What are mean, median, mode and range? (Let's plunge in #2)

In order to know what mean, median and mode are, we need to have knowledge on basic addition, multiplication, division & data sets.

Data sets can be mathematically described in various ways. One common way is to use different kinds of averages. mean, median, and mode are examples of averages. Along with range, they help to summarize the data.

Mean - The mean is what people usually show when they say “average”. You can calculate the mean by adding up all the numbers in the data and then dividing by how many numbers there are. For example, if you have 12 numbers, you add them up and divide by 12. This will give you the mean of the data.

Median - The median is the middle number of the data set. It is just as it sounds. To find the median you put all the numbers in order (from lowest to highest or highest to lowest) and then pick the middle number. If there is an odd number of data points, then you will have only one middle number. If there is an even number of data points, then you need to pick the two middle numbers, add them together, and divide by two. That number will be your median.

Mode - The mode is the number that shows up the most.

Received message. Here is a spun paragraph for you: Mean - The mean is what people usually mean when they say "average". You can calculate the mean by adding up all the numbers in the data and then dividing by how many numbers there are. For example, if you have 12 numbers, you add them up and divide by 12. This will give you the mean of the data. Median - The median is the middle number of the data set. It is just as it sounds. To find the median you put all the numbers in order (from lowest to highest or highest to lowest) and then pick the middle number. If there is an odd number of data points, then you will have only one middle number. If there is an even number of data points, then you need to pick the two middle numbers, add them together, and divide by two. That number will be your median. Mode - The mode is the number that shows up the most. There are some tips to remember about mode:

(If there are two numbers that show up most often [and with the same frequency] then the data has two modes. This is called bimodal. If there are more than 2 then the data would be called multimodal. If all the numbers show up the same number of times, then the data set has no modes.)

Received message. Here is a spun paragraph for you: If there are two numbers that show up most often (and with the same frequency) then the data has two modes. This is called bimodal. If there are more than 2 then the data would be called multimodal. If all the numbers show up the same number of times, then the data set has no modes.

Range - Range is the difference between the highest number and the lowest number. Take, for  example math test scores. Let’s say your highest score all year was a 100 and your lowest was a 75. Then the rest of the scores don’t matter for range. The range is 100-75=25. The range is 25.

Example problem finding mean, median, mode and range:

Find the mean, median, mode and range of the following data set:

9,4,17,4,7,8,14

Finding the mean:

First sum up the numbers: 9+4+17+4+7+8+14 = 63

Then divide 63 by how many numbers there are, 7, and you get 9. The mean is 9.

Finding the median: 

First arrange the numbers in order: 4, 4, 7, 8, 9, 14, 17

The middle number is 8. So the median is 8.

Finding the mode:

Remember the mode is the number that shows up the most. It can help to sort the numbers so we don’t miss anything: 4, 4, 7, 8, 9, 14, 17

Four shows up twice and the rest of the numbers only show up once. The mode is 4.

Finding the range:

The smallest number is 4. The largest number is 17.

Range = 17 - 4    

So the range is 13

An easy way to remember these data summarizes is by this method-

 This method involves remembering mean, median & mode as "3Ms".

                                                      Woah! This should be easy enough!

                                                  Bye, and stay tuned for the next blog! :-)