Difficulty: Rating: GCSE Marks: Worksheet:

GCSE Text:
During a harsh few winter days where drivers have been advised not to drive their cars due to snow, Jasmine has tracked the number of abandoned vehicles in her town against the depth of snow. Her results are shown here in this scatter graph:

a) Add the following information to the scatter diagram:

On a day when 8cm of snow was measured, there were 2 vehicles found abandoned. On a different day, 6 vehicles were abandoned when snow depth was 11cm.

b) Describe the relationship between the depth of snow and the number of abandoned vehicles in Jasmine’s town.

Tomorrow’s forecast predicts snow to be 18cm deep.

c) Estimate how many vehicles will be abandoned on the side of the road tomorrow.

Suggestions:
This is a simple question designed to consolidate learning on scatter diagrams.  Students must always draw a straight line of best fit in order to show how part c) can be answered.  Students only take 2-3 minutes to answer this question in full, and extension questions work well to stretch students who finish early.

Teachers could extend the learning by considering:

• Which of the plots is an outlier? What explanation exists for this data?
• Brian said that ‘cars don’t tend to get stuck if snow is less than 5cm deep’. Is Brian correct? Explain your answer.