Answer the questions below.

Question

(a) On a test, each student is given a grade of A, B, C, D, or F.
Which measure tells the grade given most often?
• Mean
• Median
• Mode
(b) In Prof. Carter's class, the 9 students had the following scores on the last midterm:
84, 125, 131, 133, 134, 136, 137, 140, 144.
Which measure should be used to summarize the data?
• Mean
• Median
• Mode
(c) In a survey, 10 people gave the following ratings for a local politician (on a scale of 0 to 100):
41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 49, 53, 54, 55.
Which measure should be used to summarize the data?
• Mean
• Median
• Mode

Answer 1

Let's go through each question:

(a) The measure that tells which grade is given most often is the Mode. The mode is the value that appears most frequently in a data set.

(b) To summarize the data of scores (84, 125, 131, 133, 134, 136, 137, 140, 144), it is best to use the Median. The median is less affected by outliers (in this case, the low score of 84 and high score of 144) and provides a better central tendency for skewed data.

(c) In the case of the ratings for the local politician (41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 49, 53, 54, 55), the appropriate measure to summarize the data is the Mean. The data set appears to be normally distributed without any extreme outliers, so the mean would be a good representative of the central tendency.

To summarize: (a) Mode (b) Median (c) Mean