The mean absolute deviation of the five most-expensive dishes is 3.6 and for the five least-expensive dishes, it is 1.76. The MAD demonstrates that the least-expensive dishes have less variation in prices compared to the most-expensive dishes.
To find the mean absolute deviation (MAD) for the two sets of dish prices, we first need to calculate the mean (average) for each set:
For the most-expensive dishes: (28 + 30 + 28 + 39 + 25) / 5 = 150 / 5 = 30.
For the least-expensive dishes: (7 + 7 + 10 + 8 + 12) / 5 = 44 / 5 = 8.8.
Now, we calculate the mean absolute deviation for each set:
For the most-expensive dishes: (|28 - 30| + |30 - 30| + |28 - 30| + |39 - 30| + |25 - 30|) / 5 = (2 + 0 + 2 + 9 + 5) / 5 = 18 / 5 = 3.6.
For the least-expensive dishes: (|7 - 8.8| + |7 - 8.8| + |10 - 8.8| + |8 - 8.8| + |12 - 8.8|) / 5 = (1.8 + 1.8 + 1.2 + 0.8 + 3.2) / 5 = 8.8 / 5 = 1.76.
Comparatively, the MAD of five least-expensive dishes is much less (1.76) than the MAD of five most-expensive dishes (3.6), meaning the least-expensive dishes have smaller variations in their prices and are closer together compared to the most-expensive dishes.