Practice Problems: Measures of Central Tendency - Answer

Bailey has been playing golf on the weekends for the past three years. Recently, she started keeping track of her recorded scores. Her scores for June and July at her favorite 9-hole (par 36) golf course are provided below.

DataArray
45 56
49 49
42 45
56 42
41 42
36 41
34 41
38 41
41 41
40 40
42 40
41 39
39 39
38 38
40 38
39 36
36 36
41 34


Mean

Mean = X / N = 738 / 18 = 41.0


Median

3436363838393940 40414141414242 454956

The median is 40.5 . The two middle scores are 40 and 41. By adding these two numbers together and dividing by 2, I find the median = 40.5. Half of the scores fall above this number and half fall below.


Mode

Mode is equal to 41. It occurs 4 times; all other scores occur only 3 times or less


What does this information tell you about Bailey's golf game?

Bailey's mean score for the months of June and July is 41 (only 5 above par). Over half of Bailey's games had a score above 40.5 and half had a score below 40.5. Her most common golf score was a 41.


Is this data skewed?

No. The data is not skewed. The mean and median are almost identical, only a half-stroke difference.

Back to Practice Problems: Measures of Central Tendency