21.8: Chapter Exercises

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Chapter Exercises

1. Here are answers to some of the pretest at the beginning of the chapter. The + indicates that the cause is the more likely of the pair and the - that it is the less likely. Use the information in the Table of causes of death (Figure 21.2.1) to fill in the number of deaths per hundred million people. The figures for the causes not listed in that table are given below.

1. Diabetes + 2. Homicide -
1. Suicide + 2. Homicide -
1. Asthma + 2. Tornado -
1. Lightning - 2. Flood +
1. Lung Cancer - 2. Heart Disease +
1. Stomach Cancer + 2. Rabies -
1. Homicide - 2. Stomach Cancer +
1. Suicide + 2. Syphilis -

The numbers after each cause of death give the approximate number it kills a year per one hundred million Americans.

Asthma: 920
Tornado: 44
Lightning: 52
Flood: 100
Lung Cancer: 37,000
Stomach Cancer: 46,600
Rabies: < 1
Syphilis: 200

2. How likely would you think it is for someone in the U.S. to die from anthrax in a year? How likely is it for them to drown? You don’t need exact numbers, just good ballpark figures. Why are most of us so much more frightened of the use of anthrax by terrorists?

3. First, give your best estimate of each of the following:

Being killed in a car wreck in a one-year period.
Being killed in a boating accident in a one-year period.
Being killed while riding a bicycle in a one-year period.
Being killed in a plane crash in a one-year period.
Being killed in a fire in a one-year period.
Being murdered in a one-year period.

Then go online and find out the actual probabilities. How close were you? Try to explain why you were wrong, in any cases where you were way of the mark.