Question

Rolinda’s first five Spanish test scores are 85, 85, 60, 62, and 59.

a. Find the mean, the median, and the mode of Rolinda’s Spanish test scores. Round your answers to the nearest tenth, if necessary.

b. Which of these measures best supports Rolinda’s claim that she is doing well in her Spanish class?

c. Why is Rolinda’s claim misleading?

Answer 1

a.

Mean: (85 + 85 + 60 + 62 + 59) / 5 = 70.2

Median: Arrange the scores in order: 59, 60, 62, 85, 85. The median is the middle number, which is 62.

Mode: The mode is the most common score. In this case, there are two modes: 85.

b. The mean best supports Rolinda's claim that she is doing well, as it takes into account all of her scores and gives an overall average.

c. Rolinda's claim is misleading because her higher scores (85) are skewing the mean, while the majority of her scores (60, 62, and 59) are lower and indicate she may not be doing as well overall. The mode also shows that her most common score is a B, rather than an A. Additionally, the median is lower than her highest scores, further demonstrating that she has inconsistent performance.