problem using an ogive

This is my first stats class- stats for management and it's an on line class. I read the chapter and know what an ogive is but don't know where to start. How do I construct an ogive? Is there a program for computer that you suggest to help me with the computation of the problems? Trying to download Megastat but can't access it. I have microsoft office excel 2007. any help getting started will be appreciated.- collegemom

What an odd question. Must this ogive do anything? As a representative of a Cumulative Distribution Function, it is a rather ancient mechanism. Any graphing software shoudl be an improvement, I would think. What is the WHOLE quesiton?

I was able to download MegaStat which was reccomended by my prof. The problem is discussing ages of residents at a retirement home trying to find the proportion of residents eligible for a no fee clause- those over 60. 25 residents ages are listed and I typed them into the input range box in megastat. then it asked for the interval width, lower boundary of first interval, bin range. the interval width and the bin range are still confusing me. I put in what I thought it was, but it came up "incorrect info". the second half of the problem is to find an approx fee the remaining residents would have to pay to make up the difference- the monthly fee is $12. the problem said to construct an ogive to solve it. the megastat category I'm using is frequency distribution-quantitiative. this is the only stats/math class I have to take for my degree (organizational leadership) and haven't done any math type classes since my bach degree in the late 70's. that's why I'm so lost! Thanks for responding- I may have to drop this and opt for a classroom setting instead. but its only the first week! collegemom

Think of an ogive like a histogram. The class width is arbitrary. In other words, you can make the class width any size you want. Of course, you have to consider the context of the problem to decide how large the classes are. Usually, it's also a good idea to make all the classes of equal width. If I have data on how old bowling club presidents were at the time of inauguration, I might say that (n1) presidents were on the interval [35,38) years old. Thus, the class width is "3." Then I can say (n2) presidents were [38,41) years old and etc.
With an ogive, however, I'm also adding the frequencies, which in my description, are (n1) , (n2) and etc.


A better illustration might be this article from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_distribution