Final answer:
The correct mean number of pages in the 8 books is recalculated by adjusting the total sum to account for the error and is found to be 221.5 pages.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question involves recalculating the mean number of pages of 8 books after realizing an error in the initially provided information.
Ralph initially calculated the mean of 8 books as 224 pages. However, he mistakenly counted one book as having 220 pages instead of its actual count of 200 pages. To find the correct mean, we need to adjust the total sum of pages by subtracting the overcounted 20 pages and then recalculate the average.
The incorrect total sum of pages is 224 x 8 = 1792 pages. Since he overcounted one book by 20 pages (220 - 200), we subtract those 20 pages from the total sum: 1792 - 20 = 1772 pages. The correct mean is then recalculated by dividing the corrected total sum by the number of books: 1772 / 8 = 221.5 pages.
Therefore, the correct mean number of pages in the 8 books is 221.5 pages.