Normal Probability Plot - Multiple Choice Question

Yes, I've done it again. I've waited until the night before an assignment is due before asking for help yet again. :roll: But anyways, that's not too important right now. Here is the problem:



My problem isn't that I don't know how to solve the problem....well, actually, that's exactly it. But really what my problem is is that I really don't know what the question is asking, so thus, I don't know how to solve the problem. Like, what does the question mean by "clouds"? Does it mean sky clouds, or say, a cloud of seeds/spores? What does silver oxide have to do with the question? How does one "seed a cloud" with silver oxide?

Even once everything is explained to me, I may or may not realize how to complete my assignment, so feel free to help me a bit further if you so choose, but don't feel pressed to do so. I would've asked my AP Stats teacher for help on this today, but she conveniently decided to not come to school today. :? I've used this site several times in the past and you all have helped me out so much and been so courteous. I really appriciate that, and please, keep up the great work!!

Kamunt said:

what does the question mean by "clouds"?

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Those fluffy white things in the sky.

Kamunt said:

What does silver oxide have to do with the question?

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It's the chemical used in cloud seeding.

Kamunt said:

How does one "seed a cloud" with silver oxide?

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You might want to try using a search engine, encyclopedia, or meteorology resource for a discussion of the history, science, and techniques involved.

But I don't think that the background information is necessary to answer the statistical questions. Knowing the most-current methods of cloud-seeding won't help you do the least-squares regression, will it...?

Eliz.

Don't worry about the clouds - your first clue is the fact that it is a normal probability plot, which is a graphical method of assessing whether a variable is normally distributed, or "close enough."

If a normal probability plot shows a reasonably straight line (linear), then you can be reasonably sure it's normally distributed.

However, the plot looks very "un-straight" so.....what would that suggest? Read through the answer choices and the correct one should jump out at you.

Ah, I see now. It's just another one of those wordy word (?) problems. I fell into the trap yet again. Just to be sure, the answer is (a), right? I remember that exponential growth looks most often like a graph of X^2, or another equation similar to it.

Edit:

stapel said:

Kamunt said:

what does the question mean by "clouds"?

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Those fluffy white things in the sky.

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The main clue is that the plot is a normal probability plot that is not linear.

If a normal distribution will show up as a straight line, and the pattern is not a straight line, then.....