7.51 8.22 7.86 8.36
8.09 7.83 8.30 8.01
7.73 8.25 7.96 8.53

A vending machine is designed to dispense 8 ounces of coffee into a cup. After a test that recorded the number of ounces of coffee in each of 1000 cups dispensed by the vending machine, the 12 listed amounts, in ounces, were selected from the data above. If the 1000 recorded amounts have a mean of 8.1 ounces and a standard deviation of 0.3 ounces, how many of the 12 listed amounts are within 1.5 standard deviation of the mean?

A. Four
B. Six
C. Nine
D. Ten
E. Eleven

Source: GMAT Prep[/quote]

"Within 1.5 standard deviation of the mean" - means in the range {mean-1.5*sd; mean+1.5*sd} = {8.1-1.5*0.3; 8.1+1.5*0.3} = {7.65; 8.55}.

From the 12 listed amounts, only one (7.51) is out of this range and 11 are within this range.

Answer: E.[/quote]
hi Bunuel,
I have not get clear why you take: 1.5*0.3
did i miss something? Please explain for me

Does the range include specifically numbers 7.65 and 8.55?

Hello Bunuel,
Would you please clear one doubt.
The question states that "how many of the 12 listed amounts are within1.5 standard deviation of the mean? In this case, do we need to consider boundary values as well such as (7.65) and (8.55).
I mean, If the question had 7.65 value, then would we have considered 7.65 value ? i.e 7.65<= std deviation <= 8.55 is the range
Another doubt:
If the question had asked
Question: how many of the 12 listed amounts are between 1.5 standard deviation of the mean?, and the answer choice had 7.65 as the value

Then, do we need to consider 7.65 value while answering ? I believe, not and 7.65< std deviation < 8.55 will be the range
Please provide your comments.

So:
M= 8.1
SD= 0.3
1.5 SD= 1 SD plus 1/2 SD, which is 0.3+0.15=0.45 SD.

Lets add and subtract 3SD or 0.45 from the M or 8.1:
8.1 - 0.45 = 7.65
8.1 + 0.45 = 8.55

So, we are looking for numbers in this range 7.65<numbers<8.55.

These are 11 of the 12 numbers, ANS E.

Thanks GMATinsight but why did you have multiply 1.5 with 0.3?

Hi Bunuel, I am still not clear on this problem.

since 8.1 is the mean, i also assume 0.3 is the SD on this mean.

and if the questions asks 1.5 SD of the mean, doesn't it translate to 0.75 (1.5/2) either side of 1.5.

Why do we multiply the 1st SD and the 2nd.

Please help

If the Standard Deviation is 0.3 ounces, then 0.3 ounces represents 1 unit of standard deviation.
Similarly, 0.6 ounces represents 2 units of standard deviation,
0.15 ounces represents 0.5 units of standard deviation, and so on.

If the mean is 8.1 ounces, then we say that 8.4 ounces is 1 unit of standard deviation above the mean (since 8.1 + 0.3 = 8.4), and we say that 7.8 ounces is 1 unit of standard deviation below the mean (since 8.1 - 0.3 = 7.8)

We want to know how many measurements in the list are within 1.5 standard deviations of the mean

Well, using the above logic, 0.45 represents 1.5 units of standard deviation.

So, 1.5 units of standard deviation below the mean equals 7.65 (8.1 - 0.45 = 7.65)
Similarly, 1.5 units of standard deviation abovethe mean equals 8.55 (8.1 + 0.45 = 8.55)

So, any measurement that is between 7.65 ounces and 8.55 will be within 1.5 standard deviations of the mean.

In the given list of measurements, the following meet this requirement:

7.51 8.22 7.86 8.36
8.09 7.83 8.30 8.01
7.73 8.25 7.96 8.53

So the answer is 11 (E)

Cheers,
Brent
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