Module 5 – Measures of Center
Module 5.1 – A Feel for Measures of Center
Learning Goal: For the distribution of a quantitative variable, describe the overall pattern
(shape, center, and spread) and striking deviations from the pattern.
Specific Learning Objectives:
Find the mean and median from different representations of data.
Develop number sense with mean and median by creating different data sets with a
given mean or median.
N = 11
Set-up/Warm-up: The dot plot gives quiz scores for a small class.
a) What is the mean? Show your work or explain how you got your answer.
Average
5788999991010 = 93
93/11 = 8.455 = 8.455
Mean :
b) What is the median? Show your work or explain how you got your answer.
Middle #
N+1 11 + 1
Location of median 12/2 = 6
------- -------
2 2
6th data value is the median
6th value is 9 so median is 9
c) Which measure (the mean or the median) is the better way to represent typical
performance on this quiz? Why?
Median because distribution is skewed left.
Always use median if graph is skewed
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Exercises:
1) Here are two sets of exam scores, one for a class that has 4 students and one for a class
that has 15 students.
Class A: 80, 90, 90, 100
Class B: 60, 65, 65, 70, 70, 70, 75, 75, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 85, 100
a) Without doing any calculations, which class do you think will have a larger mean?
Why?
Class A because the scores are higher with none of them going below 80
while Class B has multiple 60's and 70's.
b) Now calculate the mean for each class. Which is larger? Why does this make sense?
Class A = 90
Class B = 75.67
2) For this data, is the mean wrist measurement for men (larger than, smaller than, or
about the same as) the mean wrist measurement for women? (Obviously, you can’t
calculate the means, so jot down notes about how you thought about this.)
11.25
9.75
Males have larger wrists according to the data
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3) For this data, is the mean pelvic diameter for men (larger than, smaller than, or about
the same as) the mean pelvic diameter for women? (Obviously, you can’t calculate the
means, so jot down notes about how you thought about this.)
Males have slightly higher pelvic diameters
4) This table gives quiz scores for a different class. Scores Number of
Students
a) What is the mean? Show your work or explain how 5 1
you got your answer. 6 3
5666777778889 = 91 7 5
8 3
91/13 = 7 9 1
n = 13
b) What is the median? Show your work or explain how you got your answer.
Median is 7th data value
N1
----- 13 + 1 14/2 = 7
2 ------- Median is 7
2
c) Which measure (the mean or the median) is the better way to represent typical
performance on this quiz? Why?
Both work for this data set, but should use the mean
because the distribution is symmetrical
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5) For this problem, use the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
a) List five digits that have a median of 7 and a mean of 7 (repeats allowed). Find a
different set of 5 digits that work.
5, 6, 7, 8, 9
6, 6, 7, 8, 8
b) List five digits that have a median of 7 and a mean that is less than 7 (repeats
allowed.) Give the mean of your 5 digits. Find a different set of 5 digits that work.
1, 2, 7, 8, 9 5.4
3, 4, 7, 8, 9 6.2
c) List five digits that have a median of 7 and a mean that is more than 7 (repeats
allowed.) Give the mean of your 5 digits. Find a different set of 5 digits that work.
5, 6, 7, 9, 9 = mean = 7.2
6, 6, 7, 8, 9 = mean = 7.2
6) For this problem, use the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Construct a data set where
neither the mean nor the median is a reasonable “typical” value.
0, 0, 0, 9, 9, 9
median = 4.5
09
----- 4.5
2
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7) Imagine that you have a bag filled with 9 numbers. The mean and the median of the
numbers in the bag are both 6.
a) You draw a number out of the bag. It is a 4. You replace it with a 1. Does the mean of
the numbers in the bag get bigger, smaller, or stay the same? What about the
median? Jot down some notes to explain how you figured this out.
Original Data
3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9
N=9 If I replace the 4 with a 1 the mean gets smaller because
54 it would be 51/9 5.667 instead of 54/9 6 , however
91 --- Mean = 6
the median stays the same since the 5th value is still 6.
---- 5th value 9
2
Median is 6
b) You draw a number out of the bag. It is an 8. You replace it with 8 ones. Does the
mean of the numbers in the bag get bigger, smaller, or stay the same? What about
the median? Jot down some notes to explain how you figured this out.
3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 9
54 The mean does get smaller at 3.375 and
N = 16 Mean = 3.375
--- the median gets smaller as well at 1.
161 16
------ 8.5th value
2 Median is 1
8) Even though statisticians call the mean and median measure of “center”, it might be less
confusing to think of the mean and the median as ways to summarize a distribution with
a single number. In other words, the mean and the median are ways to represent a
“typical “measurement in a data set. When do you think is it better to use the median
and when it is it better to use the mean to summarize a distribution?
I think it is better to use the median when a distribution is skewed to a
certain direction (left or right). However I think it is better to use the mean
when a distribution is symmetrical.
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Module 5.2 – The Mean as a Balancing Point
Learning Goal: For the distribution of a quantitative variable, describe the overall pattern
(shape, center, and spread) and striking deviations from the pattern.
Specific learning Objective: Discover why the mean is called a balancing point.
1) Betty Sue is struggling in her math class but her effort is steadily improving. To date, her
quiz scores are 0, 43, 56, 66, 68, 74, 83, and 90 (each quiz is worth 100 points). What is her
mean score?
043566668748390480
480
----- 60
8
a) Student A has the same mean score as Betty Sue, but his quiz scores are all the same
score. Make a dotplot of Student A’s 8 quiz scores and mark the mean.
60 x 8 480
480
---- 60
8
b) Student B also has the same mean score as Betty Sue. She has 6 quizzes with a score of
60 and one quiz with a score of 70. What did she score on the 8 th quiz? Make a dotplot
of Student B’s 8 quiz scores and mark the mean. Show how you figured this out.
5060606060606070 480
480
60
----
8
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c) Student C also has the same mean score as Betty Sue. She has 5 quizzes with a score of
60 and two quizzes with a score of 70. What did she score on the 8 th quiz? Make a
dotplot of Student C’s 8 quiz scores and mark the mean. Show how you figured this out.
560270X 300140X 440 + X = 480
60 ------------- 60
---------------- X = 40
8 8
d) Student D also has the same mean score as Betty Sue. Is it possible for Student D to
have a 100 on a quiz? What is the maximum number of 100-point quiz scores possible?
How do you know?
2041004480
60 Max number of 100 score is 4.
8
2) Draw two dotplots of 8 quiz scores such that
Both have the same mean as Betty Sue’s (mark the mean) 60
One dotplot has very little spread
One dot plot has a lot of spread
Little
Spread
Large
Spread
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3) Write Betty Sue’s mean quiz score below. For each of her quiz scores, record the signed
distance from the mean by calculating Score – Mean. A score above the mean will have
positive distance while a score below the mean will have negative distance.
60
Betty Sues Mean quiz score: ________
-60 -17 -4 6 8 14 23 30
Now add up the signed distances from the mean. What did you get?
-60174681423300
4) For one of the distributions you created in problem #2, record the quiz scores in the table
below. For each quiz score, record its signed distance from the mean.
60
Mean Quiz Score (which is the same as Betty Sue’s): ________
55 55 60 60 60 60 65 65
-5 -5 0 0 0 0 5 5
Now add up the signed distances from the mean. What did you get?
-55550
5) What do you notice when you add the signed distances from the mean? Why do you think
this happens?
6) For the dotplot of quiz scores below, find the mean. If the student takes another quiz and it
doesn’t change his mean score, what did he score on this quiz? Explain why this makes
sense using signed distances from the mean.
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7) The student with the distribution of quiz scores below takes two more quizzes. One score is
above his mean and the other is below his mean but his mean does not change. What are
some possible pairs of quiz scores for this student? Show three possibilities using the
dotplots below.
Mean = 80
75 85
8) Why do you think that statisticians call the mean the “balancing point” of a distribution?
I think they call the mean the "balancing point"
because it's the exact average or center of all
the numbers so if it were on a scale the mean
would be the perfect point of balance.
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Module 5.3 – Shape and Measures of Center
Learning Goal: For the distribution of a quantitative variable, describe the overall pattern
(shape, center, and spread) and striking deviations from the pattern.
Specific Learning Objective:
Relate measures of center to the shape of the distribution.
Choose the appropriate measure for different contexts.
Warm-up/Set-up: Up to now, we’ve covered two types of Measures of Center: the mean and
the median. What we’ll see in this module is that though both values can be used to describe
your distribution, both of these values are susceptible to outliers. That is, having an outlier will
drag both the mean and the median in a particular direction. So, there are instances where one
measure of center is better than the other.
1) Here is a dot plot of Hilda’s quiz scores in her math class.
N13
a) What is the shape of this distribution?
The shape is symmetrical.
b) Determine Hilda’s median quiz score. Calculate Hilda’s mean quiz score.
I approximate that the median score is 8.
667788888991010104
mean = 8
13
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2) Oops, we made a mistake recording two of Hilda’s scores. The two scores recorded as 6
should have been 0. Here’s the revised dot plot of her quiz scores.
N13
a) What is the shape of this distribution?
The shape is both skewed left and roughly symmetrical
b) Find her revised median quiz score. Is it less than, more than, or about the same as her
previous median quiz score? Why does this make sense?
131 7th value It should still be the same median score because the 7th value is
2 still 8 just like the last score.
c) Find her revised mean quiz score. Is it less than, more than, or about the same as her
previous mean quiz score? Why does this make sense?
00778888899101092 mean = 7.076
13
The mean is less than her pervious mean.
d) Which measure of center (mean or median) would best represent her typical
performance on the quizzes? Explain.
In this case the median would best represent her typical
performance because majority of her scores were around the
median score of 8 and the only reason the mean was thrown off
was because of the two outlier "0" scores.
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3) Write a few sentences that explain how the shape of the distribution might influence
whether the mean is larger than, smaller than or about the same as the median.
Most of the time when a distribution is skewed the mean is going to be larger or smaller then the
median. Whether it's larger or smaller depends on the way it's skewed and the type of outliers that
are present. For example if the distribution is skewed left and has outliers in the lower end (like 0's
and 10's) then the mean will be smaller than the median, however if the distrubion is skewed right
and the outliers are in the higher end (like 90's and 100's) then the mean will be larger than the
median.
4) For each distribution give an estimate for the median. Then say whether the mean is
probably greater than, less than, or about equal to the median. Jot down some notes to
explain how you figured this out.
50% ----- Median ----- 50%
5) Which of the following distributions is likely to have a mean that is smaller than the
median? Jot down some notes to explain how you figured this out.
a) Scores on the a Module Checkpoint, where almost all of the grades were A’s and B’s
(scores of 80 to 100), with one student making a zero.
b) Repeated weighing of “one-pound” bags of peanut M&M’s using a digital bathroom
scale that reports weights to the nearest tenth of a pound.
c) Salaries of NBA basketball players (This distribution is strongly right skewed by the few
superstars who make much more money than the rest of the players.)
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6) According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, the median family income in the United States in
2008-2012 was $53,046. Why do you think the median, rather than the mean, was reported
by the U.S. Bureau of Census?
I think they used the median rather than the mean because of the outliers of people
with too much income or too little income that would throw off the balance.
7) Summarize what you have learned about how to choose between the mean and median as
the best measure of center based on the shape of the distribution.
I think we should choose to use mean when the shape is mostly symmetrical
and there are no outliers that can skew the data, instead I think that's where
the median should be used, when the distribution shape is skewed (left or right).
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