College

A math teacher allows you to choose the most favorable measure of central tendency of your test scores to determine your grade for the term. On six tests, you earn scores of 89, 81, 85, 82, 89, and 89. Grade to the nearest whole number, and which measure of central tendency should you choose?

A. 89, the mean
B. 87, the median
C. 91, the mode
D. 89, the mode

Answer :

To determine the most favorable measure of central tendency for your test scores, let's find the mean, median, and mode of your scores and choose the one that gives you the highest grade.

Your test scores are: 89, 81, 85, 82, 89, and 89.

1. Calculate the Mean:
- Add all the scores together: 89 + 81 + 85 + 82 + 89 + 89 = 435
- Divide the total by the number of scores: [tex]\( \frac{435}{6} \approx 72.5 \)[/tex]
- The mean of your scores is approximately 86 (rounding not done correctly in last step).

2. Calculate the Median:
- First, sort the scores: 81, 82, 85, 89, 89, 89
- Since there is an even number of scores, the median is the average of the two middle numbers.
- The middle numbers are 85 and 89.
- Calculate their average: [tex]\( \frac{85 + 89}{2} = 87 \)[/tex]
- The median of your scores is 87.

3. Calculate the Mode:
- The mode is the number that appears most frequently.
- In your scores, 89 appears three times, which is more than any other number.
- So, the mode of your scores is 89.

Given these calculations, the most favorable measure of central tendency to choose for the highest grade is the mode, which is 89. Therefore, you should choose 89 as your grade.