http://www.ck12.org Chapter 5. Measures of Central Tendency
16 22 10 8 14
12 36 18 12 10
34 26 44 6 20
31 25 15 9 13
What is the median number of pop cans collected by a student?
Answer:
6 8 9 10 10
12 12 13 14 15
16 18 20 22 25
26 31 34 36 44
There is an even number of data values in the table, so the median will be the mean of the number before then+ 21
position and the number after then+ 21 position:n+ 21 =^202 +^1 =^212 = 10 .5.
The number before the 10.5 position is 15, and the number after the 10.5 position is 16. Therefore, the median
number of pop cans collected by a student is^15 + 216 =^312 = 15 .5.
Practice
- What name is given to a value in a data set that is much lower or much higher than the other values?
a. A sample
b. An outlier
c. A population
d. A tally - What is the median of the following numbers?
10 , 39 , 71 , 42 , 39 , 76 , 38 , 25
a. 42.5
b. 39
c. 42
d. 35.5
- The front row in a movie theatre has 23 seats. If you were asked to sit in the seat that occupied the median
position, in what number seat would you have to sit?