Jason Was Faced with a Decision

Essay

Jason was faced with a decision. All his old chain saws were worn out; he needed a new supply for his next 13 movies. He took bids from three manufacturers for 100 chain saws and all three quoted him a unit price of $304.25. Young Jason, who was no dummy, wanted the best quality. He decided that quality could be measured by a standard deviation. His reasoning was that careful manufacturing produces a batch of parts that are practically identical; sloppy manufacturing produces a batch that is quite variable. If he focused on a representative part (the sprocket) and measured (in millimeters) five of them from each manufacturer, he could produce an objective measure of quality that could be applied to the decision on the 100 saws he needed. Give poor Jason some help. From the data below, calculate that measure and write a sentence or paragraph that explains why you recommend a particular saw. $$\begin{array} { l c c c c c } &{ \text { Sprockets } } \\& 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 \\\text { McCulloch } & 25.0 & 25.7 & 25.9 & 25.3 & 25.5 \\\text { Stihl } & 30.7 & 31.4 & 30.9 & 31.0 & 30.9 \\\text { Husqvarna } & 34.8 & 35.0 & 35.2 & 34.9 & 35.0\end{array}$$