This problem gives students a table of data with information regarding the promptness of two different taxi companies.
Here’s the set up:
You work for a business that has been using two taxicab companies, Company A and Company B.
Your boss gives you a list of (early and late) “Arrival times” for taxicabs from both companies over the past month. Your job is to analyze those data using charts, diagrams, graphs, or whatever seems best.
You are to use the data to:
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Make the best argument that you can in favor of Company A
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Make the best argument that you can in favor of Company B
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Write a memorandum to your boss that makes a reasoned case for choosing one company or the other, using the relevant mathematical tools at your disposal.
The first two questions are helpful scaffolds to complicate things and make students consider arguments in favor of each company before they make their recommendations to the “boss”.
There are many different ways for students to try to make sense of all the data. Students might use measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode, range). But deciding which company to choose requires students to have to make choices about what qualities are important for judging the best taxi company and then use math to figure out which of these two companies best matches their criteria.
The goal here is for students to use math to make the most compelling arguments they can in favor of one taxi company over the other.
Here are two graphs that give another look at the situation that I’ve also used with students: Company A and Company B
