Sam earned the following scores on unit tests for the trimes

Sam earned the following scores on unit tests for the trimester:

92, 98, 15, 92, 87, 92

Sam\'s teacher said that his grade would be based on the mean of his grades. Sam argued that his grade should be based on the median score of his grades.

1. What are the average and median scores?

2. Which do you think best reflects Sam\'s work for the term? Explain.

Solution

a)

Ordering the data,

15
87
92
92
92
98

Now,

Average = (15+87+92+92+92+98)/6 = 79.33333333 [ANSWER, AVERAGE]

Meanwhile, the median is the average of the middle entry, the 3rd and 4th entries:

Median = (92+92)/2 = 92 [ANSWER]

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b)

I think the median reflects it better, because all of his scores are high except on one exam. He even got 92 thrice, so he must be that consistent.