SECTION 6A HIGHLIGHTS
Vocabulary: Distribution, Mean, Median, Mode, High Score, Low Score, Outlier, Symmetric Distribution, Skewed (left or right) Distribution, Variation.
Assignment: Read about Characterizing a Data Distribution in Section 6A of the text. Do pp. 388-391 RQ(1-3,5), BSC(15,17,21-26,27,35-37), ITN(43).
In The News #43 Links: NEWS
The distribution of a variable (or data set) describes the values taken
on by the variable and the frequency (or relative frequency) of these values.
Averages are used to show the "center value" for a set of
data. This text shows three ways to define "center value".
Mean - calculated using the formula: Mean = sum of all values/total
number of values.
Median - Middle score of ordered data. (If even number of scored add two
middle scores and divide by two)
Mode - Most common score. A data set may have more than one mode or no
mode.
An Outlier is a data value that is much higher or much lower than almost all other values.
Distributions of raw data may have many different shapes depending upon the way the data is spread over the possible values. Some examples of possible shapes are pictured on Page 385-387 of the text.
The Variation of a set of data describes how widely data values are spread out about the center of a distribution.
Skills to be mastered:
1. Find the Mean, Median and Mode for a set of data.
2. Identify an outlier in a set of data and describe the possible effect.
5. Identify if a distribution is symmetric, positively skewed, or negatively
skewed.