A study of fast-food intake is described in a paper. Adult customers at three hamburger chains at lunchtime in New York City were approached as they entered the restaurant and asked to provide their receipt when exiting. The receipts were then used to determine what was purchased and the number of calories consumed was determined. In all, 3,853 people participated in the study. The sample mean number of calories consumed was 854 and the sample standard deviation was 678. Required:
a. The sample standard deviation is quite large. What does this tell you about number of calories consumed in a hamburger-chain lunchtime fast-food purchase in New York City?
b. Given the values of the sample mean and standard deviation and the fact that the number of calories consumed can’t be negative, explain why it is not reasonable to assume that the distribution of calories consumed is normal.