In the previous section, you compared the mean and the median. With three measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode), how do you determine which measure to use? Because each measure gives different information, you can select a particular measure depending on your purpose.
Below you will see the high temperatures for one week in March for a town in Texas:
Calculate the mean, median, mode, and range of this set of temperatures.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. To calculate the mean, find the sum of the temperatures, and then divide by the number of temperature readings.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.
First, list the temperatures in order from least to greatest, and then identify the middle number in the list. If there are two middle numbers, find the mean of these two numbers.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.
Identify the temperature that occurred the most often. It may be helpful to list the temperatures in order from least to greatest first.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.
Identify the lowest temperature and the highest temperature, and then subtract the two temperatures. It may be helpful to list the temperatures in order from least to greatest first.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required.
In the interactive below, drag the tile for the appropriate measure of central tendency to the slot representing the situation. You may use some tiles more than once or not at all.