7th grade · Math · Unit 11 of 15
Mean, Median & Mode
What is typical?
What your child practices
Mean, median, mode and range, and how an outlier changes them.
Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 7.1.1.4 · describing a data set by its center and spread
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Mean: add the values and divide by how many there are.
- Median: the middle value when the data is in order. Mode: the most common value.
- An outlier is a value far from the rest. It pulls the mean most.
Example: Find the median of 3, 9, 5, 7, 4. Put in order: 3, 4, 5, 7, 9. The middle value is 5. Answer: 5
Mean, Median & Mode in Minnesota
In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 11 of 15 in 7th grade Math, after Dependent Events and before Center & Spread.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which value is an outlier in 120, 16, 12, 19, 15, 20?
- 16
- 12
- 15
- 120
120
Hint: An outlier is far away from the other values in the data set.
Question 2
What is the mode of 3, 10, 8, 12, 15, 3?
- 3
- 1
- 7
3
Hint: The mode is the value that appears most often.
Question 3
What is the median of 18, 5, 16, 18, 16, 11?
- 26
- 16
- 22
16
Hint: Put the numbers in order. With an even number of values, the median is halfway between the two middle ones.
Question 4
What is the range of 18, 20, 51, 7, 15?
- 44
- 38
- 39
44
Hint: The range is the greatest value minus the least value.
Question 5
What is the mean of 18, 15, 18, 7, 17?
- 12
- 10
- 15
15
Hint: Add all the numbers (75), then divide by how many there are (5).
Question 6
What is the mean of 16, 11, 11, 6, 21?
- 7
- 19
- 13
13
Hint: Add all the numbers (65), then divide by how many there are (5).