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To draw conclusions from data, it is useful to calculate averages. An average indicates the typical value of a set of data and the main types are mean, median and mode. You can also get more information from your data by giving a measure of central tendency and a measure of spread.
Methods to explain your results
Example
As part of a school project, Kieran is asked to write down the number of tracks on each of his CDs. His results are as follows:
10, 14, 10, 12, 10, 11, 12, 10, 11, 9 and 12.
This gives Kieran the information he needs, but the data is not very easy to read or remember. What can he do to improve on this? One way is to put his results into a table:
| Number of tracks on CD | Number of CDs |
|---|---|
| 9 | 1 |
| 10 | 4 |
| 11 | 2 |
| 12 | 3 |
| 13 | 0 |
| 14 | 1 |
This is better - but it would still be difficult to compare his results with those of his classmates.
Kieran therefore decides to describe his results by giving the average number of tracks, and some indication of the spread of his results.
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