Center, Spread and Shape of Distribution

What are "center, spread, and shape of distributions" problems, and how frequently do
they appear on the test?
Center, spread, and shape of distributions are also known as summary statistics (or statistics
for short); they concisely describe data sets.
● Center describes a typical value of a data set. The SAT covers three measures of
center: mean, median, and occasionally mode.
● Spread describes the variation of the data. Two measures of spread are range and
standard deviation.

On your official SAT, you'll likely see 2 to 3 questions that test your ability to calculate,
compare, and use the center, spread, and shape of distributions.
On the SAT, we need to know how to find the mean, median, and mode of a data set.

Mean
The mean is the average value of a data set.
mean = sum of values / number of values

Example:
2, 5, 6, 7, 10

What is the mean of the data set above?

SAT with Talal 30

Example:

Median
The median is the middle value when the data are ordered from least to greatest.
● If the number of values is odd, the median is the middle value.
● If the number of values is even, the median is the average of the two middle values.

SAT with Talal 31

Example:
9, 7, 12, 5, 9

What is the median of the data set above?

Mode
The mode is the value that appears most frequently in a data set. A data set can have no
mode if no value appears more than any other; a data set can also have more than one
mode.

Example:
1, 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 8

SAT with Talal 32

How do I find the range and standard deviation?

On the SAT, we need to know how to find the range of a data set. While we won't be asked
to calculate the standard deviation, we do need to have a sense of the relative standard
deviations of two data sets.

Range
The range measures the total spread of the data; it is the difference between the maximum
and minimum values.

range = maximum - minimum value

A larger range indicates a greater spread in the data.

Example:
1, 9, 4, 3, 8

What is the range of the data set above?

Standard Deviation

Standard deviation measures the typical spread from the mean; it is the average distance
between the mean and a value in the data set.
Larger standard deviations indicate greater spread in the data.

SAT with Talal 33

Answer:

SAT with Talal 34

How do outliers affect summary statistics?

The effect of outliers

An outlier is a value in a data set that significantly differs from other values. The inclusion of
outliers in data sets can greatly skew the summary statistics, which is why outliers are often
removed from data sets.

Effect on the range and standard deviation

The inclusion of outliers increases the spread of data, leading to larger range and standard
deviation. Conversely, removing outliers decreases the spread of data, leading to smaller
range and standard deviation.

SAT with Talal 35

How do I solve for a missing value?
If we know the mean of a data set and the number of values, we can calculate a missing
value in the data set by:

1. Calculating the sum of values by multiplying the mean by the number of values.
2. Subtract all known values from the sum of values.

SAT with Talal 36

Example:

Answer: C

SAT with Talal 37

Example:

Answer: B

SAT with Talal 38

Example:

Answer: C

SAT with Talal 39

SAT with Talal 40