Comparing Data: Words To Remember

Comparing Data
Words to remember
mean The average value of a data set, calculated by adding all the values
and then dividing by the number of values.
E.g. in the data set: 6, 2, 7, 3, 2, the mean is
(6 + 2 + 7 + 3 + 2) ÷ 5 = 4
median The middle value of an ordered data set.

E.g. in the data set: 2, 2, 3 , 6, 7, the median is 3.
bins the intervals into which data are grouped in a histogram. These are
used to label the x-axis on histograms.
Questions
1. A student is finding the average height of the pupils waiting at the school bus stop, and is
calculating the mean a number of times before she has collected all the data.
a) She starts with her own height, 145 cm.

Begin a histogram (you will add to it as the question continues). What is the mean so far?
b) She then asks two more people, whose heights are 129 cm and 161 cm.
Add these students to your histogram. What is the mean now?
c) She then asks three more people, whose heights are 144 cm, 135 cm and 156 cm.
d) She then asks four more people, whose heights are 133 cm, 146 cm, 158 cm and 143 cm.
Would you describe the shape of the evolving histogram as symmetric, skewed, or bimodal?
e) What happens to the histogram if you keep adding values on both sides of the central value?
f) What happens to the mean if you keep adding values in this fashion?
Copyright © Maths Pathway 2020. Reproduction for classroom use permitted. ACMSP283 Page 1 of 9
Comparing Data
If a histogram is symmetric, the mean and median values will be roughly in the centre of the
distribution.
This can be realised by thinking about constructing the

histogram in a specific order, as in Question 1.
If we add values on either side of (and the same distance

from) the mean, then they will ‘balance out’ and leave the
mean unchanged.
2. Explain, in your own words, why the addition of values on either side of the mean does not
change the mean.
3. Below is a set of data, representing the ages of 19 members chosen randomly from a gym.
Gym 1 : 24, 27, 46, 34, 44, 41, 33, 38, 39, 23, 32, 53, 17, 13, 29, 31, 28, 34, 39
a) Draw a histogram to represent this data. Organise your data into bins of 5 years.
b) Without ordering the numbers above, how could you estimate the median of this data set?
c) Without doing any calculations, how could you estimate the mean of this data set?
4. Below is a set of data, representing the ages of 19 members chosen randomly from a different
gym.
Gym 2 : 34, 18, 19, 29, 26, 33, 41, 23, 29, 28, 29, 17, 21, 22, 33, 23, 38, 26, 24
b) How does the shape of this histogram compare to the shape of the histogram from Gym 1?
c) Do you think the mean and median have changed? How would you guess their positions now?
(You do not need to provide a number)
Comparing Data
5. For the histograms below, estimate the positions of the mean and median, and explain why you
chose this value.
a) b)
c) d)
e)
Comparing Data
Answers
1. A student is finding the average height of the pupils waiting at the school bus stop, and is
calculating the mean a number of times before she has collected all the data.
a) She starts with her own height, 145 cm.

Begin a histogram (you will add to it as the question continues). What is the mean so far?
There is only one value, 145 cm, so this is clearly the mean.
b) She then asks two more people, whose heights are 129 cm and 161 cm.
The mean is 145+129+161

3
=
435
3
= 145 cm .
It has remained unchanged.
Comparing Data
c) She then asks three more people, whose heights are 144 cm, 135 cm and 156 cm.
The mean is 145+129+161+144+135+156
6
=
870
6
= 145 cm .
It has remained unchanged still.
d) She then asks four more people, whose heights are 133 cm, 146 cm, 158 cm and 143 cm.
The mean is
145+129+161+144+135+156+133+146+158+143 1450
= = 145 cm
10 10
It has remained unchanged still.

Would you describe the shape of the evolving histogram as symmetric, skewed, or bimodal?
The histogram here is symmetric.
Comparing Data
e) What happens to the histogram if you keep adding values on both sides of the central value?
The histogram remains symmetric if we continue to add values in this fashion. This
makes sense, as we are changing both ‘sides’ of the histogram shape in the same way.
f) What happens to the mean if you keep adding values in this fashion?
The mean stays the same as we add values in this fashion. This is because we keep
adding groups of values which have a mean of 145 cm.
i.e. The average of 125 and 165 is 145. You can check that this is the same for all the
groups we added.
2. Explain, in your own words, why the addition of values on either side of the mean does not
change the mean.
When we add values to a data set, we can avoid changing the mean by adding values
which have a mean which is the same as the mean of the original data set.
For example: we can add the numbers 1, 2, 4, and 5 to a data set with a mean of 3 because
these new numbers also have a mean of 3.
We must add numbers on both sides of the mean, because otherwise we cannot avoid
raising or lowering the mean.
3. Below is a set of data, representing the ages of 19 members chosen randomly from a gym.
Gym 1 : 24, 27, 46, 34, 44, 41, 33, 38, 39, 23, 32, 53, 17, 13, 29, 31, 28, 34, 39
b) Without ordering the numbers above, how could you estimate the median of this data set?
The median is the middle value. As this histogram is symmetric, clearly there are the
same number of members on either side of the peak value. Thus, the median would be
in the 30 − 35 range.
Comparing Data
c) Without doing any calculations, how could you estimate the mean of this data set?
The mean is the average value. Seeing as this distribution is symmetric, all values on
either side of the peak value will ‘cancel each other out’ (like in Question 1). This means
that the average is in the 30 − 35 range.
4. Below is a set of data, representing the ages of 19 members chosen randomly from a different
gym.
Gym 2 : 34, 18, 19, 29, 26, 33, 41, 23, 29, 28, 29, 17, 21, 22, 33, 23, 38, 26, 24
b) How does the shape of this histogram compare to the shape of the histogram from Gym 1?
This histogram is skewed, as there are many more values to the left of this histogram
when compared with the last one. There must be more young members at this gym.
c) Do you think the mean and median have changed? How would you guess their positions now?
(You do not need to provide a number)
Both the mean and median have changed. The median would be lower than before, as
the middle value would now be somewhere in the left of the histogram.
The mean will also be lower, as having many low values means a lower mean.
Comparing Data
5. For the histograms below, estimate the positions of the mean and median, and explain why you
chose this value.
a) b)
As this histogram is symmetric, both the This histogram is bimodal, but we can also
mean and median are in the center. see that it is symmetric around the bin
A good estimate for both, in this case, labelled ‘8’.
would be 0. Thus, the same number of data points are
on either side of 8, so the mean and median
are both around 8.
c) d)
This histogram is skewed to the left, since This histogram is also bimodal and
there is a tail of values to the left. symmetric, so we would guess that the
mean and median are both roughtly the
The median would be around 20 − 22, and
central value of 15.
the mean would be around 22 − 24 also.
Comparing Data
e)
This histogram is bimodal, but not

symmetric.
There look to be more entries in the left
section, so we might guess that the median
is just to the left of the empty bin.
The median is roughly 11.
The mean would also be lower than 14, as
there are more low entries than high ones.
The mean is roughly 10.

Comparing Data: Words To Remember

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Comparing Data

median The middle value of an ordered data set.

a) She starts with her own height, 145 cm.

This can be realised by thinking about constructing the

If we add values on either side of (and the same distance

a) She starts with her own height, 145 cm.

There is only one value, 145 cm, so this is clearly the mean.

The mean is 145+129+161

The mean is 145+129+161+144+135+156

It has remained unchanged still.

This histogram is bimodal, but not

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