Question

Far from home A survey asked first-year college students, “How many miles is this college from your permanent home?” Students had to choose from the following options: 5 or fewer, 6 to 10, 11 to 50, 51 to 100, 101 to 500, or more than 500. The side-by-side bar graph shows the percentage of students at public and private 4-year colleges who chose each option. Write a few sentences comparing the distributions of distance from home for students from private and public 4-year colleges who completed the survey.

Short answer

Students attending a private university are more likely to be 101 to 500 miles away from home and students at public universities are more likely to be 11 to 50 miles away from home.

The majority of students choose a university at least 11 miles away from their home.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1. Given information.

The given bar graph is shown below:

Step 2.  Compare the distributions of distance.

As we can see that the highest green bar is for the category 101 to 500, and the most likely distance from home for students at a private university is between 101 and 500 miles.

Because the greatest red bar is from category 11 to 50, the most likely distance from home for students at a public university is between 11 and 50 miles.

Because the bar corresponding to "5 or less" and "6 to 10" is fairly narrow for each type of university, most students choose a university that is at least 11 miles from home.