Question

The table shows the number of incorrect answers given by nine students on a standardized test. Which of the following measures would make the number of missed questions appear as small as possible? 1 4 2 20 3 5 4 10 5 21 6 18 7 10 8 119 16 Questions 1.median2.range3.mean4. none above 5 mode

Answer 1

The mean of the given values is obtained by dividing the sum of values by the number of values

`\text{mean}=(4+20+5+10+21+18+10+11+16)/(9)=12.77`

To find the median arrange the numbers in an increasing order.

The middle number will be the median.

`\begin{gathered} 4,5,10,10,11,16,18,20,21 \\ \text{Here 11 is the middle value. So 11 is the median} \end{gathered}`

Mode is the value that occurs most frequently in the data set. Since 10 appears two times in the set of values, we take 10 as the mode.

The range is the difference between the largest and the smallest values in the given data set.

Here the smallest value is 4 and the largest value is 21

`\text{Difference =21-4=17}`

So among mode, median, mean and range mode gives the smallest value which is 10.