Guillermo Tello

Camille Diaz

Math 1010

11 July 2021

A Review of Averaging Formulas

Math 1010 Intermediate Algebra Group Project
The Story:
Alyssa works for an online company that helps thousands of small business owners across the
country to advertise themselves and find customers in need of their services.
After the job is completed, Alyssa’s company encourages the customers to review the business
on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. This review is saved within Alyssa’s database so that future customers
can see the average number of stars a business has received on the online service. That way the
customers can find the best rated person for the job.
Alyssa found that many business owners had questions about how they could improve their
rating. One common question was: “How many 5-star reviews in a row do I need to improve
my rating from where I’m at to a 4.5?” Or a 4.2? Or whatever threshold they were interested
in? Rather than having to work this out from scratch in every scenario, it is more efficient to
create a formula so the answer can be found quickly and efficiently.
We will start out with some simpler questions to become familiar with the situation and how
averages work. By the end of this project, you will be able to efficiently answer the question
above for ANY starting situation. You will use skills you learned about solving formulas for a
particular variable and working with rational expressions. Along the way, you will try to put
yourself in Alyssa’s shoes and answer each question as if to an interested business manager.

AVERAGES
We will be exploring how basic averages work in this section. This Average is also called the
Mean, or Arithmetic Mean.
1. Write a formula which can find the average of the two numbers X and Y.

𝑥+𝑦
AVERAGE =
2

2. Use your formula to find the average of 16 and 34. Show your process.
 16 + 34 50
AVERAGE =
2
= 2
= 25

3. Find the average of the six numbers 4, 6, 7, 12, 14, and 17. Show your process.
4+6+7+12+14+17 60
AVERAGE =
6
= 6
= 10

4. Find the average of the six numbers 0, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12. Show your process.
0+12+12+12+12+12 60
AVERAGE =
6
= 6
= 10

5. Compare the averages you found in Parts (3) and (4). Which “average” seems like a
better middle number? Why do you think that?
10+10
2
= 10

since both add up to 60 middle number is 10

FREQUENCY TABLES
Often very large data sets are averaged. The data sets include many numbers which are the
same. A Frequency Table describes how many of each number are included in the set. Examine
the following table as an example:
Number Frequency
1 2
2 4
3 3

The table explains the data set 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3. (two 1s, four 2s, three 3s)
6. Find the average of the nine numbers above. Show your process. Round your answer to
the nearest hundredth.
 1+1+2+2+2+2+3+3+3 19
AVERAGE =
9
= 9
= 2. 11

When the data set becomes too large, it becomes too tedious to add all of the numbers one by
one. We need a different strategy. Examine the next frequency table, which shows the number
of reviews a particular business owner has received of each number of stars.

Stars Frequency
1 21
2 11
3 12
4 46
5 60

7. Determine how many total reviews this business has received. Show your process.

Total Reviews = 21 + 11 + 12 + 46 + 60 = 150 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠

8. Rather than add up all of those numbers one at a time, we will add them in groups. As an
example, if we add up all twelve of the 3s, we should use multiplication (since it
represents adding the same number repeatedly). All of the 3s sum to 3 times 12 which is
36. In the following blanks, similarly write the sum of all numbers of each type.

Sum of 1s 1 · 21 = 21

Sum of 2s 2 · 11 = 22
Sum of 3s 3 · 12 = 36
 Sum of 4s 4 · 46 = 184

Sum of 5s 5 · 60 = 300

9. Use your results from the previous two parts to find the average number of stars the
business has received. Show your process. Round your answer to the nearest hundredth.

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠 21+22+36+184+300 563

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠
= 150
= 150
= 3.75

ONE MORE NUMBER

Next, we will need to explore what happens to an average if we add one more number. Recall
that your GPA is a number between 0 and 4 which is an average of all of your individual class
GPA scores (each of which is a number between 0 and 4).
10. Suppose your current GPA is 2.9, after taking 10 classes. What is the SUM of the GPA
scores of all of your courses? (The answer will be greater than 4. Show your work!)

𝑆𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑃𝐴 𝑆𝑢𝑚

𝐺𝑃𝐴 = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
2. 9 = 10
2. 9 · 10 = 𝑆𝑢𝑚

𝑆𝑢𝑚 = 29

11. Suppose you achieve an A in your next class, which is worth 4 GPA points. What is the
new SUM of all of your GPA scores? (Answer should be greater than 4)

Old Sum + 4 = New Sum 29 + 4 = 33

 12. What is your new GPA AVERAGE accounting for all 11 classes? (Should be between 0
and 4, round to the nearest hundredth and show your work!)
𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑠𝑢𝑚 33
𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝐺𝑃𝐴 = 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
= 11
= 3

MANY MORE REVIEWS

13. Suppose a business has a current average review of 3.2 stars. This is from 30 customer
reviews. Using a similar process to the previous three questions, find the new average
review for the business after four new 5-star reviews. Show your process and round your
answer to the nearest hundredth.

sum of stars = 3.2 · 30 = 96

new sum = 96 + 4 · 5 = 116 , new reviews = 34
New Average reviews = 166/34 = 3. 41

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Suppose a business currently has an average rating of R stars. This average is calculated from N
current reviews.
14. The following formula will give the new average rating A that the business will have
after receiving X new reviews in a row, all of them 5-star reviews. Use the formula and
the given variables to re-do the calculation from Part 13 (you should get the same
answer).
𝑁𝑅+5𝑋
𝐴= 𝑁+𝑋

R = 3.2
N = 30
X=4
 30(3.2)+5(4) 116
𝐴 = 30+4
= 34
= 3. 41

15. If a business wants to know how many 5-star reviews in a row are needed to achieve a
desired new rating, the formula in the previous part must be solved for X. Solve your
formula in the previous part for X, and show your process. Do not plug in anything for
any of the variables – they should remain as letters all the way until your final equation.

𝑁𝑅+5𝑋
𝐴= 𝑁+𝑋

𝑁𝑅+5𝑋
𝑁+𝑋 *𝐴 = 𝑁+𝑋
*𝑁+ 𝑋

𝐴𝑁 + 𝐴𝑋 = 𝑁𝑅 + 5𝑋
− 5𝑋 − 5𝑋
𝐴𝑁 + 𝐴𝑋 − 5𝑋 = 𝑁𝑅
− 𝐴𝑁 − 𝐴𝑁
𝐴𝑋 − 5𝑋 = 𝑁𝑅 − 𝐴𝑁
𝑥(𝐴 − 5) = 𝑁𝑅 − 𝐴𝑁
𝑥(𝐴−5) 𝑁𝑅−𝐴𝑁
𝐴−5
= 𝐴−5

𝑁𝑅−𝐴𝑁
𝑋= 𝐴−5
Let’s put our new formula from Part (15) into action! Kevin’s Tree Service is a small business
that currently has individual reviews given in the table below:
Stars Frequency
1 4
2 1
3 10
4 11
5 18

16. First calculate the current average review for Kevin’s Tree Service. Show your process.
Write your final answer both as a fraction and as a decimal rounded to the nearest
hundredth.

(1·4)+(2·1)+(3·10)+(4·11)+(5·18) 4+2+30+44+90 170 85

4·1·10·11·18
= 44
= 44
= 22
= 3. 86

FRACTION = 85/22

DECIMAL = 3.86

17. Now calculate how many 5-star reviews in a row are needed for Kevin’s Tree Service to
achieve an average review of 4.5. First, take a guess before doing any calculations.
Then, use your formula from Part (15) to find the real value. Make sure to use the
FRACTION answer from Part (16) or you may end up with rounding errors!
GUESS = 50
N= 4+1+10+11+18 = 44
R=85/22
A=4.5

𝑁𝑅−𝐴𝑁
𝑋= 𝐴−5

44(85/22)−4.5(44)
𝑋= 4.5−5
 44(85/22)−198
𝑋= −0.5

−1170+198
𝑋= 0.5

28
𝑋= 0.5

𝑋 = 56
REVIEWS NEEDED = 56

REFLECTION
18. Did this project change the way you think about how math can be applied in the real
world? Did you expect Kevin’s Tree Service to need that many 5-star reviews to reach its
goal? Does what you learned here change how you think about the way ratings are used
in the real world? Can you think of a way that averages might be used in your own field
of study? Write at least two paragraphs addressing the above questions. Refer to specific
parts of this project to help explain your thoughts.

I didn’t really change that much since I knew how you can apply math to basically

anything to a piece of rock on the floor to planets in space. Math is an interesting subject that

many people invest their time into learning new solutions to be able to solve new problems.

Other subjects rely on math, it's a language for scientists, it's everywhere.

There were other ways for Kevin’s tree service to reach its goal. He didn’t need them all

to be 5 stars; they could have been another pattern of stars to reach his goal; it would have taken

longer but still would reach 4.5. How ratings work didn't change since you see them everywhere

and I know how much a rate could affect a product, film or company. In computer science you

could use averages to determine how users and consumers use certain software then others or

making a poll to find how users think about the product.