part of your youth, and certainly not part of your every day discussions.
- MEAN
- MEDIAN
- MODE
The first word described the "bully" in your class that just was not nice.
The second was the line you crossed when you passed someone on the road.
The last had to do with a musical scale if you were so inclined.
But not TODAY!
Open any 5th grade math book and you find these words with slightly
different definitions. And this is because we are now a part of the
DATA GENERATION!
Our children as ourselves are bombarded with data and statistics, day-in
and day-out. We are even supposed to understand what standard deviation
is all about. I don't know about you, but that was not in my 5th grade
curriculum.
curriculum.
However, this does not mean Johnny will not be coming home and asking
us, "what's a mode, is that what you get with apple pie?"
NO, not this time.
By giving you a set of data, we can try to understand.
The following is a list of the height in closest inches of the 11 boy in
your class this year.
50, 50, 52, 53, 54, 54, 54, 57, 59, 59, 60
MEAN This is the average of the numbers. So all we have to do
is add them up and then divide by 11.
The sum is 602/11 = 54.73 or ≈ 54¾ inches
Thus: Mean ➜Average
MEDIAN This is the man in the middle. Like the line in the two–lane
road that it is in the middle. We are talking about the data piece in the middle.
So if we count from both ends toward the middle we land on the 6th number, 54.
The man in the middle is 54
This is because we have an odd number of data pieces. If we had a even
number, when we got to the middle we would have our fingers on two
different numbers. We would then take the average of those 2 pieces.
Thus: Mean➜Man in the Middle
MODE This not the scoop of ice cream with the apple pie. No, it is the
pice of data that happens the most often. Look at the list above. There are
three boys that are 54 inches. Therefore it is the mode of this data. A list
of data like the one above can have more than one mode, or it may not have
any if all the pieces are different.
Thus: Mode➜The one that happens most often
NO, not this time.
By giving you a set of data, we can try to understand.
The following is a list of the height in closest inches of the 11 boy in
your class this year.
50, 50, 52, 53, 54, 54, 54, 57, 59, 59, 60
MEAN This is the average of the numbers. So all we have to do
is add them up and then divide by 11.
The sum is 602/11 = 54.73 or ≈ 54¾ inches
Thus: Mean ➜Average
MEDIAN This is the man in the middle. Like the line in the two–lane
road that it is in the middle. We are talking about the data piece in the middle.
So if we count from both ends toward the middle we land on the 6th number, 54.
The man in the middle is 54
This is because we have an odd number of data pieces. If we had a even
number, when we got to the middle we would have our fingers on two
different numbers. We would then take the average of those 2 pieces.
Thus: Mean➜Man in the Middle
MODE This not the scoop of ice cream with the apple pie. No, it is the
pice of data that happens the most often. Look at the list above. There are
three boys that are 54 inches. Therefore it is the mode of this data. A list
of data like the one above can have more than one mode, or it may not have
any if all the pieces are different.
Thus: Mode➜The one that happens most often
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