GED Mathematical Reasoning TestQuantitative Problem Solving with Rational NumbersEasy
A student's scores on five math quizzes were 78, 85, 92, 70, and 85. What is the median score?
- A82
- B92
- C85
- D78
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. 85
To find the median, first arrange the scores in ascending order: 70, 78, 85, 85, 92. The median is the middle value in an ordered set of numbers. With five scores, the third score is the median, which is 85.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. This is the mean (average) of the scores, not the median.
- B. This is the highest score, not the median.
- D. This is one of the scores, but not the median; it's the second score when ordered.
Median
The median is the middle value in a dataset when the numbers are arranged in numerical order. If there's an even number of data points, the median is the average of the two middle numbers.
- Requires data to be ordered (ascending or descending).
- Less affected by outliers than the mean.
- For odd N: middle value; for even N: average of two middle values.
Memory trick: Mean is average, Median is middle, Mode is most.