MEAN, MEDIAN, AND MODE

In order to help us discuss distributions of numbers, we have several measurements that are helpful.

MEAN This is the average of a set of numbers. To find it, you add up all the data entries, and divide by the number of entries.

MEDIAN This is the middle number in your data once your data is arranged in either increasing or decreasing order. In other words, half of the data is above this value and half of the data is below this value. If you have an even number of data values, average the two in the "middle". Alternatively, you may find it easier to use the following rule: Let n represent the number of data entries, and arrange the data values in increasing or decreasing order. If n is odd, then the median is the term in position n + 1 . If n is even, then the median is
2 2 2

the average of the terms in position n and n + 1 .

MODE This is the number that occurs most often in the data. If there are several numbers that tie for occurring most often, some texts say there is no mode, while others say there is more than one ... in this case, check with your prof regarding what definition they expect you to use. _______________________________________________________________________ Example: Suppose that the test scores in your class are as follows: 82, 68, 98, 100, 62, 51, 45, 89, 79, 34, 89, 77, 60, 55, 52, 83, 97, 91, 70. Find the mean, the median, and the mode. Solution: Mean: We add up all the data and divide by the number of data points, which is 19. mean = 82 + 68 + 98 + 100 + 62 + 51 + 45 + 89 + 79 + 34 + 89 + 77 + 60 + 55 + 52 + 83 + 97 + 91 + 70 19 1382 = 19 73

Median: Let's arrange the data in increasing order: 34, 45, 51, 52, 55, 60, 62, 68, 70, 77, 79, 82, 83, 89, 89, 91, 97, 98, 100. Since there are 19 entries, the 10th one will be the halfway point, so the median is 77 (because thats the entry that occurs in the 10th position). Mode: All of the numbers occur once except for 89, which occurs twice, so the mode is 89. _______________________________________________________________________