Problem-Solving and Data AnalysisMediumMedian of an even-sized data set
Problem-Solving and Data Analysis practice question
The numbers of pets owned by eight families are 8, 3, 5, 2, 8, 4, 7, and 3. What is the median number of pets?
Answer: 4.5 or 9/2
Order: 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8. With eight values, the median is the mean of the 4th and 5th: (4 + 5)/2 = 4.5.
Common wrong answers
- If you answered 4
- 4 is the 4th ordered value alone.
- If you answered 5
- 5 is the mean, and also the 5th ordered value; the median averages the two middle values.
- If you answered 8
- 8 is the mode (and the maximum).
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What is the difference between the mean and the median of this data set?
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