Real-Life Math
You are a creative director hired to design an ad campaign for a company that makes inline skates. The ad is to promote a new type of inline skate. Unlike most inline skates, which are designed to be used on pavement, these are made for whizzing down dirt trails.
Before pouring money into a national campaign, the inline skate company wants to make sure there is a market for the new product. Frankly, they're not sure the skates will sell. At $450, they are out of the price range of most teenage inline skaters. Plus, the company is afraid that skyrocketing down steep, dirt-rutted trails is too hair-raising for most adults over the age of 25.
Since inline skating is a popular sport where you live, the company wants to use your city as a test market. Your job is to design advertisements that will be printed in local magazines and newspapers. If the ads work, the company has hinted they may hire your advertising firm to do the national campaign.
Your first step is to pick the target audience. Should the ads be designed to attract adults or teenagers? A wrong decision could ruin the entire campaign.
You decide it's worthwhile to do some research. Over the next month, your firm conducts a survey of younger inline skaters. It takes a bit of work, but by staking out bicycle paths and local leisure centers, you manage to speak with 500 teenage skaters. Here are the survey results:
How often do you roller blade?
| 1. less than once a week | 60 |
| 2. once a week | 105 |
| 3. more than once a week | 215 |
| 4. every day | 120 |
How much do you normally spend on inline skates (including money your parents have given you to buy inline skates?)
| 1. under $100 | 485 |
| 2. $100 to $200 | 15 |
| 3. over $200 | 0 |
What is the largest amount of money you would be willing to spend on these skates?
| 1. under $100 | 100 |
| 2. $100 to $200 | 15 |
| 3. $200 to $300 | 385 |
| 4. over $300 | 0 |
If you owned new inline skates, how often do you think you would use them?
| 1. less than once a week | 0 |
| 2. once a week | 25 |
| 3. more than once a week | 215 |
| 4. every day | 260 |
In order to interpret the data, you need to calculate the percentage of respondents that gave a particular response to each question.