This activity is about finding a mean average from a frequency table.
Sometimes the data given for finding a mean is in a table.
The table below shows the number of pets owned by 21 different people.
Number of pets | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Number of people | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
The total number of people = 7 + 6 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 21.
From the table:
7 people have 0 pets = total 0 pets
6 people have 1 pet = total 6 pets
5 people have 2 pets = total 10 pets
2 people have 3 pets = total 6 pets
1 person has 4 pets = total 4 pets
Total number of pets = 0 + 6 + 10 + 6 + 4 = 26 pets in total.
Mean number of pets = the total number of pets ÷ the total number of people.
The mean number of pets is 26 ÷ 21 = 1.2 pets per person.
Let's try some questions now.