BGS, BSGS Bachelor of General Studies Mathematics and Statistics 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the 'mean' of a data set?
- The middle value when data is sorted
- The value that appears most often
- The arithmetic average of all values (Correct answer)
- The difference between the highest and lowest values
Correct answer: The arithmetic average of all values
The mean is calculated by summing all values in a data set and dividing by the total number of values.
Question 2: Which measure of central tendency is least affected by extreme outliers?
- Mean
- Median (Correct answer)
- Range
- Standard Deviation
Correct answer: Median
The median, the middle value when data is ordered, is resistant to outliers because it depends on position, not value magnitude.
Question 3: What does a probability of 0 mean for an event?
- The event will definitely occur
- The event has a 50% chance of occurring
- The event is impossible (Correct answer)
- The event is very unlikely
Correct answer: The event is impossible
A probability of 0 means there is no chance the event will occur; it is impossible.
Question 4: What is the formula for the area of a rectangle?
- Side × Side
- Length × Width (Correct answer)
- 2 × (Length + Width)
- ½ × Base × Height
Correct answer: Length × Width
The area of a rectangle is found by multiplying its length by its width.
Question 5: In a normal distribution, approximately what percentage of data falls within one standard deviation of the mean?
- 50%
- 68% (Correct answer)
- 95%
- 99.7%
Correct answer: 68%
The empirical rule states that about 68% of data in a normal distribution falls within one standard deviation of the mean.
Question 6: What is the purpose of a histogram in statistics?
- To show the relationship between two variables
- To display the frequency distribution of a data set (Correct answer)
- To calculate the mean of a data set
- To track changes over time
Correct answer: To display the frequency distribution of a data set
A histogram uses bars to display the frequency or relative frequency of data values within defined intervals.
BGS, BSGS Bachelor of General Studies Mathematics and Statistics 1
What is the 'mean' of a data set?