To find the mean number of students in each class at Poplar Middle School and Oak Middle School, we need to calculate the total number of students at each school and divide by the number of classes (20).
Poplar Middle School:
- 20 students: 3 classes
- 21 students: 5 classes
- 22 students: 7 classes
- 23 students: 4 classes
- 24 students: 1 class
Calculating the total number of students: \[ (20 \times 3) + (21 \times 5) + (22 \times 7) + (23 \times 4) + (24 \times 1) \] \[ = 60 + 105 + 154 + 92 + 24 = 435 \]
Mean for Poplar Middle School: \[ \text{Mean} = \frac{435}{20} = 21.75 \]
Oak Middle School:
- 20 students: 1 class
- 21 students: 2 classes
- 22 students: 2 classes
- 23 students: 4 classes
- 24 students: 3 classes
- 25 students: 2 classes
- 26 students: 2 classes
- 27 students: 2 classes
- 28 students: 1 class
- 29 students: 1 class
Calculating the total number of students: \[ (20 \times 1) + (21 \times 2) + (22 \times 2) + (23 \times 4) + (24 \times 3) + (25 \times 2) + (26 \times 2) + (27 \times 2) + (28 \times 1) + (29 \times 1) \] \[ = 20 + 42 + 44 + 92 + 72 + 50 + 52 + 54 + 28 + 29 = 431 \]
Mean for Oak Middle School: \[ \text{Mean} = \frac{431}{20} = 21.55 \]
Comparison:
- Mean for Poplar: 21.75
- Mean for Oak: 21.55
To find the difference, we subtract the mean of Oak from the mean of Poplar: \[ 21.75 - 21.55 = 0.2 \]
Poplar has about 0.2 more students per class than Oak.
Conclusion:
None of the statements provided are accurate since the comparison shows that Poplar Middle School has about 0.2 more students than Oak Middle School. The correct interpretation would be that Poplar has slightly more students, but it does not align with any of the options given.