Lucas and Sara are preparing for their upcoming wedding in May. Because they have both taken Math 107, and they have limited income, they understand the importance of budgeting. They decided to track their spending for four months and analyze the data together. That information will help them to have new monthly budget for their new family.

 

Below are two tables containing the information that Lucas and Sara collected. Lucas currently has 3 roommates and splits the cost of rent, utilities and cable/internet. Sara is currently living with 2 roommates and splits the cost of gas, electric, internet and cleaning supplies. 

 

Your goal is to use mean, median, and mode to analyze the data below and help Lucas and Sara to have a monthly budget for their future spending. Choose which budget category will best describe each expense, then help them determine an appropriate monthly budget amount for their new two-person household. Be prepared to justify your proposed budget values using math or other evidence.

 

 

Sara's expenditures for January through April  Sara shares an apartment with 2 other women, so consider the total cost in your analysis.
	January	February	March	April
Rent	$500	$500	$500	$500
Manicure	$0	$35	$0	$35
Haircut	$0	$0	$40	$0
Groceries	$142.17	$147.70	$218.95	$67.50
Electric Bill	$9.05	$9.20	$8.24	$8.80
Gas Bill	$31.04	$21.22	$14.94	$15.87
Cell Phone	$115.44	$96.77	$97.07	$97.07
Charitable donations	$120	$120	$144	$108
Internet	$27.65	$27.65	$27.65	$27.65
Public transportation	$15	$0	$0	$0
Eating out	$39.24	$50.34	$170.62	$90.74
Cleaning supplies	$15	$0	$21	$0
Clothing	$72	$0	$46	$58
Books/Supplies	$352	$0	$0	$0
Tuition	$1500	$0	$0	$0

 

Lucas' expenditures for January through April  Lucas shares an apartment with 3 other men, so consider the total cost in your analysis.
	January	February	March	April
Rent	$350	$350	$350	$350
Groceries	$166.13	$275.57	$189.50	$92.29
Cell Phone	$98.32	$62.95	$59.29	$59.87
Utilities	$50	$50	$50	$50
Cable/Internet	$18.75	$18.75	$18.75	$18.75
Gas for car	$53	$72	$65	$59
Car maintenance	$24	$0	$75	$136
Dentist	$0	$87	$0	$0
Charitable donations	$88	$105.60	$96.80	$88
Clothing	$22	$49	$0	$31
Car Insurance	$71.12	$71.12	$71.12	$71.12
Gym	$9.99	$9.99	$9.99	$9.99
Haircut	$15	$15	$15	$15
Eating out	$7.22	$31.40	$31.82	$50.02
Books/Supplies	$258	$0	$0	$0
Tuition	$1500	$0	$0	$0

 

Lucas and Sara Proposed Monthly Budget
Category	Proposed Budget Value	Math/Evidence-based Justification
Rent
Utilities
Transportation/Car Expenses
Health Care
Education
Entertainment
Food
Personal Expenses
Tithing/Charitable Donations
Miscellaneous

 

 

Are there additional categories you think should be included in Lucas and Sara's Monthly Budget? If so, what are they? How much would you budget and why?

 

Category	Proposed Budget Value	Math/Evidence-based Justification

 

 

REFLECT

 

1) In which budget categories was it more helpful to use median or mode to determine the new budget value? Explain?

2) In which categories did you encounter the greatest variation? Were there outliers? How did these affect your determination of the new budget amounts?

3) What kinds of items fall under the miscellaneous category?

4) What was your greatest take-away from this assignment? Explain?