Bailey earned the following scores on 6 math tests: 90, 96, 100, 82, 78, 100. Her teacher said she could choose to record either the median or the mean of her test scores. Which should she choose? Why?

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Answer 1 · 2016-10-29T00:54:31

Bailey should choose to record the median of her scores, because it is two points higher than the mean of her scores.

To find the median (middle) of the scores, we must put them in order from least to greatest first.

#78, 82, 90, 96, 100, 100#

Since there are an even number of scores, the median will be the average of the middle two values in the ordered list.

#(90 + 96)/2 = 186/2 = 93#

The mean (average) of the scores is found by dividing their sum by the number of scores in the list.

#(90 + 96 + 100 + 82 + 78 + 100)/6 = 546/6 = 91#

Since the median is higher than the mean, Bailey should choose to record the median.