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Year 9 Mathematics 5.1 Program 1

Single Variable Data Analysis -

Pt 3 – Mean, Median, Mode and Range

Distance Education Mathematics Network

Acknowledgments

Distance Education Mathematics Network gratefully acknowledges the following owners of copyright
material.
Centre for Learning Innovation
Board of Studies NSW Mathematics K-10 Syllabus 2013
Learning Materials Production, Open Training and Education Network - Distance Education, NSW
Department of Education and Training 2002

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Writers: Mathematics Teachers, Sydney Distance Education High School

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Version date: November 2013
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9-5.1-P1 Single Variable Data Analysis Part 3 Mean Median Mode & Range Distance Education Mathematics Network
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9-5.1-P1 Single Variable Data Analysis Part 3 Mean Median Mode & Range Distance Education Mathematics Network
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Outcomes
By completing this unit, students are working towards achieving the following outcomes.

You have the opportunity to learn to:

 use appropriate terminology, diagrams and symbols in mathematical

contexts MA5.1-1WM

 select and use appropriate strategies to solve problems MA5.1-2WM

 provide reasoning to support conclusions that are appropriate to the

context MA5.1-3WM

 use statistical displays to compare sets of data, and evaluate

statistical claims made in the media MA5.1-12SP

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Students:

Working Mathematically

 develop understanding and fluency in mathematics through inquiry, exploring and connecting
mathematical concepts, choose and apply problem-solving skills and mathematical
techniques, communication and reasoning

Statistics and Probability

 collect, represent, analyse, interpret and evaluate data, assign and use probabilities, and
make sound judgements

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MathsOnline
Before you commence this unit, you can revise your skills using the online site MathsOnline. This
site is an additional resource to be used in conjunction with your leaflet and its use is highly
recommended but not compulsory. You must still return your completed Title Page to your teacher
for correction.

Your maths teacher should have issued you with a MathsOnline login and password.

Students can pay to register with MathsOnline.

Contact your teacher for details.

www.mathsonline.com.au

The pathway to the animated lessons, worksheets and summary for this topic are:

Course: Year 7 and 8 Course: Year 7 and 8

Stream: Probability and Statistics Stream: Probability and Statistics
Topic: Statistics Topic: Statistics
Lessons: The Range and the Mode Lessons: Frequency Histograms and
The Median Polygons
The Mean

It is advisable to listen to these lessons before you work on

the booklet and use it to enhance your knowledge and
understanding
BLANK PAGE
Preliminary Quiz

Before you start this booklet, use this preliminary quiz to revise some skills you will need.

Activity – Preliminary Quiz

1. For this set of information draw and label a frequency histogram and polygon in the space
provided.

Score frequency
(x) (f)

9 2
10 7
11 6
12 4
13 1
frequency (f)

Score (x)

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2. Use these scores to draw a dot plot below:

4, 3, 5, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 3, 2, 5, 6, 4, 4

2 3 4 5 6
Scores

3. Use these scores to complete the stem-and-leaf plot below:

Remember that the tens and hundreds are in the

stem column and the units or ones go in the leaf
coloumn.

93 97 90 116 101
125 105 109 126 127
101 112 118 101 121
115 123 120 117 99

Stem Leaf
9
10
11
12

Now correct your answers from the suggested answers given on the next page.

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Suggested Answers:
1.
7

5
frequency (f)

0
0 9 10 11 12 13
Score (x)

frequency histogram

frequency polygon

2.

2 3 4 5 6
Scores

3.
Stem Leaf

9 0 3 7 9

10 1 1 1 5 9

11 2 5 6 7 8

12 0 1 3 5 6 7

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Mean, median, mode and range from a set of raw scores

In your stage 4 Mathematics course you learned about measures that tell you something about the
middle of a set of scores. The three measures of central tendency are the mean, median and mode.
Another measure that lets you know about the spread of scores is called the range.

The mean is the average of a number of scores. The symbol for this is (said “x-bar”), and is
shown like this on your calculator.

To find the mean of a loose collection of scores (x), you can add them together and then
divide by the number of scores (n).

For example, the mean of 6, 9, 12, and 15 is:

The median is the middle for a set of numbers written in order.

For example, the median of 6, 9, 11, and 15 is the value midway between 9 and 11. You can
easily see the median to be 10, in this case.

Alternatively, you could average out these two values: .

For an odd number of values, such as 6, 9, 11, 14 and 15, the middle value falls neatly onto a
score. In this example the median is 11.

The mode is the most frequent score. That is, the score that occurs most often.

For the examples above there is no mode as each score occurs once.
But for 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9 the mode is 5. There are more 5’s than any other score.

Note: a set of scores can have more than one mode.

The range = highest score  lowest score.

For example, the set of scores 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9 has range .

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 Activity – Mean, median, mode and range

Try these.

1. For the following sets of scores calculate the mean, median, mode and range.

a) 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14

mean: ________________________________________________________________

median: _______________________________________________________________

mode: _________________________________________________________________

range: _________________________________________________________________

b) 15, 9, 23, 16, 15, 18, 17, 15, 11, 20, 19, 16, 14, 17, 15, 18

When scores are presented like this not in a table or order they are referred to as loose or
raw data. To find the median you will need to re-arrange them from smallest to largest.

mean: ________________________________________________________________

median: _______________________________________________________________

mode: _________________________________________________________________

range: _________________________________________________________________

Now correct your answers from the suggested answers given below.

Suggested Answers:
115
1. a) mean, x  ; median = 9 (count through to the 7th score);
13
 8.85

mode = 9 (this score occurred 4 times); range  14  4

 10
b) Arrange the scores in order first:

9, 11, 14, 15, 15, 15, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17, 18, 18, 19, 20, 23
258
mean  ; median = 16 (this value lies between the 8th and 9th scores);
16
 16.125
mode = 15; range  23  9
 14
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Exercise 3.1 – Mean, median, mode and range from raw
scores

When you find the mean in this Exercise, give your answer correct to 1 decimal place where
necessary.

1. Calculate the mean, median, mode and range for these loose scores.

i) 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 23, 25, 25, 25, 26, 27, 27, 30, 30, 32

Mean = _______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Median =______________________________________________________________
Mode = _______________________________________________________________
Range =_______________________________________________________________

For part (ii) don’t forget to re-arrange the scores in ascending order to find the median.

ii) 7.6, 7.1, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.8, 7.6, 7.2, 7.0

Mean = _______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Median =______________________________________________________________
Mode = _______________________________________________________________
Range =_______________________________________________________________

2. Why does this set of scores not have a mode?

105, 98, 68, 85, 60, 47, 88, 75, 92, 61.

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Using a table to find statistical measures

Calculating the mean is easy for a small number of loose scores. It can become more difficult when
there is a large collection of scores.

Usually when there is a large number of scores they are generally tabulated first. An example is
shown below.

Example 1:

Finding the Mean

To calculate the mean for a set of scores written as a table, you need to add a new column called the
“frequency times score”. We call this the fx column and to get this we multiply each score by its
frequency. Then calculate the total,  fx (the sum of the fx column). The f × x column just helps
you in adding up the scores, so you don’t have to add each score individually.

 fx
The mean is then found as x 
f

Your calculator can also calculate the mean for tabulated values.

Follow through these steps. Do your own working in the margin if you wish.

Calculate the mean, median, mode and range for these tabulated values.

frequency  score,
Score, x frequency, f
fx
12 1 12 1  12

13 4 13  4  52

14 7 14  7  98
15 6 15  6  90

16 4 16  4  64

17 3 17  3  51

 f  25  fx  367

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The mean = x
 fx

f
367

25
 14.68

Finding the Median

Remember that the median is the middle score. There is an odd number of scores (25) so the middle
score will be the 13th score.

In the above example, there is

1 score of 12
Then 4 scores of 13 We have 1  4  7  12 scores
Then 7 scores of 14

The next 6 scores are 15. So the 13th score must be a 15.

So the median = 15.

Finding the Mode

The mode is the most popular score or the score that occurs most often (i.e. the score with the
highest frequency).

In this example the mode = 14 as it occurs 7 times.

Finding the Range

The range = highest score – lowest score

In this example the range = 17 – 12

= 5.

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Example 2: You are given the following table:

Score frequency frequency  score,

x f fx
65 3 65  3  195
70 2 70  2  140
75 5 75  5  375
80 3 80  3  240
85 7 85  7  595
90 4 90  4  360
95 4 95  4  380
100 2 100  2  200
 f  30  fx  2485

Mean  x
 fx

f
2485

30
 82.7 (correct to 1 decimal place)

Mode = 85 (There are more 85’s than any other scores).

Range = 100 – 65
= 35

Finding the Median in Example 2

The median is the middle score but where there are an even number of scores there are 2 middle
scores. The median is then the average of the 2 middle scores (i.e. we add them and divide by 2).

In example 2, there are 30 scores so the middle scores are the 15th and 16th scores.

Note: that the 15th score has 14 scores below it and the 16th score has 14 scores above it.

If you look at the frequency distribution table above there are: -

 3 scores of 65
 2 scores of 70 13 scores
 5 scores of 75 20 scores
 3 scores of 80
 7 scores of 85

The first 13 scores are 80 or below, the next 7 are 85. So the 15th and 16th scores must both be 85’s,
thus the median is 85.
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 Activity – Using a table to find statistical
measures

Try these.

1. a) Complete the f × x column in this table of data.

Score Frequency frequency  score

x f fx
3 2 3 2  6

4 3

5 10

6 5

7 7

8 6

9 2

10 5

f   fx 

Now find the:-

b) mean  x  = ___________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

c) mode = _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

d) median = _____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

e) range = _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Now correct your answers from the suggested answers given on the next page.

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Suggested Answers:

1. a)
Score Frequency frequency  score
x f fx
3 2 3 2  6

4 3 4  3  12

5 10 5 10  50

6 5 6  5  30

7 7 7  7  49

8 6 8  6  48

9 2 9  2  18

10 5 10  5  50

 f  40  fx  263

b) mean   x 
 fx

f
263

40
 6.575

c) mode = 5

67
d) median 
2
 6.5

e) range = 10 – 3
=7

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Exercise 3.2 – Using a table to find statistical measures

1. A study was made of the young born to the cougar (mountain lion) and the following table
constructed.

Number of frequency  score,

frequency, f
young, x fx
1 3

2 5

3 7

4 12

5 10

6 6

f   fx 

i) Complete the values in the table.

ii) Use the table to calculate the mean number of young born, correct to one decimal place.
______________________________________________________________________

iii) What is the mode number of young born? ____________________________________

iv) What is the median number of young born? __________________________________

v) Two more births were later reported, one with 2 young, the other with 3 young. Which
of the values mean, median and mode will not change?
______________________________________________________________________

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 vi) Using the grid given below draw a labelled frequency histogram and polygon for the
original data.

Cougar Births

12

11

10

8
frequency

7
(f )

0
1 2 3 4 5 6
Number of young
(x)

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Reading statistical measures from a stem and leaf plot

Here are the results of a Year 9 class test with 15 students. The test was out of 65 marks.

Stem Leaf
3 7, 9
4 1, 2, 6, 8, 8, 9
5 3, 5, 5, 9
6 1, 2, 5

The first score in the table is 37. So the ‘stem’ column has the tens number and the ‘leaf’ column
has the ones or units.

The Mean  x 

37  39  41  42  46  48  48  49  53  55  55  59  61  62  65

15
760

15
 50.6666......
 50.7 (correct to 1 decimal place)
The Median

There are 15 scores so the middle score will be the 8th score. So the median = 49.

(Just count along the leaf from left to right until you come to the 8th score.)

The Mode

A set of scores can have more than one mode. There are two 48’s and two 55’s
so the modes are 48 & 55.

The Range

Range  highest score  lowest score

Range  65  37
 28

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 Activity – Reading measures from a stem and
leaf plot
Try these.

1. Here are the number of points that a basketball team scored over 20 games.

Stem Leaf

2 7, 8, 8, 9

3 0, 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 9

4 2, 4, 4, 7, 8

5 3, 5, 9

6 2

Now find the:-

a) mean = _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

b) mode = _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

c) median = _____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

d) range = _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Now correct your answers from the suggested answers given on the next page.

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Suggested Answers:
803
1. a) mean 
20
 40.15

b) mode = 28, 33 and 44

c) There are 20 scores so the two middle scores are the 10th and the 11th scores.

10th score = 36 11th score = 39

36  39
Median 
2
75

2
 37.5

d) range = 62−27
= 35

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Exercise 3.3 – Reading statistical measures from a stem
and leaf plot

1. For these stem-and-leaf plots find

i) the mode ii) the median

iii) the range iv) the mean

a) Stem Leaf b) Stem Leaf

0 1 1 4 6 10 1 4 8

1 0 0 5 9 9 11 0 3 4 5 5

2 3 4 4 4 5 6 12 1 4

3 2 5

i) ____________________________ i) ___________________________

ii) ____________________________ ii) ___________________________

iii) ____________________________ iii) ___________________________

iv) ____________________________ iv) ___________________________

____________________________ ___________________________

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Reading statistical measures from a dot plot

Example

Here is a dot plot showing Zac’s scores in a weekly maths test out of 10 over 18 weeks.

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Can you see that there are 18 dots – one to represent each week’s result?

To find the mean:

You will need to add up all the scores and divide by 18.

4  5  6  6  7  7  7  7  7  8  8  9  9  9  9  10  10  10
x
18
138

18
 7.7 (to one decimal place)

To find the median:

There are an even number of scores (18) so there will be 2 middle scores. They are 9th and the 10th
scores. Counting the dots from the left hand side the 9th will be 7 and the 10th score will be 8.

78
So the median 
2
15
 .
2
 7.5

To find the mode:

The mode is easy. It is just the number with most dots above it.

The mode = 7.

To find the range:

Range = 10 – 4
= 6.

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 Activity – Reading statistical measures from a
dot plot

Try these.

1. Kate goes on 5 km runs for training. Here are her times (in minutes) for 20 runs.

27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

Find Kate’s:

a) mean = _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

b) mode = _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

c) median = _____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

d) range = _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Now correct your answers from the suggested answers given on the next page.

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Suggested Answers:

1. a) mean

27  28  28  28  29  29  29  29  29  29  30  31  31  31  32  32  33  33  33  34

20
605

20
 30.25

b) mode = 29 minutes

c) There are 20 scores so the two middle scores are the 10th and the 11th scores.

The 10th score = 29 and the 11th score = 30

29  30
 median 
2
 29.5

d) range = 34−27
=7

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Exercise 3.4 – Reading statistical measures from a dot
plot

1. Suzie recorded the number of goals scored by her soccer team in each of their games and put
the results in a dot plot.

0 1 2 3 4 5

a) How many games did the team play? _______________________________________

b) Find the:

i) mean: ____________________________________________________________

ii) median: __________________________________________________________

iii) mode: ___________________________________________________________

iv) range: ___________________________________________________________

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Review Quiz

This quiz is to be marked by your teacher.

1 Calculate the mean, median, mode and range for these scores.
Don’t forget to re-arrange the scores in ascending order to find the median.

56, 45, 38, 46, 67, 66, 53, 49, 53, 60, 56, 58, 56, 52

Mean = _______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Median =______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Mode = _______________________________________________________________

Range =_______________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

2 Complete the following table.

Scores Mean Mode Median Range

a) 5, 4, 5, 6, 4

b) 13, 10, 15, 13, 17

c) 3, 0, 5, 4, 2, 0, 1, 5, 2, 0, 2

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3 a) Complete the f × x column in this table of data.

Score Frequency frequency  score

x f fx
13 2 13 × 2 = 26

14 3

15 2

16 5

17 6

18 1

19 2

20 1

f   fx 

Now find the:-

b) mean  x  =
_________________________________________________________________________

c) mode = ______________________________________________________________

d) median = ______________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

e) range = ________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

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4. For this stem-and-leaf plot find

Stem Leaf

0 1 1 4 6

1 0 1 5 9 9

2 2 3 4 5 5 6

3 2 4

i) mode _______________________

ii) median _____________________

iii) range _______________________

iv) mean _______________________

5. a) Draw a Dot Plot for the following scores

0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

_____________________________________
0 1 2 3 4 5

b) Using your Dot Plot state

i) Mode_________________________________

ii) Median ______________________________

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Answers to Exercises

This section provides answers to the exercise questions. Your answers should be
similar to these. If your answers are very different or if you do not understand an
answer, contact your teacher.

Exercise 3.1
1 i) Mean = 24.8
Median= 25
Mode = 25
Range = 14

ii) Mean = 7.4

Median= 7.5
Mode = 7.6
Range = 0.8

2 Because there is only one of each score

Exercise 3.2

1 i) Number of frequency  score,

frequency, f
young, x fx
1 3 1x3-3

2 5 2 x 5 = 10

3 7 3 x 7 = 21

4 12 4 x 12 = 48

5 10 5 x 10 = 50

6 6 6 x 6 = 36

 f  43  fx  168

ii) 3.9
iii) 4
iv) 4
v) Median and mode stay the same, the mean will change.

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 vi)

Exercise 3.3
1 a) i) 24
ii) 19
iii) 34
iv) 17.52
b) i) 115
ii) 113.5
iii) 23
iv) 112.5
Exercise 3.4
1 a) 18
b) i) 2.1 ii) 2
iii) 1 iv) 5

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