Data Handling is one of 9 topics in the Grade 12 Mathematical Literacy CAPS syllabus, covered across 3 lessons on Study Vault. Below are real practice questions from this topic with full worked answers.
Sample practice questions
Easy
1. What is a "population" in the context of data handling?
The entire group being studied, from which a sample may be selected
Only the people who live in a specific town
A single data value in a data set
A graph used to display categorical data
Answer: The entire group being studied, from which a sample may be selected — The population is the entire group being studied; a sample is a smaller, manageable subset selected to represent that population.
Easy
2. Give the term for a table that records how many times each value or category occurs in a data set, built from tally marks.
Answer: frequency table — A frequency table records how many times each value or category occurs, usually compiled from tally marks.
Medium
3. A researcher wants to know South Africans' average daily water usage but only surveys people living in wealthy suburbs of one city. What is the main problem with this approach?
The sample is unrepresentative/biased, so conclusions about the whole population may be inaccurate or misleading
There is no problem, since any sample size is equally valid regardless of who is included
The data collected will automatically be numerical rather than categorical
Surveys can never be used to investigate national issues
Answer: The sample is unrepresentative/biased, so conclusions about the whole population may be inaccurate or misleading — A sample drawn only from wealthy suburbs in one city does not represent the broader South African population, so conclusions drawn from it about "South Africans' average water usage" would likely be inaccurate or misleading.
