Question

Cookies Refer to the accompanying frequency distribution that summarizes the numbers of chocolate chips found in each cookie in a sample of Chips Ahoy regular chocolate chip cookies (from Data Set 28 “Chocolate Chip Cookies” in Appendix B). What is the class width? Is it possible to identify the original data values?

Chocolate Chips	Frequency
18-20	6
21-23	11
24-26	18
27-29	4
30-31	1

Short answer

The class width of the given frequency distribution is equal to three units.

No, it is not possible to identify the original data values.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

A frequency distribution summarizing the frequencies of chocolate chips found in a cookie is provided.

Chocolate chips	Frequency
18-20	6
21-23	11
24-26	18
27-29	4
30-32	1

Define class width

The class width is the difference between any two lower class limits, which are consecutive to each other.

Compute the class width 

The lower limit of the first class is 18.

The lower limit of the second class is 21.

Thus, the first two lower class limits are 18 and 21.

The difference between these values is equal to:

$21-18=3$

Therefore, the class width is equal to three units.

Identify the original values 

Original values are observations that are used to form class intervals.

In a grouped frequency distribution, it is not possible to list all observations that belong to any class interval. Only a cumulative count of such values is known.