Your math teacher allows you to choose the most favorable measure of central tendency of your test scores to determine your grade for the term. On six tests you earn scores of 89, 81, 85, 82, 89, and 89. What is your grade to the nearest whole number and which measure of central tendency should you choose?

Answer 1

To calculate the grade to the nearest whole number, we first need to find the average (mean), median, and mode of the test scores.

Mean:
(89 + 81 + 85 + 82 + 89 + 89) / 6 = 515 / 6 = 85.83

Median:
First, order the scores from smallest to largest: 81, 82, 85, 89, 89, 89
Since there are 6 scores, the median is the average of the two middle numbers: (85 + 89) / 2 = 87

Mode:
The mode is the number that appears most frequently in the data set, which in this case is 89.

To the nearest whole number, the grades are as follows:
Mean: 86
Median: 87
Mode: 89

Since the mode of 89 is the highest score and it appears most frequently, it would be most favorable to choose the mode as the measure of central tendency. Therefore, your grade for the term would be 89 to the nearest whole number.