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ambiguous data:

Table 4: Change in Teenage Birth Rates: 1987-1998 White 6.7%  Black -4.9  Asian -1.8 Hispanic 3.7

Source: Statistical Abstract 2000, Table 85

Hint: if the White rate in 1987 were 20, what would the 1998 rate be?

table 10.1

Assume the following table was prepared for a report titled "Which are the Safest US Cities?"  Evaluate the table in terms of the standards of data presentation and describe serveral ways in which this data presentation
could be improved.

Poverty:

The chart below generally indicates that after 1970 the elderly poverty rate continued to decline while the child poverty rate continued to increase.

How is this interpretation affected by the following facts:

• Since 1984, and even more so after 1992, poor families with children have benefited from steady increases in the Earned Income Tax Credit.
• Over the last two decades, the elderly have had to pay an increasing percentage of their income for prescription drug costs that are not covered by Medicare.

Teacher Salaries:

Are principal's salaries rising faster than teacher salaries?
(example of data distortion)

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