Find the mean for the following group of data items:
8, 5, 9, 1, 6, 7, 5, 2
Answer (1)
Add all the data items: 8 + 5 + 9 + 1 + 6 + 7 + 5 + 2 = 43 .
Divide the sum by the number of data items (8): 8 43 .
Calculate the result: 8 43 = 5.375 .
The mean of the data items is 5.375 .
Explanation
Understanding the problem We are asked to find the mean of the given data items: 8, 5, 9, 1, 6, 7, 5, 2. The mean is the average of these numbers.
Finding the mean To find the mean, we need to add all the data items together and then divide by the number of data items.
Calculating the sum The sum of the data items is: 8 + 5 + 9 + 1 + 6 + 7 + 5 + 2 = 43 .
Dividing by the number of items There are 8 data items in total. So, we divide the sum by 8 to find the mean: 8 43 = 5.375 .
Final Answer Therefore, the mean of the given data items is 5.375.
Examples
Understanding the mean is very useful in everyday life. For example, if you want to know your average grade in a class, you would calculate the mean of all your test scores. Similarly, if you want to know the average rainfall in your city over a year, you would calculate the mean of the monthly rainfall data. The mean provides a single number that summarizes the central tendency of a set of data, making it easier to understand and compare different datasets.
