# The pathogen Phytophthora capsici causes bell pepper plants to wilt and die. A research project was designed to study the effect of soil water content

The pathogen Phytophthora capsici causes bell pepper plants to wilt and die. A research project was designed to study the effect of soil water content and the spread of the disease in fields of bell peppers. It is thought that too much water helps spread the disease. The fields were divided into rows and quadrants. The soil water content (percent of water by volume of soil) was determined for each plot. An important first step in such a research project is to give a statistical description of the data. Soil Water Content for Bell Pepper Study $\begin{array}{cccccccccccccc}15& 14& 14& 14& 13& 12& 11& 11& 11& 11& 10& 11& 13& 16\\ 9& 15& 12& 9& 10& 7& 14& 13& 14& 8& 9& 8& 11& 13\\ 15& 12& 9& 10& 9& 9& 16& 16& 12& 10& 11& 11& 12& 15\\ 10& 10& 10& 11& 9\end{array}$ If you have a statistical calculator or computer, use it to find the actual sample mean and sample standard deviation.
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mhalmantus
Step 1 n is the number of values in the data set. $n=50$ The mean is the sum of all values divided by the number of values: $\stackrel{―}{x}=\frac{15+14+14+\dots +10+11+9}{50}=11.48$ The variance is the sum of squared devaitions from the mean divided by $n-1$. The standard deviation is the square root of the variance: $s=\sqrt{\frac{{\left(15-11.48\right)}^{2}+\dots +{\left(9-11.48\right)}^{2}}{50-1}}\approx 2.4431$ Answer: $\stackrel{―}{x}=11.48,s=2.4431$