Averages

What is an average?

An average is what you would expect to happen!

Could this penguin be the average penguin for this colony?

NO!

That penguin is far too tall to be the average penguin!

To be average it would have to be similar to the others…some penguins taller than him…some smaller… but most about the same size as him!

The Three Types of Average

Mean

Median

Mode

Mode

This is the easiest average to work out.

The mode is the “one” that happens the most often.

Which is the mode?

Tiger or Lion?

It’s the…

Median

The median is the middle item when they have been put in order.

Median

What if there is no middle item??

Easy…find what is halfway between the two items that are in the middle!

4 5 5 6 10 10 10 12

Median= (6 + 10) ÷ 2 = 8

How do you find a number halfway between 6 and 10??

You add them together and halve the total!

Mean

Mean

The hardest one to work out….lots of math’s to do!

You have to add all the numbers together and then divide by how many there were to start with.

No wonder they call it mean!

So….

7 6 5 3 5 4 5

Add them up 7+ 6 +5 +3 + 5 +4 + 5 = 35

Divide by how many there were 35 ÷ 7 = 5

The mean is 5

That’s all there is to it so over to you!