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# Each of the following linear equations defines y

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Each of the following linear equations defines y [#permalink]  26 Jun 2016, 17:04
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Question Stats:

52% (00:44) correct 47% (01:03) wrong based on 21 sessions
Each of the following linear equations defines y as a function of x for all integers x from 1 to 100. For which of the following equations is the standard deviation of the y-values corresponding to all the x-values the greatest?

A. $$y = \frac{x}{3}$$
B. $$y = \frac{x}{2}+40$$
C. $$y = x$$
D. $$y = 2x +50$$
E. $$y = 3x - 20$$

Practice Questions
Question: 11
Page: 121
[Reveal] Spoiler: OA

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Sandy
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GRE Prep Club Legend
Joined: 07 Jun 2014
Posts: 4857
GRE 1: Q167 V156
WE: Business Development (Energy and Utilities)
Followers: 106

Kudos [?]: 1820 [2] , given: 397

Re: Each of the following linear equations defines y [#permalink]  26 Jun 2016, 17:06
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Explanation

Recall that the standard deviation of the numbers in a data set is a measure of the spread of the numbers about the mean of the numbers. The standard deviation is directly related to the distances between the mean and each of the numbers when the mean and the numbers are considered on a number line. Note that each of the answer choices is an equation of the form y = ax + b, where a and b are constants. For every value of x in a data set, the corresponding value of y is ax + b, and if m is the mean of the values of x, then am + b is the mean of the corresponding values of y.

In the question, the set of values of x consists of the integers from 1 to 100, and each answer choice gives a set of 100 values of y corresponding to the 100 values of x. For each value of x in the data set,

(1) the distance between x and the mean m is |x – m|, and
(2) the distance between the corresponding y-value, ax + b, and the mean, am + b, of the corresponding y-values is |ax + b – am – b|, which is equal to |ax – am|, or | a||x – m|.

Therefore the greater the absolute value of a in the equation y = ax + b, the greater the distance between each y-value and the mean of the y-values; hence, the greater the spread. Note that the value of b is irrelevant. Scanning the choices, you can see that the equation in which the absolute value of a is greatest is y = 3x – 20. Thus the correct answer is Choice E.
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Re: Each of the following linear equations defines y [#permalink]  10 Jul 2017, 04:56
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sandy wrote:
Each of the following linear equations defines y as a function of x for all integers x from 1 to 100. For which of the following equations is the standard deviation of the y-values corresponding to all the x-values the greatest?

A. $$y = \frac{x}{3}$$
B. $$y = \frac{x}{2}+40$$
C. $$y = x$$
D. $$y = 2x +50$$
E. $$y = 3x - 20$$

Practice Questions
Question: 11
Page: 121

Let's plug in some values of x (from 1 to 100) to see what these sets look like. I'll plug in x = 1, 2, 3, 4 and 99 and 100

We get:

A) {1/3, 2/3, 3/3, 4/3, . . . 99/3 , 100/3}
B) {1/2, 2/2, 3/2, 4/2, . . . 99/2 , 100/2}
C) {1, 2, 3, 4, . . . 99, 100}
D) {52, 54, 56, 58, . . . 248, 250}
E) {-17, -14, -11, -8, . . . 277, 280}

At this point, we can see that E has the greatest dispersion. That is, set E deviates the most from the mean.

Cheers,
Brent
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Brent Hanneson – Creator of greenlighttestprep.com

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Re: Each of the following linear equations defines y [#permalink]  22 Jan 2019, 22:53
Expert's post
All we have to do here is plug in 1 and 100 for each of the choices, the greatest range will give us the greatest spread.
Re: Each of the following linear equations defines y   [#permalink] 22 Jan 2019, 22:53
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