A student was interested in the cigarette smoking habits of college students and collected data from an unbiased random sample of students. The data is summarized in the following table: Why is the table NOT a frequency distribution?
A) The number of males does not equal the sum of males that smoke and do not smoke.
B) The classes are not mutually exclusive.
C) There are too many classes.
D) Class limits cannot be computed.

Question

A student was interested in the cigarette smoking habits of college students and collected data from an unbiased random sample of students. The data is summarized in the following table:  Why is the table NOT a frequency distribution?
A) The number of males does not equal the sum of males that smoke and do not smoke. 
B) The classes are not mutually exclusive. 
C) There are too many classes. 
D) Class limits cannot be computed.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A frequency distribution requires mutually exclusive classes, meaning that every data value can only belong to one class. In this table, the classes of "Male Smokers" and "Female Smokers" are not mutually exclusive, as there could be male and female students who smoke. Therefore, the table cannot be considered a frequency distribution.

A Student Was Interested in the Cigarette Smoking Habits of College