Remark: Mean

The Greek letter  (sigma) is used to represent the

sum of a list of numbers. If we use the letter X to
represent data values, then X means to find the
sum of all values in a data set.
The mean is the sum of the values in a data set
divided by the number of values. If X1, X2, X3, …,
Xn are the data values, we use X to stand for the
mean, and
X1 + X2 + X3 + ⋯ + Xn X
X= =
n n

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 1 Finding the Mean of a Data Set
(1 of 3)
Here’s the salary list Find the mean of all
for Vandelay Industries: salaries for Vandelay
Employee Salary Industries.
Jerry $58,000
Kramer $65,000 The company advertises
Newman $944,000 that its average
George $20,000 employee makes almost
Elaine $52,000 $150,000 per year. Is the
Susan $51,000 company’s claim
Tim $53,000 technically truthful? Do
Estelle $55,000 you think it’s deceiving?
Frank $50,000 Explain.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 1 Finding the Mean of a Data Set
(2 of 3)
SOLUTION
The company has nine employees, so we need to add all the
salaries and then divide the sum by 9.
58 + 65 + 944 + 20 + 52 + 51 + 53 + 55 + 50
X= = 149.8
9
All of the salaries were whole numbers of thousands, so it
was easier to just add the number of thousands and divide
by 9.
The result of 149.8 tells us that the mean salary is $149.8
thousand dollars, or $149,800.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 1 Finding the Mean of a Data Set
(3 of 3)
SOLUTION continued
The claim is, in fact, truthful—provided that by “average”
you mean “mean.” But is it deceiving? You bet it is!
There’s only one person in the company that makes more
than $65,000 per year—the owner (Newman) who pays
himself a handsome salary of $944,000.

Given that we want measures of average to describe a most

typical case, $149,800 certainly doesn’t fit that bill.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Remark: Median
In short, the median of a data set is the value in the middle if
all values are arranged in order. The median will either be a
specific data value in the set, or will fall in between two
values.
Steps in Computing the Median of a Data Set
Step 1 Arrange the data in order, from smallest to largest.
Actually, largest to smallest will work, too. Whatever makes
you happy.
Step 2 If the number of data values is odd, the median is the
value in the exact middle of the list. If the number of data
values is even, the median is the mean of the two middle data
values.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 2 Finding the Median
of a Data Set (1 of 4)
(a) Find the median salary for Vandelay Industries.
How does it compare to the mean?

(b) Find the mean and median if Newman’s salary is

left out. What can you conclude?

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 2 Finding the Median
of a Data Set (2 of 4)
SOLUTION
(a) First, we need to arrange the salaries in order:
$20,000, $50,000, $51,000, $52,000, $53,000, $55,000,
$58,000, $65,000, $944,000

There are nine salaries listed, and where I come from,

nine is odd. So the median will be the salary right in the
middle: there will be four salaries less and four more.
That makes it the fifth salary on the list, which is
$53,000. This is a whole lot less than the mean of
$149,800, and in fact is a much more reasonable measure
of average for these data.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 2 Finding the Median
of a Data Set (3 of 4)
SOLUTION continued
(b) Here’s the ordered list if we leave off Newman’s gigantic
salary:
$20,000, $50,000, $51,000, $52,000, $53,000, $55,000,
$58,000, $65,000
Now there are eight salaries, so we’ll need to find the
mean of the two in the middle, which are $52,000 and
$53,000. It would be nice if you could just figure out that
the mean is halfway in between, but for the sake of
completeness:
$52,000 + $53,000
= $52,500
2
©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 2 Finding the Median
of a Data Set (4 of 4)
SOLUTION continued
So now the median is $52,500.
The new mean is
$20,000 + $50,000 + $51,000 + $52,000 + $53,000 + $55,000 + $58,000 + $65,000
8
= $50,500
Now that’s interesting. The median was almost unaffected by
throwing away the largest value, but the mean changed
dramatically, to say the least. This is exactly why the mean
was a poor measure of average for this data set: the one very
large value has a great impact on the mean, but not so much
on the median.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
Definition: Midrange
The advantage of the midrange is that it’s very quick
and easy to calculate. The disadvantage is that it
totally ignores most of the data values, so it’s not a
particularly reliable measure.

Finding the Midrange for a Data Set

lowest value + highest value
Midrange =
2

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 3 Finding the Midrange of a Data
Set (1 of 2)
Find the midrange of all salaries at Vandelay
Industries. Is it meaningful in this case?

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 3 Finding the Midrange of a Data
Set (2 of 2)
SOLUTION
It’s not necessary to put a data set in order to find the
midrange, but it sure doesn’t hurt. All we need to know is
the lowest and highest salaries, and since we already ordered
the list in Example 2, it’s easy to see that those are $20,000
and $944,000. So the midrange is
$20,000 + $944,000
= $482,000
2

Wow. The midrange is a whopping $482,000, which is

meaningful in that it emphasizes how big Newman’s salary is,
but as a measure of average it’s not good for much.
©McGraw-Hill Education.
Remark: Mode
The mode is sometimes said to be the most typical
case.
The value that occurs most often in a data set is
called the mode.
A data set can have more than one mode or no mode
at all.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 4 Finding the Mode of a Data Set
(1 of 2)
These data represent the duration (in days) of the
final 20 U.S. space shuttle voyages. Find the mode.
11, 12, 13, 12, 15, 12, 15,
13, 15, 12, 12, 15, 13, 10,
13, 15, 11, 12, 15, 12

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 4 Finding the Mode of a Data Set
(2 of 2)
SOLUTION
Days Frequency
If we construct a
frequency distribution, 10 1
it will be easy to find 11 2
the mode—it’s simply 12 7
the value with the 13 4
greatest frequency.
The frequency 15 6
distribution for the
data is shown to the
right, and the mode is
12.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 5 Finding the Mode of a Data Set
(1 of 2)
The number of Atlantic hurricanes for each of the
years from 1997–2016 is shown in the list. Find the
mode, and describe what it tells you.

3, 10, 8, 8, 9, 4, 7, 9, 15, 5,
6, 8, 3, 12, 7, 10, 2, 6, 4, 7

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 5 Finding the Mode of a Data Set
(2 of 2)
SOLUTION
This time, we’ll find the mode without making a frequency
distribution. Instead, we can just work down the list,
counting the number of occurrences for each number of
hurricanes.
It turns out that there are two numbers that appear three
times, while no others appear more than twice. Those
numbers are 7 and 8, so this data set has two modes.
This means that over that 20-year span, the most common
number of Atlantic hurricanes was 7 and 8.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 6 Finding the Mode for Categorical
Data (1 of 2)
A survey of the junior class at Fiesta State University shows
the following number of students majoring in each field. Find
the mode.

Business 1,425
Liberal arts 878
Computer science 632
Education 471
General studies 95

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 6 Finding the Mode for Categorical
Data (2 of 2)
SOLUTION
You have to be a little careful here. If you focus on the
numbers, you might conclude that there’s no mode, since
they’re all different. But that would be missing the point.
The mode is supposed to be the most typical case.

Here, the most typical major is the one with the most
students: that’s business, so that’s the mode.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
Mean for Grouped Data (1 of 3)
The procedure for finding the mean for grouped data
uses the midpoints and the frequencies of the classes.

This procedure will give only an approximate value

for the mean, and it is used when the data set is very
large or when the original raw data are unavailable
but have been grouped by someone else.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
Mean for Grouped Data (2 of 3)
Finding the Mean for Grouped Data

Step 1: Find the midpoint of each class in the

grouped data.
Step 2: Multiply the frequency for each class by the
midpoint of that class.
Step 3: Add up all of the products from step 2.
Step 4: Divide by the sum of all frequencies (which is
the total number of data values).

©McGraw-Hill Education.
Mean for Grouped Data (3 of 3)
Finding the Mean for Grouped Data

If you prefer formulas to procedures:

(f · Xm)
X=
n
where f is the frequency for each class, Xm is the
midpoint of each class, and n is the sum of all
frequencies.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 7 Finding the Mean for Grouped
Data (1 of 4)
Find the mean record high temperature for the 50
states.
Class Frequency
100-104 3
105-109 8
110-114 16
115-119 13
120-124 7
125-129 2
130-134 1

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 7 Finding the Mean for Grouped
Data (2 of 4)
SOLUTION
First, we’ll need the midpoint for each class.
Since we’ll need to multiply by the frequencies, it’s
convenient to make a new table with the midpoints and
frequencies, then multiply them.
We’ll also need the sum of those products and of the
frequencies.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 7 Finding the Mean for Grouped
Data (3 of 4)
SOLUTION continued
Class Midpoint Frequency Midpoint ×
Frequency
100-104 102 3 306
105-109 107 8 856
110-114 112 16 1,792
115-119 117 13 1,521
120-124 122 7 854
125-129 127 2 254
130-134 132 1 132
Sums 50 5,715
©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 7 Finding the Mean for Grouped
Data (4 of 4)
SOLUTION continued
To get our mean, we divide the sum of the products by the
sum of the frequencies:
5,715
X= = 114.3
50
The mean state record high temperature is about 114.3°.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 8 Comparing Measures of Average
(1 of 3)
For the Vandelay Industries salary data, compare
the four measures of average. Which do you think is
the best description of the true average?

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 8 Comparing Measures of Average
(2 of 3)
SOLUTION
Here’s a summary of the measures of average, with the
salaries repeated one more time for reference:
$20,000, $50,000, $51,000, $52,000, $53,000, $55,000, $58,000,
$65,000, $944,000
Mean: $149,800
Median: $53,000
Midrange: $482,000
Mode: None

©McGraw-Hill Education.
EXAMPLE 8 Comparing Measures of Average
(3 of 3)
SOLUTION continued
Certainly the mode isn’t helpful for this data set. In fact, the
only one that could possibly be considered as a reasonable
average is the median. Aside from Newman’s $944k, nobody
makes more than $65,000, so any “average” that’s more than
twice that isn’t really a true reflection of the typical salary.

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Comparison of Measures of Average
(1 of 2)
Measure Strengths Weaknesses
Mean • Unique – there’s • Can be adversely
exactly one mean for affected by one or two
any data set unusually high or low
• Factors in all values in values
the set • Can be time-consuming
• Easy to understand to calculate for large
data sets
Median • Divides a data set • Can ignore the effects of
neatly into two groups large or small values
• Not affected by one or even if they are
two extreme values important to consider

©McGraw-Hill Education.
 Comparison of Measures of Average
(2 of 2)
Measure Strengths Weaknesses
Mode • Very easy to find • May not exist for a data
• Describes the most set
typical case • May not be unique
• Can be used with • Can be very different from
categorical data like mean and median if the
candidate preference, most typical case happens
choice of major, etc. to be near the low or high
end of the range
Midrange • Very quick and easy • Dramatically affected by
to compute extremely high or low
• Provides a simple look values in the data set
at average • Ignores all but two values
in the set
©McGraw-Hill Education.