Averages

Question 1

What are the advantages of the mode?

Answer 1

1. Useful if one item appears a lot more than the others.

2. It’s the only average you can find for qualitative data.

Question 2

What are the disadvantages of the mode?

Answer 2

1. You can’t use it if all of the data items are different.

2. It can be much higher or lower than the bulk of the data.

Question 3

What are the advantages of the median?

Answer 3

It is not distorted by extreme values.

Question 4

What are the disadvantages of the median?

Answer 4

It does not take all of the data into account.

Question 5

What are the advantages of the mean?

Answer 5

It uses all of the data.

Question 6

What are the disadvantages of the mean?

Answer 6

It is affected by extreme values.

Question 7

How can a mean be calculated using an assumed mean?

Answer 7

1. Subtract the assumed mean from all the values.
2. Find the mean of these smaller numbers.
3. Add the assumed mean onto this new mean.

Question 8

When all pieces of data increase by the same amount, what happens to the mode?

Answer 8

The mode also increases by that amount.

Question 9

When all pieces of data increase by the same amount, what happens to the median?

Answer 9

The median also increases by that amount.

Question 10

When all pieces of data increase by the same amount, what happens to the mean?

Answer 10

The mean also increases by that amount.

Question 11

What is the formula for calculating the mean?

Answer 11

x̄ = Σx / n