An Anthropologist Is Studying the Strength of Fragments of Pottery

question 19

Essay

An anthropologist is studying the strength of fragments of pottery ("sherds") found in
three archeological sites in the Phoenix Basin area of Arizona. Her study involves
applying force to the sherds until they break, so she plans to use only a small sample
of available artifacts. Her data contains the location of the sherd (site), and the
weight and thickness of the sherd. A partial list of the data is shown below. $\begin{array}{|l|l|l|l|}\hline \text { Sherd \# } & \text { Site } & \text { Weight }(\mathrm{g}) & \text { Thick }(\mathrm{mm}) \\\hline 1 & \text { Sacaton } & 14.7 & 5.41 \\2 & \text { Sacaton } & 14.6 & 5.75 \\3 & \text { Gila Plain } & 17.9 & 7.09 \\4 & \text { Sacaton } & 14.7 & 6.14 \\5 & \text { Gila Plain } & 13.1 & 5.11\\6 & \text { Casa Grande } & 18.5 & 6.51 \\7 & \text { Casa Grande } & 13.4 & 5.92 \\\ldots & \ldots & \ldots & \ldots \\1000 & \text { Gila Plain } & 14.6 & 4.01 \\\hline\end{array}$ a) Briefly describe a process to select a simple random sample of size n = 20 from
this list of sherds. You may assume that you have a random number table to work
with, but do NOT carry out the process you describe.
b) Briefly describe how a stratified random sample could be selected with strata
corresponding to archeological sites.

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Definitions:

Carpel

Of a flower, reproductive organ that produces the female gametophyte; consists of an ovary, stigma, and usually a style.

Cotyledons

Embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed.

Endosperm

Nutritive tissue within seeds of flowering plants, providing sustenance to the developing embryo during germination.

Seedling's Growth

The developmental phase in plants from germination through to the establishment of the plant, characterized by rapid growth and the formation of true leaves.