Measures of Central Tendency

Objectives:
·  Calculate the mean of a set of data.
·  Calculate the median of a set of data.
·  Calculate the mode of a set of data.
Vocabulary:
·  central tendency
·  summation notation
·  mean
·  median
·  mode
·  outlier / Formulas:
(mean)
(mean of grouped data)

Possible Classroom Examples:

Fran Tarkenton holds the all-time record in professional football for throwing touchdown passes. The number of touchdown passes (TDs) for each of his seasons is given in the table. Find the mean, median, and mode of the number of touchdown passes per year thrown by Tarkenton

Year / TDs / Year / TDs
1961 / 18 / 1970 / 19
1962 / 22 / 1971 / 11
1963 / 15 / 1972 / 18
1964 / 22 / 1973 / 15
1965 / 19 / 1974 / 17
1966 / 17 / 1975 / 25
1967 / 29 / 1976 / 17
1968 / 21 / 1977 / 9
1969 / 23 / 1978 / 25

Todd Booth, an avid jogger, kept detailed records of the number of miles he ran per week during the past year. The frequency distribution summarizes his records. Find the mean, median, and mode of the number of miles per week that Todd ran.

Miles run
per week / Number
of weeks
0 / 5
1 / 4
2 / 10
3 / 9
4 / 10
5 / 7
6 / 3
7 / 4

If your scores on the first four exams in a class are 73, 67, 83, and 81, what score do you need on the next exam for your overall mean to be at least 70?

The mean salary of ten employees is $28,000, and the median is $25,000. The highest paid employee gets a $5,000 raise.

a. What is the new mean salary of the ten employees?

b. What is the new median salary of the ten employees?

Measures of Central Tendency / Page 1 of 2