What is mean, median and mode?
- The mean is the "average" of a set.
- The median is the middle value.
- The mode is the value that appears most frequently.
List of given values (Remember its best to list the values in order from least to greatest as it makes it easier to find the median and mode) :
-13.78, -3.01, -2.41, -0.28, 0.66, 0.67, 1.05, 1.39, 2.03, 2.20, 2.64, 4.02
Finding the mean
To find the mean or the "average" we simply find the sum of the values and then divide that by the number of given values.
Here, the sum of the values = -13.78 + -3.01 + -2.41 + -0.28 + 0.66 + 0.67 + 1.05 + 1.39 + 2.03 + 2.20 + 2.64 + 4.02 = -4.82
There are a total of 12 values
So mean = -4.82 / 12 = -.402 (Rounded to the nearest thousandth.)
So the mean is -.402
Finding the median.
Given the list of numbers, if we go to the middle number, you will notice that there are two middles numbers as there are an even amount of numbers. Those two numbers being 0.67 and 1.05. When there are two middle numbers we add them together and divide by 2.
So the median = 0.67 + 1.05 = 1.72 / 2 = 0.86
The median is 0.86
Finding the mode.
Again the mode is the number that appears most frequently. With the given values, no number appears more than once therefore there is no mode.
The mode is none.
Determining which measures of center is best for these values.
Usually when deciding whether its best to use median, mode or mean to represent the center of data, we look at the given values. There is no mode in this data set, so automatically we can eliminate that option. If there are many outliers, its best to use the median. If there are little to no outliers its best to use the mean mean.
Here, there are quite a few outliers, those being -13.78 and and 4.02. The rest of the values practically fall in between -2 and 2. That being said, the median is probably the best representation of the center of the data.