Weight of a rock: In a geology course, students are learning to use a balance scale to accurately weigh rocks. One student plans to weigh a rock 20 times and then calculate the average of the 20 measurements to estimate her rock's true weight. A second student plans to weigh a rock 5 times and calculate the average of the 5 measurements to estimate his rock's true weight. Which student is more likely to come the closest to the true weight of the rock he or she is weighing?  The student who weighed the rock 20 times.  The student who weighed the rock 5 times.  Both averages would be equally close to the true weight.

Glencoe Algebra 1, Student Edition, 9780079039897, 0079039898, 2018
18th Edition
ISBN:9780079039897
Author:Carter
Publisher:Carter
Chapter1: Expressions And Functions
Section1.5: Descriptive Modeling And Accuracy
Problem 1CYU
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Weight of a rock: In a geology course, students are learning to use a balance scale to accurately weigh rocks. One student plans to weigh a rock 20 times and then calculate the average of the 20 measurements to estimate her rock's true weight. A second student plans to weigh a rock 5 times and calculate the average of the 5 measurements to estimate his rock's true weight.

Which student is more likely to come the closest to the true weight of the rock he or she is weighing?

  1.  The student who weighed the rock 20 times.
  2.  The student who weighed the rock 5 times.
  3.  Both averages would be equally close to the true weight.
 
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