Question

The list shows the weight in pounds of 6 puppies at birth.

3, 1.6, 2.8, 2.5, 1.7, 2.8

What is the mean absolute deviation of these numbers?

14.4

1.9

2.4

0.5

Answer 1

To find the mean absolute deviation, we first calculate the mean of the 6 puppies' weights:

Mean = (3 + 1.6 + 2.8 + 2.5 + 1.7 + 2.8) / 6
Mean = 14.4 / 6
Mean = 2.4

Next, we calculate the absolute deviations for each weight from the mean:

|3 - 2.4| = 0.6
|1.6 - 2.4| = 0.8
|2.8 - 2.4| = 0.4
|2.5 - 2.4| = 0.1
|1.7 - 2.4| = 0.7
|2.8 - 2.4| = 0.4

Now we find the average of these absolute deviations:

(0.6 + 0.8 + 0.4 + 0.1 + 0.7 + 0.4) / 6
= 2.4 / 6
= 0.4

Therefore, the mean absolute deviation is 0.4. The correct answer is:

0.5