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 Turn In Problems 
 Personal Finance Decisions — Typicality 

The greatest reward for a student is not a good grade. It is the willingness of his teacher to listen to him.

- Nikolay Konstantinov

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1. Find the mean of these six numbers: 135, 95, 11, 5, 33, 15.

15 24 33 49 294

2. Continuing the previous probem, find the median of those six numbers.

15 24 33 49 294

3. The histogram below shows the number of books read by different children. What is the mean number of books read?

2 books 2.5 books 3 books 30 books

4. Continuing the previous problem, what is the median number of books read?

2 books 2.5 books 3 books 30 books

5. The home values on a certain street, in thousands of dollars, are: 384, 364, 342, 346, 360, 356, 265, 417, and 530. What is the mean of these home values?

$336,400 $360,000 $364,000 $374,000

6. Continuing the previous problem, what is the median of those home values? Why does this type of average better communicate the "typical" value of a home on that street?

$336,400 $360,000 $364,000 $374,000

7. A shipping company needs to transport seven freight containers. Their weights are 10, 16, 16, 18, 20, 60, and 77 tons. What is the mean and median weight of these freight containers?

mean is 18, median is 18 mean is 31, median is 18
mean is 18, median is 31 mean is 31, median is 217

8. Two company clerks receive a report that only contains the mean and median weights, and number of containers, from the previous problem. The first clerk tries to find the total weight by multiplying the mean by the number of containers. The second clerk tries to find the total weight by multiplying the median by the number of containers. Which clerk is correct? Why? How much error does the other clerk have?

the first clerk is too small by 91 tons
the first clerk is too small by 126 tons
the second clerk is too small by 91 tons
the second clerk is too small by 126 tons

9. Some news articles make a big deal when many countries have an average temperate increase well above global average. How does a better understanding of averages explain that having many items above average is neither surprising nor sensationalism?

Countries are different in many ways
There is no such thing as a "typical" country
We would expect any histogram to have many items above average
The items above average this year can be below average next year

10. During the 2007 strike of the Writer's Guild of America, two different news reports painted very different pictures of these screen and television writers...How does a better understanding of averages explain the situation more clearly?

The few millions-earning writers moved the mean atypically high.
The few millions-earning writers moved the median atypically high.
The many zero-earning writers moved the mean atypically low.
The many zero-earning writers moved the median atypically low.