Prepared by:
Pruna Mae
STANDARD DEVIATION Angela F.
Rivera, LPT
Mean, median, and
mode are three kinds
of "averages".
There are many "averages" in
statistics, but these are, I think, the
three most common, and are
certainly the three you are most
likely to encounter in your pre-
statistics courses, if the topic comes
up at all.
MEAN
- the "average" you're
used to, where you add
up all the numbers and
then divide by the
number of numbers
MEDIAN
- is the "middle" value
in the list of numbers
MEDIAN
• To find the median, your
numbers have to be listed in
numerical order from smallest
to largest, so you may have to
rewrite your list before you can
find the median.
MODE
- is the value that occurs
most often. If no number in
the list is repeated, then
there is no mode for the list.
RANGE
- a list a numbers is just
the difference between
the largest and smallest
values.
FIND THE MEAN, MEDIAN, MODE,
AND RANGE FOR THE FOLLOWING
LIST OF VALUES:
13, 18, 13, 14, 13, 16, 14, 21, 13
The mean is the usual average, so I'll
add and then divide:
(13 + 18 + 13 + 14 + 13 + 16 + 14
+ 21 + 13) ÷ 9 = 15
Note that the mean, in this case,
isn't a value from the original
list. This is a common result. You
should not assume that your
mean will be one of your
original numbers.
13, 18, 13, 14, 13, 16, 14, 21, 13
1. The median is the middle value, so first I'll have to
rewrite the list in numerical order:
13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 18, 21
2. There are nine numbers in the list, so the middle
one will be the (9 + 1) ÷ 2 = 10 ÷ 2 = 5th number:
3. 13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 18, 21
So the median is 14.
Note:
The formula for the place to find the
median is "([the number of data points] +
1) ÷ 2", but you don't have to use this
formula. You can just count in from both
ends of the list until you meet in the middle,
if you prefer, especially if your list is short.
Either way will work.
13, 18, 13, 14, 13, 16, 14, 21, 13
The mode is the number that is
repeated more often than any other,
so 13 is the mode.
13, 18, 13, 14, 13, 16, 14, 21, 13
The largest value in the list is 21,
and the smallest is 13, so the
range is 21 – 13 = 8.
mean: 15
median: 14
mode: 13
range: 8
FIND THE MEAN, MEDIAN, MODE,
AND RANGE FOR THE FOLLOWING
LIST OF VALUES:
1, 2, 4, 7
The mean is the usual average:
(1 + 2 + 4 + 7) ÷ 4 = 14 ÷ 4
= 3.5
The median is the middle number. In this example,
the numbers are already listed in numerical order,
so I don't have to rewrite the list. But there is no
"middle" number, because there are an even
number of numbers. Because of this, the median
of the list will be the mean (that is, the usual
average) of the middle two values within the list.
The middle two numbers are 2 and 4, so:
(2 + 4) ÷ 2 = 6 ÷ 2 = 3
1, 2, 4, 7
So the median of this list
is 3, a value that isn't in
the list at all.
1, 2, 4, 7
The mode is the number that
is repeated most often, but
all the numbers in this list
appear only once, so there is
no mode.
1, 2, 4, 7
The largest value in the list is 7,
the smallest is 1, and their
difference is 6, so the range
is 6.
mean: 3.5
median: 3
mode: none
range: 6
The values in the list above were all
whole numbers, but the mean of the list
was a decimal value. Getting a
decimal value for the mean (or for the
median, if you have an even number
of data points) is perfectly okay; don't
round your answers to try to match the
format of the other numbers.