Summarizing the Pounds Column
Find the measures of center to summarize the pounds column of the Animals Starter File.
1 The three measures of center for this column are:
| Mean (Average) | Median | Mode(s) |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
2 To take the average of a column, we add all the numbers in that column and divide by the number of rows. Will that work for every column?
3 The mean is higher than/lower than/about equal to the median, which suggests the shape is skewed right (high outliers) / skewed left (low outliers) / symmetric.
4 Which do you think is the most useful measure for this column of data? Why?
★ For which column(s) in the animals table do you think the modes might be a good measure of center? Why?
Summarizing the Column
Find the measures of center to summarize the a column of your choosing! column of the Animals Starter File.
The three measures of center for this column are:
| Mean (Average) | Median | Mode(s) |
|---|---|---|
The mean is higher than/lower than/about equal to the median, which suggests the shape is skewed right (high outliers) / skewed left (low outliers) / symmetric.
★ Four animals weighing 5, 5, 10, and 100 pounds will have an average mean of 30 pounds.
(because 5 + 5 + 10 + 100 = 120 and 120 ÷ 4 = 30)
Can you think of another set of four animals that would have the same average? How many sets can you come up with?
These materials were developed partly through support of the National Science Foundation, (awards 1042210, 1535276, 1648684, 1738598, 2031479, and 1501927). 
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