Beta rovers
Can you find the mode and median number of goals scored by Beta Rovers?
Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
Problem
Beta Rovers have played fifteen games in their league.
The bar chart shows how many goals they scored in each of their matches.
Can you find the mode and median number of goals scored by Beta Rovers?
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Getting Started
Student Solutions
The mode is the most common number of goals scored per match.
On the bar chart, this will be the tallest bar:
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Mode number of goals = 1
The median is the middle value, when the data is in order.
Alpha United played 15 matches, so the middle match is the 8th-lowest-scoring match (which is also the 8th-highest-scoring match), since 7 + 1 + 7 = 15.
So to find the median, we need to find the 8th lowest-scoring match on the bar chart.
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Beta Rovers scored 0 goals in match 1, and 1 goal per match in the next 6 lowest-scoring matches (so matches 2 to 7). So in match number 8 they scored 2 goals, so the median is 2.
Check: 2 matches with 4 goals each, 4 matches with 3 goals each and the other match with 2 goals adds up to 7 matches.