While calculating the mean, median, mode, and range can tell us a lot about a data set, these calculations can also be very powerful in comparing and contrasting two different data sets.
When comparing two data sets, the data set with the higher mean is considered to have generally higher scores. The data set with the lower range is considered to have more consistent scores, because the scores are less spread out.
The runs scored by each player in a cricket match are displayed below.
\text{Team A} | 70 | 0 | 73 | 25 | 31 | 52 | 1 | 20 | 2 | 7 | 8 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
\text{Team B} | 28 | 33 | 12 | 60 | 51 | 24 | 4 | 19 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
Find the mean runs for Team A to one decimal place.
Find the mean runs for Team B to one decimal place.
Which team scored more runs?
An online shopping website records the user ratings for two similar products in the histograms below.
Find the median user rating for product A.
Find the median user rating for product B.
According to the website's rating system, a perfect rating is 5.0. Which product got more perfect ratings?
We can use the mean, median, and mode to compare data sets to determine which set had higher results on average.
We can use the range to compare data sets to determine which set had more consistent results.