Data matching

Use your skill and judgement to match the sets of random data.
Age
14 to 18
Challenge level
filled star empty star empty star
Exploring and noticing Working systematically Conjecturing and generalising Visualising and representing Reasoning, convincing and proving
Being curious Being resourceful Being resilient Being collaborative

Problem



The sets of data below have all got muddled up. Can you sort them out?

The sixteen sets of data below were generated by four different probability distributions. Four sets were taken from each of the four distributions.

By searching for patterns in the data, can you put the sets into groups of four which are likely to have come from the same distributions?

Set 1A
8 4 16 12 6
2 4 18 14 8
16 12 18 2 16
0 12 8 12 16
0 0 12 16 4
0 8 8 10 16
0 12 14 8 10
0 2 14 18 4
8 0 14 18 12
16 12 8 14 0
Set 1B
12 6 12 6 5
7 5 6 13 12
16 12 14 8 13
13 13 6 11 7
6 12 12 5 5
6 14 0 12 14
12 13 12 5 13
6 14 5 0 6
14 6 13 1 14
4 3 12 6 13
Set 1C
12 17 16 2 12
10 10 10 18 19
15 11 10 15 15
18 4 10 16 14
8 11 12 11 10
18 11 13 10 19
12 14 14 17 16
17 17 13 10 7
5 14 18 10 4
4 15 15 9 14
Set 1D
10 11 8 10 5
12 11 16 5 15
12 6 12 15 10
9 7 7 8 7
6 6 9 17 14
8 13 13 7 8
10 13 6 15 11
6 9 14 9 8
7 7 9 12 3
11 11 10 12 7
Set 1E
11 7 6 7 11
9 4 11 9 12
9 7 13 11 5
10 17 10 6 7
10 15 8 9 12
7 7 12 15 5
6 11 10 12 11
6 12 12 6 12
6 5 6 5 9
7 11 7 15 11
Set 1F
19 12 13 2 19
18 16 7 15 9
18 11 12 15 10
17 3 18 14 13
11 10 9 17 17
12 18 12 13 15
17 12 16 17 10
11 16 13 11 17
11 17 14 16 7
10 10 18 17 12
Set 1G
16 2 8 4 8
18 16 0 8 14
14 4 8 12 2
18 10 16 8 12
8 8 14 4 4
8 14 18 4 12
8 8 8 0 16
4 0 4 4 4
8 14 18 6 16
14 0 8 0 12
Set 1H
14 14 18 8 13
16 13 19 8 18
17 13 5 14 15
8 13 17 4 12
19 15 11 12 17
4 17 13 18 19
8 12 18 8 8
7 12 10 18 18
17 8 7 15 18
16 14 13 11 17
Set 1I
18 13 6 13 5
14 14 12 12 13
13 12 13 2 6
13 13 12 3 19
14 12 16 13 9
0 7 2 0 5
13 13 12 5 14
16 9 12 6 14
12 12 5 12 7
7 7 7 7 5
Set 1J
8 12 14 5 5
16 15 14 5 15
12 5 7 10 19
7 13 13 4 7
5 13 6 5 13
13 5 18 15 14
6 13 3 6 16
7 5 14 6 1
7 12 14 14 5
13 10 17 5 2
Set 1K
8 8 6 0 6
8 6 8 0 4
16 6 2 12 4
6 18 10 12 0
16 0 4 4 12
14 16 12 14 16
14 16 8 16 10
16 2 2 6 8
14 4 4 2 16
16 2 14 12 4
Set 1L
10 6 14 7 8
11 9 9 14 11
16 6 7 12 10
5 11 6 8 9
12 11 11 12 7
3 7 15 16 11
9 10 8 14 13
8 9 15 7 10
10 13 7 10 9
7 13 13 8 3
Set 1M
0 2 16 6 8
8 10 10 12 2
8 10 0 4 14
8 16 18 12 2
12 18 4 14 8
4 0 16 12 12
18 12 18 10 12
6 10 4 16 18
10 0 16 8 18
12 16 10 8 0
Set 1N
12 12 11 13 10
11 10 11 5 11
5 10 9 13 15
11 11 7 12 8
11 13 10 12 12
10 10 12 4 10
10 6 14 8 11
15 9 9 5 5
12 10 10 7 10
9 9 7 16 10
Set 1O
0 11 12 5 13
19 13 7 5 5
6 6 12 17 9
14 5 5 7 5
4 16 14 13 19
6 13 7 0 7
7 18 18 7 6
6 14 12 12 6
13 13 17 13 6
19 14 10 13 9
Set 1P
17 7 7 17 18
11 16 12 13 13
11 16 5 18 9
12 15 12 16 19
9 19 18 18 19
19 17 14 14 5
11 12 10 13 9
4 17 15 17 17
8 16 18 17 5
19 19 16 13 17


You may wish to use a computer to analyse the data. We have created a GeoGebra Worksheet which contains the data sets, so you can use the statistical tools in the spreadsheet function to examine each of the sixteen sets.

Alternatively, you can download this csv file: Data Matching, which can be opened by most spreadsheet software.

This resource is part of the collection Statistics - Maths of Real Life