Question

Find the mean, median, mode and range of these measurements: 2.5 cm, 2.6 cm, 2.5cm, 2.4cm, 2.6 cm.

Answer 1

Mean:

The mean of a data set is found adding all the numbers in the data set and then dividing by the number of values in the data set, in this case we have:

`\bar{x}=(2.5+2.6+2.5+2.4+2.6)/(5)=(12.6)/(5)=2.52`

Therefore the mean is 2.52 cm

Median:

To find the median we first need to order the data from smallest to largest, let's fo this:

2.4, 2.5, 2.5, 2.6, 2.6

Once we have the set ordered we can find the median; to do this we need to find the central value of the ordered set. In this case we have 5 values, the central value would be the one in the third position, therefore the medain of the data set is 2.5 cm.

Mode:

The mode is the value in the data set that occurs more frequently; in this case we notice that 2.5 cm and 2.6 cm appear twice in the data set. In any given set it is ok if we have more than one mode; therefore the mode of the data are 2.5 cm and 2.6 cm.

Range:

To find the range we find the minimum value and tha mximum value and calculate their difference. For thi set the minimum value is 2.4 cm and the maximum value is 2.6 cm, then we have that:

`\text{range}=2.6-2.4=0.2`

Therefore the range is 0.2 cm