Exercise 3 Page 312

To find the median, make sure the numbers are in numerical order.

Mean: 137.2
Median: 139.5

Practice makes perfect

We are given the weight of 6 members of a basketball team. Let's find the mean and the median of this data.

Mean

In order to find the mean, or average, we need to find the sum of the weights and divide by the number of members.

Mean=Sum of values/Number of values

SubstituteValues

Substitute values

Mean=125+136+150+119+150+143/6

AddTerms

Add terms

Mean=823/6

CalcQuot

Calculate quotient

Mean=137,166666...

RoundDec

Round to 1 decimal place(s)

Mean≈137.2

The mean of the weights is approximately 137.2.

Median

The median of a set of data is the middle number, or the average of the two middle numbers, when placed in order from least to greatest. Let's start by writing the numbers in numerical order. 119, 125, 136, | 143, 150, 150 Since there is an even number of weights, we will need to find the average of the two middle numbers, 136 and 143.

136+143/2

AddTerms

Add terms

279/2

CalcQuot

Calculate quotient

139.5

The median weight is 139.5.