & 54 & 52 & 30 & 33 & 28 & 35 \
35 & 23 & 90 & 72 & 85 & 42 & 59 & 50 & 49 & \
48 & 38 & 60 & 46 & 87 & 50 & 89 & 49 & 67 &
\end{array}$$ The distribution is approximately mound shaped.

Question

Wetlands offer a diversity of benefits. They provide habitat for wildlife, spawning grounds for U.S. commercial fish, and renewable timber resources. In the last 200 years the United States has lost more than half its wetlands. Suppose Environmental Almanac gives the percentage of wet lands lost in each state in the last 200 years. Assume that for the lower 48 states, the percentage loss of wetlands per state is as follows: $$\begin{array} { l l l l l l l l l l } 
46 & 37 & 36 & 42 & 81 & 20 & 73 & 59 & 35 & 50 \
87 & 52 & 24 & 27 & 38 & 56 & 39 & 74 & 56 & 31 \
27 & 91 & 46 & 9 & 54 & 52 & 30 & 33 & 28 & 35 \
35 & 23 & 90 & 72 & 85 & 42 & 59 & 50 & 49 & \
48 & 38 & 60 & 46 & 87 & 50 & 89 & 49 & 67 &
\end{array}$$ The distribution is approximately mound shaped.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A mound-shaped distribution, also known as a normal or bell-shaped distribution, is symmetric around its mean. The given data, with values ranging widely from 9% to 91%, suggests variability but without seeing the actual distribution or skewness, the assumption of a mound-shaped (normal) distribution for a large dataset like this is reasonable, especially in the absence of information indicating a significant skew.

Wetlands Offer a Diversity of Benefits The Distribution Is Approximately Mound Shaped