Exercise 5 Page 312

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

Mean: $522.088≈$522.09
Median: $427.23

Practice makes perfect

We are given the average yearly gold price for years 2000-2009. Let's find the mean and the median of these prices.

Mean

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

Mean=Sum of values/Number of values

SubstituteValues

Substitute values

Mean=279.11+271.04+309.73+363.38+409.72+444.74+603.46+695.39+871.96+972.35/10

AddTerms

Add terms

Mean=5220.88/10

CalcQuot

Calculate quotient

Mean=522.088

RoundDec

Round to 2 decimal place(s)

Mean≈ 522.09

The mean of the prices is $522.088 or $522.09.

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. 271.04, 279.11, 309.73, 363.38, 409.72 | 444.74, 603.46, 695.39, 871.96, 972.35 Since there is an even number of scores, we will need to find the average of the two middle numbers, $409.72 and $444.74.

409.72+444.74/2

AddTerms

Add terms

854.46/2

CalcQuot

Calculate quotient

427.23

The median price is $427.23.