Mean, Median, Mode & Range | GED Tools and Foundations

📖 The Lesson

These four measures each describe something different about a set of numbers. On the GED you'll be given a list of values and asked to find one of them — or given a real-world context and asked to interpret what they mean.

All four examples below use the same data set: {3, 7, 5, 3, 9, 11}. Notice that the mean, median, and mode are all slightly different — that's normal and expected.

Mean (Average)

Mean is equal to the total of the values, divided by the number of values.

A GED definition is provided on the formula sheet. See below.

Mean = sum ÷ count

Mean = (3 + 7 + 5 + 3 + 9 + 11) ÷ 6

Mean = 38 ÷ 6

Mean ≈ 6.33

Median

Middle value of ordered numbers.

A GED definition is provided on the formula sheet. See below.

Unordered: 3, 7, 5, 3, 9, 11

Ordered: 3, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11

Two middle values: 5 and 7

Median = (5 + 7) ÷ 2

Median = 12 ÷ 2

Median = 6

Mode

The value that appears most often.

Data: 3, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11

3 appears twice — more than any other

Mode = 3

Range

Subtract the lowest value from the highest.

Range = highest − lowest

Range = 11 − 3

Range = 8

GED Formula Sheet Definitions

mean — mean is equal to the total of the values of a data set, divided by the number of elements in the data set

median — median is the middle value in an odd number of ordered values of a data set, or the mean of the two middle values in an even number of ordered values in a data set

Reference

GED Formula Sheet

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📋 Open Formula Sheet

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