Use the table to answer the question.
Game Free Throws Made
1 4
2 14
3 5
4 7
5 19
6 15
7 6
What value, the mean or median, best describes the shape of the data set that contains the number of free throws made by the basketball team? Choose 1 for mean and 2 for median.
2 (median)
To determine whether the mean or median best describes the shape of the data set of the number of free throws made by the basketball team, we need to first understand what each represents.
1. Mean: The mean is calculated by summing up all the data points and dividing it by the total number of data points. It is the average of the data set.
2. Median: The median is the middle value of the data set when it is arranged in ascending or descending order. If there is an even number of data points, the median is the average of the two middle values.
In this case, the data set is as follows:
Game: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
FTs: 4 14 5 7 19 15 6
To find the mean, we sum up all the values and divide by the total number of values:
(4 + 14 + 5 + 7 + 19 + 15 + 6) / 7 = 70 / 7 = 10
To find the median, we need to arrange the data set in ascending order:
4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 19
Since there are an odd number of data points, the median is the middle value, which is 7.
Comparing the mean and median, we can see that the mean is 10, while the median is 7.
Therefore, to best describe the shape of the data set, we would choose 1 for mean.