IXL | Interpret median and interquartile range

Barbara works in an electronics store. The store sells 7 different brands and models of tablets. All of the tablets have screen sizes of less than 11 inches, and most are less than 10 inches. The median screen size is 9.4 inches, and the interquartile range is about 2.1 inches.

Which is a measure of how much these tablets' screen sizes vary?

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Learn with an example

question

Each day last week, Tex's Taco Truck sold at least 175 tacos. On Tuesday, Tex sold more than 250 tacos even though it was rainy. He is hoping to sell 300 tacos this Tuesday if the weather is good. The median number of tacos sold daily last week was 204, and the interquartile range was 43 tacos.

Which is a measure of how much Tex's daily sales varied last week?

43 tacos

175 tacos

204 tacos

250 tacos

key idea

The median is the middle value when a data set is ordered from least to greatest. It describes the center of the data set.

The interquartile range (IQR) is the range of the middle

50%

of the data set. It describes the variability of the data set.

solution

You want to describe how much Tex's daily taco sales varied last week.

Use the interquartile range, since it describes the variability of the data set. The IQR was 43 tacos.

So, Tex's daily sales varied by 43 tacos last week.

Looking for more? Try these:

Lesson: Mean, median, mode, and range

Lesson: Interquartile range

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Teacher tools

Work it out

Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

Calculate median

Lesson: Mean, median, mode, and range

Lesson: Interquartile range

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