Question

You want to determine if snowfall totals from the latest storm were in the top half (or bottom half) of the top ten all-time snowfall amounts.


Mean median mode or range

Answer 1

To determine if snowfall totals from the latest storm were in the top half or bottom half of the top ten all-time snowfall amounts, you would want to use the **median**.

The median is the middle value in a sorted list of numbers. Since you want to find out if the latest snowfall total is in the top half or bottom half of a set of ten values, you can follow these steps:

1. **List the top ten all-time snowfall amounts in descending order.**
2. **Identify the median:** Since there are ten values, the median will be the average of the 5th and 6th values in the sorted list.
3. **Compare the latest snowfall total to the median:**
- If the latest snowfall total is greater than the median, it is in the top half.
- If it is less than or equal to the median, it is in the bottom half.

Using the median allows you to accurately determine the cut-off for the top and bottom halves of the data set.