Review the key concepts, formulae, and examples before starting your quiz.
đConcepts
Data and Observations: Data is a collection of numerical facts gathered to provide information. Each individual value in the data set is called an observation. You can visualize data as a set of points scattered along a number line.
Arithmetic Mean (Average): The mean is the 'average' value that represents the entire data set. Visually, if you think of data points as blocks of different heights, the mean is the height they would all have if you redistributed the blocks to make them level.
Range: The range indicates the spread of the data. It is the difference between the highest and lowest values. On a horizontal scale, the range is the total length covered from the leftmost point to the rightmost point.
Mode: The mode is the value that occurs most frequently in a data set. In a bar graph, the mode is easily identified as the value corresponding to the tallest bar. A data set may have one mode, more than one mode, or no mode at all.
Median: The median is the middle-most value when the data is arranged in ascending or descending order. It divides the data set into two equal halves. Visually, if you line up all observations in a row by size, the median is the value sitting exactly in the center.
Representative Values: Mean, Median, and Mode are collectively known as measures of central tendency. They provide a single value that describes the center or the 'typical' value of the data distribution.
đFormulae
đĄExamples
Problem 1:
The marks obtained by 5 students in a math test are: . Find the Mean and Range of this data.
Solution:
Step 1: To find the Mean, sum all the observations: . \nStep 2: Divide the sum by the number of students (): . \nStep 3: To find the Range, identify the highest and lowest values: , . \nStep 4: .
Explanation:
The mean provides the average score of the group, while the range shows the performance gap between the highest and lowest scorer.
Problem 2:
Find the Mode and Median of the following data: .
Solution:
Step 1: Arrange the data in ascending order: . \nStep 2: Identify the most frequent value. appears three times, while others appear less. So, . \nStep 3: Count the number of observations (). Since is odd, the Median is the observation. \nStep 4: Median is the term in the sorted list. In , the term is . So, .
Explanation:
The mode is found by frequency counting, and the median is found by locating the center of the ordered list. In this specific case, both representative values are the same.