MATH LESSON 4

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

This lesson consists of the theory and application of the key concepts of descriptive statistics:
the arithmetic mean, median, mode, standard deviation and range of a set.

Arithmetic Mean
The arithmetic mean of two or more numbers is popularly called the average of the set. The
mean is the number whose value is as close as possible to all the values of the numbers in the
set. So, for example, when you find the mean of only two numbers, you find the number that is
exactly halfway between the two numbersthe number that is equally close to both.
The usual way to calculate the average of a set of two or more numbers is to add all of the
elements of the set together, and then divide by the total number of elements. So, if you want
to find the average of 5, 11, and 14, add them all together: 5 + 11 + 14 = 30. You have added a
total of 3 numbers together, so divide the sum by 3: 30 3 = 10. So the average of 5, 11, and 13
is 10.
On the GMAT, you may be asked to work the process in reverse: given the mean of a set of
numbers, and all but one of the numbers, you will have to calculate the missing number.
Example:
The mean of 4, 8, 10, and x is 11. What is x?
First, take the mean, 11. It was found by dividing the sum of all four numbers by 4, so to find the
sum, you need to multiply by 4.
11 4 = 44, so the sum of 4, 8, 10, and x is 44.
To find x, you just have to subtract the other three numbers from the sum of all four:
4 + 8 + 10 + x = 44
x = 44 4 8 10
x = 22
In some special cases, there is an easier way to find the average. This way may save you time if
you need the average of large numbers, or of a large number of numbers. This easier way works
when you have a list of evenly spaced numbers whose average you need to find. A list of
numbers is evenly spaced if every two neighboring numbers have the same difference between
them. For example, the list 0, 5, 10, 15 is evenly spaced because the difference between any two
neighboring numbers is 5.
Recall from the first lesson that the average of a set of evenly spaced numbers is simply the
middle of the list. In the list, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, the middle of the list is 3, because there are two
numbers that come before 3 in the list, and two numbers that come after. So the average of the
list is 3.

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This works because the numbers which are less than the average and the numbers greater than
the average are pulling the average equally hard in positive and negative directions.

2 is one less than the average, 4 is one greater

1 is two less than the average, 5 is two greater

If you were to plug in this list to the usual formula for the arithmetic mean, you would have
(1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5) 5 = 15 5 = 3
If you have an even number of numbers in an evenly spaced set, as in the list 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3
(which is evenly spaced because it consists of consecutive integers, and has a total of six
numbers), then there is no middle number of the list. The 0 in the list has two numbers that
come before it and three that come after, while the 1 has three numbers that come before it and
two that come after. In this case, simply use the number that is halfway between 0 and 1, the
middle two numbers of the list, as the middle of the list (and therefore as the average). So the
average of the entire list is the same as the average of the middle two numbers: 1/2.
Notice also that the average of 2 and 3 (the smallest number and the largest in the set) is

and that the average of 1 and 2 (the second-smallest and second-largest numbers) is . When
finding the average of a set of evenly spaced numbers, you may use the average of any two
numbers that are equally distant from the middle number. This means that, given any set of
evenly spaced numbers (whether the set has an odd number or an even number of elements),
you can always find the mean by averaging the smallest and largest number. If the arithmetic
involved in this average is fairly simple, this will save you the time needed to count the number
of elements in the set, or to work out which number or numbers are in the middle.
Notice that a set of all numbers divisible by some other number is an evenly spaced set. It
consists of the multiples of that number. For example, the set of all numbers that are divisible by
3 is (..., 12, 9, 6, 3, 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, ...). These are the multiples of 3, and any two neighboring
entries have a difference of 3 between them.
Find the average of all numbers divisible by 5, from 10 to 40.
Instead of listing all the multiples of 5 from 10 to 40, adding them all up, and then dividing by
the number of multiples, you can simply notice that you are dealing with an evenly spaced set.
So all you need to do is find the average of the smallest number and the largest number in the
set, that is, the average of 10 and 40. Since
(10 + 40) 2 = 50 2 = 25, the mean of the entire list is 25.
Remember that this will only work for an evenly spaced set of numbers, and only if the list is
written in strictly ascending or strictly descending order. So the average of the set (10, 15, 20,
15) is not equal to the average of 10 and 15, because the list ascends from 10 to 20 but then
descends back to 15.
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MATH LESSON 4
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

Weighted Mean
In some cases, you will need to average a set of numbers in which a number appears multiple
times. For example, a student that scores 60% on one test and 70% on three tests will have an
average test score equal to the average of the set (60, 70, 70, 70), not the set (60, 70). However, if
the student scores 70% on three tests that are worth a total of half his final grade, and 60% on
the final exam that is worth half his grade, the final grade will in fact be equal to the average of
the set (60, 70), and not the set (60, 70, 70, 70). In such a case the score of 60% is said to be
weighted more heavily than the score of 70%, because it influences the final score
more heavily.
In a calculation of the arithmetic mean, you deal with a weighted value by multiplying it by its
weight before finding the average of the set. Add together all of these products, and then
divide by the total amount of weight. So, if you want to average the set (15, 20) with a weight of
2 for 15 and a weight of 3 for 20, first multiply each value by its weight:
15 2 = 30
20 3 = 60
The sum of 30 and 60 is 90, and the total amount of weight is
2 + 3 = 5.
So divide 90 by 5:
90 5 = 18
So the weighted mean is 18.
Notice that in the example, 20 was weighted more heavily than 15. In the end, the weighted
mean, 18, was closer to 20 than the arithmetic mean of 15 and 20, which is 17.5. Because of its
heavier weight, 20 was able to pull the mean closer to itself.
What is the average (arithmetic mean) of three test scores averaging 60%
and seven scores averaging 75%?
Here, parts of the list of test scores have already been averaged separately. In fact, you are not
told the actual score of any one test. But notice that (because their average is 60%) the first
three scores will contribute to the total mean by exactly the same amount that the score of 60%,
weighted three times, will contribute.
If the first three test scores are x, y, and z, then
(x + y + z) 3 = 60,
because their average is 60%. But then
(x + y + z) = 60 3.
You need to add x, y, and z to the rest of the test scores to find the total mean, but you can
accomplish the same thing by adding 60 3. This is equivalent to adding 60, with a weight of 3.

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A similar explanation will show you that you can represent the last seven scores by including 75
with a weight of 7 in the average.
So the mean of all ten test scores is equal to the mean of 60, with a weight of 3, and 75, with a
weight of 7. To find the weighted mean, multiply 60 by 3 and 75 by 7, add the two products
together, and then divide by the total amount of weight.
60 3 = 180
75 7 = 525
180 + 525 = 705
The total amount of weight is 3 + 7 = 10, so the weighted mean is
705 10 = 70.5
The mean of all ten test scores is 70.5%.

Median
The median of an ordered set of numbers is defined as the middle number. So the median of
the set (2, 6, 7, 10, 13) is 7, because the list is ordered, and there are two numbers that come
before 7 and two numbers that come after 7. If you are given a set that is not in strictly
ascending or strictly descending order, you must reorder the numbers before you can find
the median.
Find the median of the set (14, 1, 25, 9, 0).
First reorder the set: you can use the ascending order (0, 1, 9, 14, 25) or the descending order
(25, 14, 9, 1, 0). Either way, the middle number of the ordered set is 9, because two numbers
come before 9 and two numbers come after 9. So the median of the set is 9.
If a set has an even number of elements, then it will have two middle numbers instead of one.
In this case, the median is defined as the average of these two middle numbers.
Find the median of the set (5, 2, 55, 12, 4, 2).
First reorder the set:
(2, 2, 4, 5, 12, 55).
The middle two numbers are 4 and 5, because there are two numbers that come before 4 and
three numbers that come after 4, and three numbers that come before 5 and two numbers that
come after 5. So the median of the set is the average of 4 and 5, or 4.5.
Notice that in a set with an odd number of elements, the median is also one of the elements of
the set (the middle number). In a set with an even number of elements, the median is the
average of the two middle numbers, so it may not itself be an element of the set. In a set with an
even number of elements, the median only belongs to the set if the two middle numbers
are equal.
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Find the median of the set (2, 4, 5, 5, 8, 21)

The two middle numbers are both 5, so their average is also 5 and the median of the set is 5.
The mean and the median of a set are generally not equal. One case in which they are equal is in
a set of evenly spaced numbers. Here, the mean is equal to the middle number of the set, or the
average of the two middle numbers. The median is the same thing, by definition.

Mode
The mode of a set of numbers is defined as the number that occurs most often in the list. For
example, in the set {0, 3, 4, 4, 4, 9, 11, 11}, the mode is 4, because it appears three times in the
list, while 0, 3, and 9 appear only once each, and 11 appears twice.
A set of numbers can have only one median and one mean, but there can be several modes if
there are several numbers that appear equally frequently. When looking for the mode, be
careful with an unordered list, as you may overlook repetitions of numbers. You might find it
convenient to order the set if you need to find the mode.
The modes of the set {1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6} are 2, 4 and 6, since they all appear three times in
the list, which is more than either of the other numbers, 1 and 5.

Range
The range of a set shows how big the spread of the set is. It is defined as the difference between
the sets largest and smallest elements. For example, the range of the set {10, 5, 2, 109, 13, 1} is
the difference between the largest and smallest numbers in the set, 109 and 1. Since the
difference is 109 1 = 108, the range is 108. The ordering of the set and the number of times
that elements appear is not important if you are looking for the range. Just be sure to check the
set carefully for the largest and the smallest numbers.

Standard Deviation
The standard deviation of a set is a measure of how well the values of a set are represented by
its arithmetic mean. The smaller the standard deviation is, the tighter the values are clustered
together. The larger the standard deviation, the more spread out the values are. For example,
the set {10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 20} will have a smaller standard deviation than the set {2, 50, 150, 510,
980}. In the first set, the numbers are close together, while in the second set, the numbers are
much more spread out.
For the GMAT you do not need to know how to calculate the standard deviation, but you do
need to know its properties. They follow from the formula
If x* is the mean of some finite set S = {x1, ..., xn}, then

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There are 5 main properties of standard deviation that you need to know:

Sd 0 as it is a square root.
Sd = 0, if
1. all the elements are equal to each other
2. the set consists of only one element

The value of standard deviation is independent from other characteristics, such as mean,
median or mode. To obtain the standard deviation we need to know all the values of set
members.
The value of standard deviation does not characterize the values of set members, but only
their mutual deviations.
If the same constant a is added to each number of the set {x1, x2, x3,,xn} with standard
deviation s, the deviation of the new set {x1+a, x2+a, , xn+a} will still be s.

Lesson 4 Objectives
After reading Lesson 4, you should be comfortable with the definitions of mean, weighted
mean, median, mode, range, and standard deviation, and be comfortable calculating them (or
roughly comparing, in the case of standard deviation).

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