.1 Calculate mean, median, mode, and range

U2A
Kirk's community held an auction to raise money for the local pet shelter. The winning bids on 6 items were:
$4.00$5.00$6.00$4.00$7.00$5.00
What was the range of the winning bids?

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1 answer

To calculate the mean, median, mode, and range for the winning bids, we first need to list the bids clearly:

Bids: $4.00, $5.00, $6.00, $4.00, $7.00, $5.00$

1. Range

The range is calculated as the difference between the highest and lowest values in the data set.

  • Highest bid: $7.00
  • Lowest bid: $4.00

Range = Highest - Lowest
Range = $7.00 - $4.00 = $3.00

2. Mean

The mean is the average of the bids.

Mean = (Sum of all bids) / (Number of bids)

Sum of bids = $4.00 + $5.00 + $6.00 + $4.00 + $7.00 + $5.00$
Sum = $31.00

Number of bids = 6

Mean = $31.00 / 6 ≈ $5.17 (rounded to two decimal places)

3. Median

The median is the middle value when the data is organized in ascending order.

First, arrange the bids in ascending order: $4.00, $4.00, $5.00, $5.00, $6.00, $7.00$

Since there are 6 bids (an even number), the median will be the average of the two middle values (3rd and 4th).

3rd and 4th values: $5.00$ and $5.00$

Median = ($5.00 + $5.00) / 2 = $5.00

4. Mode

The mode is the value that appears most frequently in the data set.

In the list of bids:

  • $4.00$ appears 2 times
  • $5.00$ appears 2 times
  • $6.00$ appears 1 time
  • $7.00$ appears 1 time

Since $4.00$ and $5.00$ both appear the most frequently (twice), there are two modes in this data set.

Modes: $4.00$ and $5.00$

Summary

  • Range: $3.00
  • Mean: $5.17
  • Median: $5.00
  • Modes: $4.00 and $5.00