A climbing gym recorded these 12 visits by day and session:
Weekday–Morning, Weekend–Evening, Weekday–Evening,
Weekend–Morning, Weekday–Morning, Weekend–Evening,
Weekend–Evening, Weekday–Morning, Weekend–Morning,
Weekday–Evening, Weekend–Evening, Weekday–Morning.
A worker made the table below. Check it against the visit list. Make any corrections needed, including totals, and explain what the worker got wrong.
<table><tr><th></th><th>Morning</th><th>Evening</th><th>Total</th></tr><tr><th>Weekday</th><td>\(3\)</td><td>\(3\)</td><td>\(6\)</td></tr><tr><th>Weekend</th><td>\(3\)</td><td>\(3\)</td><td>\(6\)</td></tr><tr><th>Total</th><td>\(6\)</td><td>\(6\)</td><td>\(12\)</td></tr></table>
Hints
- Count each day-and-session pair from the list, rather than counting days and sessions separately.
- Compare each of your four counts with the worker's four inside cells.
- What information might be lost when you check only the totals?
Solution
1. Count complete day-session pairs in the visit list: Weekday–Morning occurs \(4\) times, Weekday–Evening \(2\), Weekend–Morning \(2\), and Weekend–Evening \(4\).
2. The worker's four inside counts are wrong even though every shown total is correct.
3. In the corrected table, both row totals are \(6\) and both column totals are \(6\). Totals cannot show whether visits were placed in the right joint categories.
Answer
All four inside counts are wrong, even though the totals agree with the visit list.
<table><tr><th></th><th>Morning</th><th>Evening</th><th>Total</th></tr><tr><th>Weekday</th><td>\(4\)</td><td>\(2\)</td><td>\(6\)</td></tr><tr><th>Weekend</th><td>\(2\)</td><td>\(4\)</td><td>\(6\)</td></tr><tr><th>Total</th><td>\(6\)</td><td>\(6\)</td><td>\(12\)</td></tr></table>
The totals match in both tables, so only checking the original paired records reveals the error.