Question

With respect to average of the data set, choose the correct option.

• A. It is the middle value of the data set.
• B. It is the sum of observations divided by the total number of observations.
• C. It is the most frequently occuring value in the data set.
• D. It is the sum of observations.

Answer 1

The correct option is B It is the sum of observations divided by the total number of observations.

The average of the data set is the sum of all the observations in the data set divided by the total number of observations.

For example, consider a data set which depicts the age of different students of a class.


The average of this data is calculated as,

$\begin{array}{cc}\text{Average}& =\frac{20+18+17+22+20+19+21}{7}\\ & =\frac{137}{7}\\ & =19.57\end{array}$

While, the most frrequently occuring value in the data set is said to be the mode of the data set. For the given data set, the mode is $20$ as it occurs most frequently.

Moreover, the median is the middle number of the data set when arranged in ascending order.

Arrange the given data set in ascending order and observe the middle number.


The middle number is $20$ and hence the median of this data set is $20$.

So, option (b) is correct.