At practice last week, Laura scored 2 out of 10 attempts on a basketball hoop. Sarah scored 3 out of 10 attempts. Let’s assume that all shots are taken from the same spot on the basketball court (the three-point line) with no defender. Sarah must be a better shooter.

This week, Laura made 53 out of 100 attempts to score a basketball hoop. Sarah scored 6 out of 10 attempts. Sarah is still better.

However, let’s add up the scores for BOTH weeks:

• Laura scored 55 out of 110 shots, which is 50%
• Sarah scored 9 out of 20 shots, which is only 45%

Does that mean Laura is better? Sarah was better last week and this week, but Laura is better over both weeks.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

The analysis of the performance of Laura and Sarah in shooting basketball hoops over the past two weeks shows that while Sarah performed better than L... View the full answer