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Number of Observations

Lesson

The number of scores in a data set is also called the total frequency. The number of scores in a data set is simply how many numbers there are written down. For example, if you survey $40$40 people, then you will have $40$40 scores in your data set.

To find the number of scores in a set, we simply have to count all the scores in our set. For example, if we had the numbers $17$17, $19$19 and $22$22 in a data set, we could count the scores and say that the number of scores (or the total frequency) is $3$3 because there are three numbers in the set.

Worked Examples

Question 1

Ms Barnett has just marked a set of homework. The scores she gave were:

$99,26,36,31,2$99,26,36,31,2

  1. How many pieces of homework did Ms Barnett mark?

    $\editable{}$

QUESTION 2

Aaron has been recording the number of goals he has scored in soccer matches so far this year.

$1,2,4,2,3,4,2,2,1,3,2$1,2,4,2,3,4,2,2,1,3,2

  1. How many soccer games has Aaron played so far this year?

  2. What is the total number of goals Aaron scored in all matches?

QUESTION 3

A teacher has marked a set of tests and put the scores of her class into the table below.

Score Frequency
$26$26 $13$13
$27$27 $8$8
$28$28 $2$2
$29$29 $19$19
$30$30 $5$5
  1. How many students took the test?

QUESTION 4

The frequency polygon below shows the scores awarded to a mathletes team during several recent competitions.

Frequency PolygonScoresFrequency102028293031323334

  1. How many competitions have the mathletes team taken part in recently?

 

Outcomes

S5-1

Plan and conduct surveys and experiments using the statistical enquiry cycle:– determining appropriate variables and measures;– considering sources of variation;– gathering and cleaning data;– using multiple displays, and re-categorising data to find patterns, variations, relationships, and trends in multivariate data sets;– comparing sample distributions visually, using measures of centre, spread, and proportion;– presenting a report of findings

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