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Curriculum Standards

Mrs. Barragree's fifth grade website

"Preparing Minds for the Future;
Souls for Eternity!"

Mean, Median, Mode, and Range

Mean (the mathematical average)

Step 1: Add all of the numbers together. (Find the sum of the numbers.)
Step 2: Divide the sum by the number of addends (the number of numbers you added together in step 1).

Example: 12, 14, 16, 18 is my data set.
Step 1: 12+14+16+18= 60
Step 2: 60 ÷ 4 = 15
The mean is 15!


Median (the middle of the data set)

Step 1: List the numbers in order from least to greatest (or greatest to least).
Step 2: Find the number that is in the center of the data set, when the data is organized from least to greatest or greatest to least.

Example: 7, 35, 20, 4, 39
Step 1: 4, 7, 20, 35, 39      OR      39, 35, 20, 7, 4
Step 2: 4, 7, 20, 35, 39      OR      39, 35, 20, 7, 4
The median is 20!

*Challenge* If the data set has an even number of data, find the mean of the two middle numbers.

Example: 7, 3, 5, 1 is my data set.  (There are four numbers, so the set has an even number of data.)
Step 1: 1, 3, 5, 7
Step 2: 1, 3, 5, 7
Step 3: Finding the mean: 3 + 5 = 8, then 8 ÷ 2 = 4
The median is 4!


Mode (the number(s) that occur most often in the data set)

Step 1: Look for any number(s) that appear more than once in the data set.
Step 2: If one number occurs more often than any other number, that is the mode. If more than one number occurs more often than other numbers, there may be more than one mode.

Example #1: 3, 5, 7, 3, 9, 11
Step 1: 3 occurs more than once.
Step 2: 3 occurs more often than any other number.
The mode is 3!

Example #2: 3, 5, 7, 3, 9, 11, 9, 13, 9
Step 1: 3 occurs more than once. 9 occurs more than once.
Step 2: 9 occurs more often than any other number.
The mode is 9!

Example #3: 1, 3, 5, 7, 3, 9, 11, 1
Step 1: 3 occurs more than once. 1 occurs more than once.
Step 2: 3 and 1 occur more often than any other number.
The mode is 3 and 1!

Example #4:  1, 2, 4, 96, 7, 42, 11 is my data set.
Step 1: No number occurs more than once.
Step 2: No number occurs more often than any other number.
There is no mode!  *Note: The mode is NOT zero (0)!*


Range (the numerical spread of the data set)

Step 1: Find the number in the data set that is the greatest.
Step 2: Find the number in the data set that is the least.
*Range can be expressed in two ways. It can be expressed as the difference between the greatest and the least, or it can be expressed as a range from the least to the greatest. Our textbook focuses on the first way, which expresses the range as a single number.

Example: 7, 35, 20, 4, 39
Step 1: 39 is the greatest
Step 2: 4 is the least
The range is 39 - 4 = 35!

(The range could also be expressed as "from 4 to 39".)