Recall Worksheet R9.

Frequency tables and graphs

When data have been collected, a frequency table is useful for presenting the information clearly.

W orked exa mple 1

The marks students got out of 10 in a maths test were as follows:

5 6 7 6 4 6 7 5 9 3
8 9 8 7 6 6 7 5 7 4
Present these marks in a frequency table.

Solution
Mark out of 10 Tally Frequency
3 | 1
4 || 2
5 ||| 3
6 |||| 5
7 |||| 5
8 || 2
9 || 2
Total 20
|||| represents five students.

1 The ages of fifteen students in Year 11 were surveyed. Their ages were:
16 15 17 16 16 15 14 17 15 16 16 15 16 15 16
Complete the following frequency table for this data.

Age Tally Frequency

14 | ……
15 |||| ……
16 |||| || 7
17 || ……
Total 15

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2 A student recorded all the vowels in one paragraph of a book as follows.

e e i o e a e e i o
e i i a o u o e e e
e a a e e u i u o i
e i i o a a u o e e

Complete the following frequency table for this data.

Vowel Tally Frequency

a |||| | ……
e |||| |||| |||| ……
i |||| ||| ……
o |||| || ……
u |||| 4
Total ……

3 Twenty Year 8 students were questioned about the amount of time (in minutes) they each spent studying
maths each night. The times they gave are listed below:
5 10 15 0 10 10 15 10 20 5
20 15 10 5 5 10 20 15 15 20
Complete the following frequency table for this data.

Time (minutes) Frequency

0 ……
5 ……
10 ……
15 ……
20 ……
Total 20

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W orked exa mple 2

Show the information provided in the frequency table Mark out of 10 Frequency
on the right using:
(a) a frequency column graph 3 1
4 2
(b) a dot plot.
5 3
6 5
7 5
8 2
9 2
Total 20 students

Solution
(a) (b)

4 Complete the frequency column graph below Age Frequency

to show the information given in the
frequency table on the right. 14 1
15 5
16 7
17 2
Total 15 students

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5 For the information provided in the frequency table on the right, complete the frequency column graph
below.

Time (minutes) Frequency

0 1
5 4
10 6
15 5
20 4
Total 20 students

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 Recall Worksheet R9.2

Mean, median and mode

Finding the mean
To find the mean of a set of numbers, remember that you need to add all the numbers and then divide by the
number of numbers in the set.

W orked exa mple 1

Find the mean of: 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 6

Solution
Sum of the numbers = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 6 = 26
n = the number of numbers = 9
8
The mean = 26 ÷ 9 = 2 = 2.89 [correct to 2 decimal places]
9

1 Find the mean (correct to 2 decimal places) of each of the following sets of numbers.
(a) 2, 3, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3
sum = …… + …… + …… + …… + …… + …… + …… = ……
n = …… mean = …… ÷ …… = ……
(b) 8, 11, 12, 9, 6, 3
sum = …… + …… + …… + …… + …… + …… = ……
n = …… mean = …… ÷ …… = ……
(c) 11, 15, 14, 18, 17, 20
sum = …… + …… + …… + …… + …… + …… = ……
n = …… mean = …… ÷ …… = ……

Finding the mode

To find the mode of a set of numbers, you need to remember that the mode is the number (or item) that
occurs most often. Note that there may be more than one mode.

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W orked exa mple 2

Find the mode of: 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 1, 7, 6, 2, 2, 3, 5, 8, 1, 2, 2, 4

Solution
There are two 1s, seven 2s, four 3s, two 4s, and one 5, 6, 7 and 8. Therefore 2 is the mode, because it
occurs most frequently.

2 Find the mode of each of the following sets of numbers.

(a) 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8 mode = ……
(b) 3, 4, 2, 1, 3, 6, 7, 3, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 5, 8, 9, 8, 8, 8 mode = ……
(c) 3, 2, 4, 6, 8, 5, 3, 2, 8, 6, 5, 4, 8, 5 mode = ……

Finding the median

To find the median of a set of numbers, you need to rewrite the numbers in order, from lowest to highest.
The number in the middle is the median. If there are two numbers in the middle, the median is their mean.

W orked exa mple 3

Find the median of:

(a) 1, 2, 3, 7, 6, 5, 3, 1, 3 (b) 4, 1, 7, 6, 5, 8, 9, 3

Solution
(a) Write in order and circle the middle term: 1, 1, 2, 3, 3 , 3, 5, 6, 7
The median is 3.
(b) Write in order and circle the middle terms: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 , 7, 8, 9
The median is the mean of 5 and 6 = 5 + 6 = 11 = 5.5
2 2

3 Find the median of each of the following sets of numbers.

(a) 7, 9, 11, 8, 15, 14, 12 (b) 2, 1, 21, 31, 4, 52
In order: ......, ......, ......, ......, ......, ......, ...... In order: ......, ......, ......, ......, ......, ......
median = …… median = ……
(c) 81, 82, 69, 74, 53, 67 (d) 101, 112, 117, 118, 119, 104
In order: ......, ......, ......, ......, ......, ...... In order: ......, ......, ......, ......, ......, ......
median = …… median = ……

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 Recall Worksheet R9.3

Probabilities
The probability of an event is the chance of that event occurring, given as a number between 0 and 1.
If an event is impossible, it has a probability of 0. If an event is certain, it has a probability of 1.
If the numerical value of the probability of an event is closer to 1, that result is more likely than not.
A probability value can be given as a fraction or decimal number. To calculate the probability of an event,
use the formula:
number of favourable outcomes
Pr(event) =
total number of all possible outcomes

W orked exa mple

When a die is rolled there are six possible outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. List the outcomes and the probability
of each of the following events, and state which event has the highest probability.
A getting an even square number B getting a prime number
C getting a number less than 5 D getting a multiple of 3

Thinking Working
1 List all outcomes corresponding to event A, 4
getting an even square number. Use the formula Pr(A) = Pr(even square number) = 1
to calculate the probability value of event A. 6
2 List all outcomes corresponding to event B, 2, 3, 5
getting a prime number. Calculate the probability Pr(B) = Pr(prime number) = 3 = 1 = 0.5
of event B. 6 2
3 List all outcomes corresponding to event C, 1, 2, 3, 4
getting a number less than 5. Calculate the
probability of event C. Pr(C) = Pr(number less than 5) = 4 = 2
6 3
4 List all outcomes corresponding to event D, 3, 6
getting a multiple of 3. Calculate the probability
of event D. Pr(D) = Pr(multiple of 3) = 2 = 1
6 3
5 The event with the most outcomes also has the Event C has the highest probability because
highest probability. 4 is closer to 1 than 1 or 3 or 2 .
6 6 6 6

1 For each set of probability values below, state which value corresponds to the greatest probability.
(a) 0.3 , 0.1, 0.7, 0.6 (b) 0.48, 0.45, 0.49, 0.51, 0.54, 0.42

1 1 3 7 5 2 1 5
(c) , , (d) , , , ,
2 4 4 12 6 3 4 8

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 Recall Worksheet R9.4

Mean, median and mode

from a frequency table
Mean is the average of a set of data values.
Mode is the data value that occurs the most often.
Median is the middle data value of a set of data values in order.
A frequency table can be used to find the mean, median and mode.

Data value Frequency xf

2 8 2 × 8 = 16
3 9 3 × 9 = 27
4 11 4 × 11 = 44
5 7 5 × 7 = 35
6 6 6 × 6 = 36
7 4 7 × 4 = 28

Total 45 186

To calculate the mean using the xf column, use the formula:

sum of xf column
Mean =
sum of frequency column

186
=
45

2
= 4
15

= 4.13 (to 2 d.p.)

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W orked exa mple
Use the frequency table to find the mode, median and mean.
Height Frequency
140 4
141 3
142 2
143 5
144 1
Total 15

Thinking Working
1 The mode is the score that occurs the most. The mode is 143.
This is indicated by the largest number in the
frequency column. Locate the largest number in
this column and read across to find the mode.
2 The median is the middle score. Median = 142
3 Add the fx column to the frequency table. Height Frequency xf
140 4 560
141 3 423
142 2 284
143 5 715
144 1 144
TOTAL 15 2126

4 To calculate the mean use the formula: 2126

sum of xf column Mean = = 141.73 (to 2 d.p.)
mean 15
sum of frequency column

1 For each frequency table complete the fx column and then find the mean, median and mode.
(a)
Ages Frequency xf

12 7 12 × 7 = ........
13 8 13 × 8 = ........
14 11 ........ × 11 = ........
15 9 ........ × ........ =........
16 5 ........ × ........ =........
17 2 ........ × ........ =........

Total 42 ........

mean = ……….

median +
2 = ……….
mode = ……….

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 (b)
Minutes Frequency xf

30 2
30 × 2 = ........
35 4
35 × 4 = ........
40 5
40 × ........=........
45 12
........ × ........ =........
50 13
........ × ........ =........
55 4
........ × ........ =........
Total 40
........

mean = ……….

+
median 2 = ……….
mode = ……….

(c)
Number Frequency xf

1 2 ........ × ........ =........

2 7 ........ × ........ =........

3 10 ........ × ........ =........

4 11 ........ × ........ =........

5 7 ........ × ........ =........

6 8 ........ × ........ =........

Total 45 ........

mean = ……….

+
median 2 = ……….

mode = ……….

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 (d)
Score Frequency xf

20 18 ........ × ........ =........

30 22 ........ × ........ =........

40 31 ........ × ........ =........

50 29 ........ × ........ =........

60 27 ........ × ........ =........

70 18 ........ × ........ =........

Total 145 ........

mean = ……….

+
median 2 = ……….
mode = ……….

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