The stem and leaf plot shows the ages of a group of friends. Find the median age.

Question

Stem. leaf
2. 8
3. 124
4. 279
5. 4
Key: 2/8 = 28 years

Answer 1

To find the median age, we need to arrange the ages in order from least to greatest.

In this case, the stem values are already in order, so we just need to consider the leaf values:

2/8 (28)
3/1 (31)
3/2 (32)
3/4 (34)
4/2 (42)
4/7 (47)
4/9 (49)
5/4 (54)

There are a total of 8 ages in this group, which is an even number. To find the median, we need to average the middle two values.

The middle two values are 34 and 42, which average to 38.

Therefore, the median age of this group of friends is 38 years old.