Question

Find the mean, median, and mode of the refrigerator prices shown in the table. Which measurement might be misleading in describing the average cost of a refrigerator?

Answer 1

To calculate mean: 1100 dollars.
Add up all values in the table shown and divide by the quantity of values given.
You have already added them - the sum is 5500. When divided by 5, this gives you the mean of 1100 dollars.

To calculate median: $1200
A median is the middle value in a data set. To calculate it, line up the numbers and eliminate the highest and lowest values until one value remains. In this case, that value is $1200.

To calculate mode: $1200
A mode is the value that appears most often in a data set. The value of $1200 appears twice in the table, more than any other value. This is your mode.


Four refrigerators have prices greater than $1100, so the mean is not as accurate as other statistical measurements here. This is due to the cheap price of $400 for one of the refrigerators skewing the average of the set.