Chapter 5

Statistics and Probability

Mean, Median, Mode, Range

There are three types of average: the mode, the median and the mean.

• The mode or the modal is the number that appears most frequently in a data set

• The median is the middle number of a sorted list of numbers

• The mean is the average value in a set of number

• (Mean = sum of values ÷ total number of values)

• The range is the difference between the largest and the smallest numbers.

• (Range = largest value – smallest value)

Mean

The mean is the same as the average of a data set.

To find the mean, add up all the numbers in the data set and then divide by the total number

of data values.
Mean = sum of values ÷ total number of values

Example. Bobbi buys groceries every two weeks. Her last four grocery bills were $75.30, $59.65,
$72.92, and $67.20. What is the average amount of money Bobbi spends every two weeks on
groceries?

Exercise 1. Ms. Reba keeps track of how many students drop in Monday through Thursday

to study for their GED® test. Usually, students come in groups. Here is a chart of last week’s

numbers:

Ms. Reba forgot to write down two numbers for Wednesday. If the average number of
students per group was 3.2, and one of the unknown groups had one more student than the

other unknown group, what is the average number of students who came to see Ms. Reba
each day?

1
2. Mr. Carlo’s class is learning about frogs. He took his class to the pond to observe them in

their environment. One of the assignments was for each of the 14 students to measure one
frog in order to calculate an average length. The average length was 2.35 inches. Using the
following data, calculate the length of the 14th frog.

Median

The median of a data set is the middle number of a sorted list of numbers.

Example. What is the median of the following data values? 63, 72, 54, 69, 66.
54, 63, 66, 69, 72

The median = 66

Example. What is the median of the following data values? 23, 10, 31, 5, 39, 33

5, 10, 23, 31, 33, 39

23 + 31
The median = = 27
2
Mode

The mode of a data set is the number that appears most often.

Example. What is the mode of the following data set? 3, 4, 2, 9, 8, 9, 2, 9, 9, 4

Exercises. Identify the modes of the following data sets.

1. 45, 56, 23, 45, 12, 56, 38

2. 100, 96, 94, 101, 106

2
Weighted Average

A weighted average is able to account for terms within a situation that have different values

or relevance.

Example. Suppose Shirley owns a bakery and is ordering supplies to make her famous pies.

If she orders a shipment of 20 cans of peaches for $32.50 and a shipment of 24 cans of cherries
for $34.00, what is the average price Shirley pays per can of fruit?

Exercises

1. Five-year-old Larry made up a card game using four tens, three jacks, two queens, and one

king. He assigned a point value to each of the cards, which is shown in this table:
What is the average point value of each card?

2. Myrna teaches at a university. When assigning final grades, she gives each type of

assignment a different level of importance. The collection of Myrna’s assignments are worth a
total of 100 points.

Chad’s scores are shown in the next table. What is his final grade for the course? ____________

3. Mr. Gallespie is a high school science teacher. The weight he gives each assignment is listed

in the following table.

3
Looking at Katie’s scores, calculate her final grade for the semester to the nearest hundredth

of a percentage point. ______________

4
5
Probability

There are two types of probability: simple and compound.

Simple Probability

Simple probability refers to a single event.

Simple probability is calculated by finding the number of outcomes that fit the number of

total outcomes. This is usually represented by a fraction or a percentage.

The probability of any event can be expressed by a number from 0 to 1. If an event has 0
probability, the event is impossible. An event with a probability of 1 is certain to happen.

Most events are somewhere in between

1. 0 ≤ P( event) ≤ 1.

the number of favourable outcomes in E

2. P (E) =
the total number of possible outcomes

• A favorable outcome is the event that we are interested in.

• The possible outcomes are all the possible events that could occur.

1. If a box of chocolates contains 3 caramels, 3 nut clusters, and 5 raspberry creams, which of
the following fractions represents the chance of picking a caramel on the first try?

1 1 3 5
A. B. C. D.
11 3 11 11

2. What is the probability of grabbing a blue candy out of a bag with the following contents?
____________

Compound Probability

Compound probability refers to events with more than one condition.

Compound probability = (probability of first event) × (probability of second event)…

6
Example: What is the probability of getting heads twice in a row?

Example : Suppose there are eight tennis balls in a container: five green and three red. What

is the probability of pulling out a green ball on the first try and then a red ball on the second
try, without adding the first green ball back into the container?

Exercises

1. A box contains four blue marbles and two red marbles. If you select two marbles, what is
the probability that both will be blue?
2. Refer to the table with the number of candies, reprinted here:

What is the percentage probability of grabbing a blue candy the first time and then another
blue candy the next time, without replacing the first blue candy? ____________

P ( E or F ) = P ( EUF ), P ( E and F ) = P ( E ∩ F )
3. P ( not E) = 1 – P ( E)

4. P ( E or F ) = P ( E U F ) = P ( E ) + P ( F ) – P ( E ∩ F)

Mutually Exclusive
E and F are mutually exclusive events if P ( E∩ F ) = 0.

5. In this case, P ( E U F ) = P ( E ) + P ( F )

6. If E and F are independent, P ( E ∩ F ) = P ( E) P( F )

3. A spinner has six equal sections numbered from 1 to 6. What is the probability of spinning
either a 5 or 6?

4. In a game a player rolls a die, numbered from 1 to 6, and spins a spinner. The spinner is
shown below

7
What is the probability of rolling a 5 and then spinning an even number?

1 1 2 5
A. B. C. D.
2 6 3 6
5. What is the chance that a player will get a 3 on both the die and the spinner?

5 2 1 1
A. B. C. D.
6 3 6 36
A deck of 12 cards is marked with the following symbols

6. If a card is chosen at random, what is the probability of selecting a diamond ( �)?

A. 6% B. 12% C. 50% D. 60%

7. If a card is chosen at random, what is the probability of selecting something other than a

club ( �)?

3 2 1 9
A. B. C. D.
4 3 3 100

8. A bag contains 12 red, 3 blue, 6 green, and 4 yellow marbles. If a marble is drawn from the

bag at random, what is the probability that the marble will be either blue or yellow?

A. 7% B. 12% C. 25% D. 28%

Counting Techniques ( Fundamental )

The counting techniques featured on the GED® test are permutations and combinations.

4! = 4× 3× 2 × 1, 3! = 3 ×2 ×1 , n! =n ( n-1 ) (n -2 )…3 . 2. 1
4! = 4 ×3 ! , n! = n ( n -1 ) !, 0! = 1

Example: Find the number of ways first, second, third, and fourth place trophies could be

8
7. A chef will make a soup with five ingredients: one of four meats, one of four vegetables,

one of four kinds of noodles, one of four kinds of broth, and one of four spices. How many
possible combinations of ingredients could the chef put into the soup?
A. 20 B. 256 C. 1024 D. 3125

Permutations

Permutations are combinations where the order matters.

Permutations Formula

n!
P(n,k) = , where n is the number of options and k is the number of choices made.
(n − k )!
Notes: P (n,n) = n!, P ( 3,3) = 3!, P ( 5, 1) = 5, P ( n,1 ) = n

P ( n, 3) = n ( n -1 ) ( n – 2) , P ( 5, 2) = 5 × 4

Exercises

1. Find the number of ways first, second, third, and fourth place trophies could be awarded
to 15 different teams.
2. There are 20 athletes competing in a swim meet for first, second, and third places. How
many different ways could the trophies be awarded? ___________

3. Soraya has been given six tasks to do at work, but she has time to complete only four of
them. She must decide in what order to do the tasks. How many possible orderings of four

tasks are available to Soraya?

A. 24 B. 36 C. 360 D. 720

4. In a certain public garden, the gardener wanted to show the different visual effects that
arranging flowers in different sequences can have. So he chose three kinds of flowers and

planted flower beds showing each of the possible sequences of the three kinds. How many

such flower beds did the gardener plant?

A. 3 B. 6 C. 9 D. 12

5. A deli offers a made-to-order sandwich to its customers. Customers can choose one type

of bread, one type of meat, one type of cheese, and one type of lettuce. If the deli has four
types of bread, five types of meat, eight types of cheeses, and three types of lettuce, how many
different types of sandwiches can a customer order?

A. 20 B. 120 C. 240 D. 480

9
6. A school president is choosing three cabinet members to appoint: a vice president, a

secretary, and a treasurer. If she has eight candidates to choose from, each of whom can serve
any cabinet position, how many possible cabinets can the president appoint?
A. 21 B. 56 C. 336 D. 512

Combinations

Order does not matter with combinations.

Combinations Formula

P(n, k ) n!
C (n,k) = = ,
k! k !(n − k )!
where n is the number of options and k is the number of choices made.

• Combinations are used to select several things out of a larger group when the order

doesn’t matter.

• If you are asked to find how many ways to combine items from one group, use an
organized list or table.

Note: C ( n, k ) = C ( n, n-k), C ( 6,4 ) = C ( 6,2)

6×5
C ( 6, 2 ) =
2 ×1

Example. There are 13 different appetizers to choose from at a restaurant. There is a special

where you can order three appetizers for $12.99. How many different combinations of three
appetizers could you order?

Exercises

1. There are 10 different colors of sticky notes in the supply closet at Zachary’s office.
Employees can choose four different colors to organize their materials. How many different

color combinations could Zachary select when choosing four sticky notes? ____________

2. Pablo is going shopping at a fruit stand that sells apples, bananas, grapes, and pears.

Pablo will buy two different kinds of fruit. How many combinations of two kinds of fruit could
Pablo buy?

3. Celia is going to plant a small flower bed with four flowers. She can choose from begonias,

fuchsias, hellebore, daisies, and salvia. How many combinations of four flowers are possible?

A. 5 B. 20 C. 24 D. 120

10
Combinations with More Than One Type of Item

Example 2. Sarah is deciding what to wear. She has three shirts, two pairs of pants, and two

pairs of shoes. How many possible outfits does she have, if an outfit is one shirt, one pair of
pants, and one pair of shoes?

Example 3 . Gordon is at a restaurant that serves a three-course meal: an appetizer, an

entrée, and a dessert. There are three appetizers, six entrees, and four desserts to choose

from. Gordon will order one of each. How many different meals could he order?

Self-study

1. A teacher is selecting students for a trivia bowl. If there are nine interested students and a

trivia bowl team consists of three players, how many different teams can the teacher select?
A. 24 B. 84 C. 252 D. 504
2. The manager of a department store has to hire a new cashier, a new salesperson, and a new
shift supervisor. If there are 3 applicants for cashier, 8 applicants for salesperson, and 5

applicants for shift supervisor, and no applicant applies for more than one position, how many
different ways can the manager hire one person for each of the three positions?
A. 17 B. 20 C. 60 D. 120
3. Marie has five television shows recorded on her DVR. She has enough time to watch three

of them today, and must decide in what order she will watch them. How many different

orderings of the three shows she watches today can Marie choose?
A. 10 B. 30 C. 60 D. 120

4. Stan has a spinner with 6 sections of equal parts, each a different color: purple, red, blue,

green, yellow, and orange. If he spins twice, what is the probability that it will land on red then
yellow?

1 1 1 2
A. B. C. D.
6 12 36 12
5. Anna borrows Stan’s spinner and gives it two spins. What is the probability that she will land
on green only once?

1 1 5
A. B. C. D. 0
6 12 36

11