Mrs. Marcincavage allowed each student in her math class to drop the lowest of their five test scores. When Matthew dropped the lowest of his test scores, a 60, his test average increased by 5 points. What is Matthew’s new test average?
To find Matthew's new test average, we need to determine his original test average without the lowest test score and then add 5 points to it.
Let's calculate Matthew's original test average first:
1. Add up all of Matthew's five test scores, including the dropped lowest score (60 + score2 + score3 + score4 + score5).
2. Divide the sum by 5 to get the average.
(60 + score2 + score3 + score4 + score5) / 5 = original average
Now, since we know that his test average increased by 5 points after dropping the lowest score (60), we can write the equation:
(original average) + 5 = new average
Rearranging the equation to isolate the new average, we get:
new average = (original average) + 5
Substituting the original average we calculated earlier into the equation, we can find Matthew's new test average.