High School

The dot plot below shows the weights of Dr. Smith's 12-year-old patients:

Weights of Dr. Smith's 12-Year-Old Patients

Boys:
. . .
Girls:
. . .

95 105 115 125 135 145

Pounds (lbs.)

What is the difference between the mean weights of the boys and girls?
___ lbs

Answer :

To find the difference between the mean weights of the boys and girls from the dot plot, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Identify the Weights of Each Group: First, separate the weights shown on the dot plot into those for boys and those for girls. Each dot represents a patient, and you'll count how many dots fall into each weight category for both boys and girls.

  2. Calculate the Total Weight and Count for Each Group:

    • Multiply the number of dots by their corresponding weight for each group. Add all these results to get the total weight for boys and the total weight for girls.
    • Count the total number of dots for boys and for girls to find the number of patients in each group.
  3. Calculate the Mean Weight for Each Group:

    • Mean weight for boys = (Total weight of boys)/(Number of boys)
    • Mean weight for girls = (Total weight of girls)/(Number of girls)
  4. Find the Difference Between the Mean Weights:

    • Subtract the mean weight of the girls from the mean weight of the boys to find the difference.

Here's an example calculation to illustrate:

Suppose you found:

  • For boys: Total weight is 660 pounds with 6 patients.
  • For girls: Total weight is 630 pounds with 6 patients.

The mean weight of the boys is [tex]\frac{660}{6} = 110[/tex] lbs.
The mean weight of the girls is [tex]\frac{630}{6} = 105[/tex] lbs.

Finally, the difference between the mean weights is [tex]110 - 105 = 5[/tex] lbs.

So, in this example, the difference between the mean weights of the boys and girls is 5 lbs. You'll need to adjust the numbers based on your specific dot plot data.