What we see: a Graphics Interpretation question on a cumulative graph. Each point means "delivered by this day," not "delivered on this day." Reading the graph that way decides both blanks.
Step 1. Blank 1: the share between two days is a subtraction.
What we see: Warehouse North's line is at 40 above day 3 and at 80 above day 5.
What it means: 40% of North's orders arrived in 3 days or less, and 80% arrived in 5 days or less. The orders that took more than 3 days but no more than 5 are in the second group but not the first.
What we do and why: \(80 - 40 = 40\%\).
The other choices each come from one slip: 80% reads day 5 alone, 60% is \(100 - 40\) (every order over 3 days, forgetting "no more than 5"), and 18% is \(58 - 40\) (day 4 only).
Step 2. Blank 2: the median is where the line crosses 50%.
What we see: the median delivery time is the time by which half of the orders had arrived.
What it means: North is at 40 on day 3 and 58 on day 4, so it crosses 50 between day 3 and day 4. South is at 30 on day 2 and 62 on day 3, so it crosses 50 between day 2 and day 3.
What we do and why: South reaches 50% a full day band earlier, so its median is shorter. We never need the exact crossing point, only which day band it falls in.
The trap: "longer than." After day 5 South's line sits below North's (76 against 80, then 88 against 94), so South looks slower. Those points describe the slowest quarter of the orders. The median is about the middle order only, and there South is ahead.
Faster way: lay a ruler flat across the graph at 50 and see which line hits it first.
Takeaway: On a cumulative graph, the share between two days is one point minus another, and the median is where the line crosses 50%.
Answer: Blank 1 40 percent, Blank 2 shorter than
