Question

What value best represents all the measures of center for the following data set
48,12,11,45,48,48,43,32
Remember, a measure that describes the typical value of a dataset is the measure of center. First find the mean, the median and the mode. Then you can determine the measure of center

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To find a value that best represents all the measures of center for the dataset \(48, 12, 11, 45, 48, 48, 43, 32\), we will calculate the mean, median, and mode.

### Step 1: Calculate the Mean
The mean is calculated by summing all the values and dividing by the number of values.

\[
\text{Mean} = \frac{\text{Sum of all values}}{\text{Number of values}} = \frac{48 + 12 + 11 + 45 + 48 + 48 + 43 + 32}{8}
\]

Calculating the sum:

\[
48 + 12 + 11 + 45 + 48 + 48 + 43 + 32 = 288
\]

Now, divide by the number of values (which is 8):

\[
\text{Mean} = \frac{288}{8} = 36
\]

### Step 2: Calculate the Median
To find the median, we first arrange the data in ascending order:

\[
11, 12, 32, 43, 45, 48, 48, 48
\]

Since there are 8 values (an even number), the median is the average of the two middle values (the 4th and 5th numbers):

\[
\text{Median} = \frac{43 + 45}{2} = \frac{88}{2} = 44
\]

### Step 3: Calculate the Mode
The mode is the value that appears most frequently in the dataset. In this case, 48 appears three times, while all other numbers appear less frequently:

\[
\text{Mode} = 48
\]

### Summary of Results:
- Mean: 36
- Median: 44
- Mode: 48

### Conclusion
To determine which value best represents the measures of center for the dataset, we can consider:

- The mean (36) is lower than both the median (44) and mode (48).
- The median (44) is a central value in the dataset and is often a good measure of center, especially when there are outliers.
- The mode (48) shows the most frequently occurring value.

Given these calculations, **the mode (48)** is a strong candidate to represent the typical value, especially considering it reflects the most frequent observation in the dataset. However, the median (44) is also a good representative value and is less affected by lower outlier values.

Thus, the value that best represents all measures of center may be considered to be the **mode (48)** due to its frequency, but the **median (44)** could also be considered a good central tendency measure. Ultimately, it may depend on context, but 48 is the most representative in terms of frequency.