Question

Ms. Monroe mixes 200 cubes of 4 different colors for a project. She then uses a scoop to place 20 cubes into each of 10 paper bags. Each group records the number of cubes of each color in a bag. The number of red cubes for the 10 groups are recorded in the graph.
Which statement is true about the mean and median of the numbers of red cubes in the bags?

A) The mean number of red cubes is less than the median number of red cubes.

B) The mean number of red cubes is more than the median number of red cubes.

C) The mean number of red cubes is equal to the median number of red cubes.

D) The mean number of red cubes cannot be compared to the median number of red cubes.

Answer 1

You can write all values in row:

0, 0, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8.

1. The mean is

$\dfrac{0+0+2+2+3+4+6+7+7+8}{10}=\dfrac{39}{10}=3.9.$

2. The row contains 10 elements, so if you want to find the median, you should divide it into two equal parts 0, 0, 2, 2, 3 and 4, 6, 7, 7, 8 and take the last term from the first part and the first term from the second part. These are numbers 3 and 4. then the median is

$\dfrac{3+4}{2} =3.5.$

3. The mean=3.9 and the median=3.5. Since 3.5<3.9, the mean number of red cubes is more than the median number of red cubes.

Answer: correct choice is B.

Answer 2

The answer is B. If you add all of the r d cubes and divide by 10 you get 3.9. And the median is 3.5, therefore the mean is greater than the median.