May 23, 2014

Today students did an in class activity where they were given a set of test scores and needed to determine the mean and median. Then students needed to adjust the numbers to have a higher mean while maintaining the old median. Then students needed to adjust the median of the original set of numbers while keeping the same mean. Students shared their different methods to the solution.

Homework: Answer the following questions in your Cornell Notebook. You may use the Internet or any other source to help you answer the following two questions:

1. What characteristics of a data set affect each measure (mean, median, mode)? For example, an outlier is a characteristic that affects the mean.
2. In what situations would one average (mean, median, mode) be more meaningful to use than the other average(s). (Remember the example I gave today in class about my boss wanting to know my class average and which average I would choose to tell him). Give an example of when it is best to use the mean, when it is best to use the median and when it best to use the mode. Be very specific.