Question

Prolonging Life. Vitamin $C$(ascorbate) boosts the human immune system and is effective in preventing a variety of illnesses. In a study by E. Cameron and L. Pauling titled "Supplemental Ascorbate in the Supportive Treatment of Cancer; Reevaluation of Prolongation of Survival Times in Terminal Human Cancer" (Proceedings of the National Acadeny of Seience, Vol. $75$, No. $9$, pp. $4538-4542$), patients in advanced stages of cancer were given a vitamin $C$supplement. Patients were grouped according to the organ affected by cancer: stomach, bronchus, colon, ovary, or breast. The study yielded the survival times, in days, given on the WeissStats site.

Short answer

On average, the survival time is largest for breast cancer and lowest for stomach and bronchus cancer. The survival time of ovary cancer varies the most, while the survival time of Stomach and Bronchus varies the least.

Step-by-step solution

Given Information

We are given a case study of prolonging Life, Vitamin C (ascorbate) boosts the human immune system and is effective in preventing a variety of illnesses.

We need to analyze data and give survival time of patients suffering from diseases mentioned.

Explanation

From given information we get following statistical data

	Min	Q1	Median	Q3	Max.
Stomach	$25$	$48.5$	$138$	$368$	$1112$
Bronchus	$20$	$63.5$	$155$	$264.5$	$859$
Colon	$180$	$306.5$	$406$	$656.5$	$1843$
Ovary	$89$	$356$	$791$	$2970$	$3808$
Breast	$24$	$40$	$946.5$	$1235$	$1581$

1. Center: On average, the survival time is largest for breast cancer and lowest for stomach and bronchus cancer, because the vertical line in the box of the boxplot of "Breast" is furthest to the right and the vertical line in the box of the boxplot of "Stomach" and Bronchus" is furthest to the left.
2. Variation: The survival time of ovary cancer varies the most, while the survival time of Stomach and Bronchus varies the least, because the boxplot of "Ovary" is widest, while the boxplots of "Stomach" and "Bronchus" are the narrowest.
3. Unusual features: The samples of "Stomach", "Bronchus" and "Colon" contain unusually large survival times.

Now we conclude from above data that on average, the survival time is largest for breast cancer and lowest for stomach and bronchus cancer. The survival time of ovary cancer varies the most, while the survival time of Stomach and Bronchus varies the least.