The data shows the number of miles run per week by randomly selected students from two different classes. Find the difference between the medians. Which class has a higher median? By how much?

Class 1: 6, 8, 10, 11, 14, 4, 5, 8, 2, 7, 7, 5, 10, 12, 11
Class 2: 6, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 9, 10, 11, 5, 8, 7, 4, 10
a Class 1 has a higher median than Class 2 by 0.5 mile.
b Class 2 has a higher median than Class 1 by 1 mile.
c Class 1 has a higher median than Class 2 by 1 mile.
d Class 2 has a higher median than Class 1 by 0.5 mile.

1 answer

To find the median, we need to first order the data from least to greatest:

Class 1: 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10, 11, 11, 12, 14
Class 2: 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 11, 12

Class 1 has 15 students, so we take the middle two values and find their average:

Median of Class 1: (8 + 10)/2 = 9

Class 2 also has 15 students, so we take the middle value:

Median of Class 2: 7

The difference between the medians is:

9 - 7 = 2

Therefore, Class 1 has a higher median than Class 2. The answer is c) Class 1 has a higher median than Class 2 by 1 mile.