In this problem, we have four different areas of statistics to review: range, mean, median, and mode. We'll calculate each one individually, then we'll compare and answer the question.
For all problems like this, the best first step is to put the numbers in order from least to greatest:
79, 79, 83, 87
Range: To find the range, you subtract the mimimum value from the maximum value.
Mean: To find the mean, we will add all the values together, then divide by the "number of numbers." In this case, we will divide by 4:
Median: The median is the middle value when the numbers are in order from least to greatest. But there's an extra step with this one since we have four numbers.
We will need to find the average of the middle two numbers.
The middle two numbers are 79 and 83. So the average is:
Finally (the easiest value) the mode.
Mode: The value that occurs most often.
From our list of values, the number that occurs most often is 79.
Now that we have all four values, we want to know the greatest. Since the Range was 8, the mean was 82, the median was 81, and the mode was 79, we conclude that the greatest value is the mean.
The greatest value is the mean, 82.