Arithmetic Mean - ACT Math

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Question

If the average of A, B, and C is 50, which of the following expressions represents the average of A, B, C, and D?

Answer

We take the average 50 and multiply it by 3 (the number of terms in the set) to get the total sum of the initial set. Then you take the total sum and add D and divide by the numbers of terms in the new set.

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Question

Calculate the arithmetic mean of the following set of numbers: 54, 35, 50, 49, 54, 65, 82, 54, and 25.

Answer

To solve this question, you must know that the mean is the sum of the values divided by the number of values, in this case: 468/9=52. It is not 54, which is the median (the most commonly occurring number of the set).

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Question

In a theatre there are 600 people. Out of this, 100 males have an average age of 50 and 500 females have an average age of 30. To the nearest whole year, what is the average age of the town’s entire population?

Answer

To find the average age, compute:

100 * 50 + 500 * 30= 5000+ 15000= 20000. Then divide by the total amount of people that are at the theatre: 20000/600= 33.3=33.

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Question

LeBron James had played in 7 playoff games. He scored 31, 30, 55, 14, 29, 20, and 12 points in those games. What is his average for those 7 games?

Answer

To find the mean, you have to add all of the items and then divide by the number of items. Finding the sum (31+30+55+14+29+20+12)= 191 and then dividing by 7 would give a result of 27.3. \[Side Note: The Median is 29 and the range is 43.\]

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Question

Susan got a job at a store folding the display clothes. If she folds shirts during her whole eight-hour shift, except for her thirty-minute lunch break, Susan can fold 180 shirts. How long does it take her to fold one shirt?

Answer

First you convert hours to minutes by multiplying 8 by 60, giving you 480 minutes. You then subtract her 30 minute lunch break, leaving you with 450 minutes. Then divide this by 180 shirts, giving you 2.5 minutes per shirt. Based on the available answer choices, you then multiply by 60 again to get the time in seconds, 150.

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Question

Kobe Bryant has averaged about 29.5 points a game through the first 81 games of the NBA season. His goal is to average at least 30 points per game for the season. What is the least amount of points he needs to score in his last game of the season to achieve his goal? (There are 82 games in a season.)

Answer

To find your answer, you would have to set it up like a weighted average because we don’t know what he scored for the 81 games, but we can approximate how many actual points he scored by multiplying 29.5 times 81. Thus, we would get the equation (29.5(81)+x)/82=30. Multiply both sides by 82 to get 2389.5+x=2460. Thus x=70.5 and we would round up to get 71 points.

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Question

Peter received the following 4 grades on math tests: 86, 90, 88, and 96. What was Peter's average score for the 4 tests?

Answer

In order to calculate the average, or arithmetic mean, of numbers in a set, we add up all of the numbers, then divide that total sum by the n (the count of numbers in the set).

Here we have 86, 90, 88, and 96. This gives us n = 4.

We add up 86 + 90 + 88 + 96 = 360. 360 / 4 = 90.

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Question

Jack earned $10 on Tuesday. On each following day, through Satuday, he earned $3 more than the preceding day. What were his mean earnings for the five-day period, Tuesday through Saturday?

Answer

Jack earned $10 on Tuesday, $13 on Wednesday, $16 on Thursday, $19 on Friday, and $22 on Saturday. This is a total of $80. Divide that by the total number of days, 5, and the mean is $16.

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Question

Ashley scored 80, 80, 83, 85, 90, and 77 on her tests this semester. If she wants an average of 85 on all her tests, which would she have to score on her final test?

Answer

One can set up an equation for the average test score. 85=(80+80+83+85+90+77+x)/7.

Solving for x gives 100.

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Question

An olympic athlete has just completed a four mile run. His average time was 6 minutes per mile. If he ran the first and last mile in 5 minutes, and the other 2 were the same time as each other, what was the average time for the 2 miles in the middle?

Answer

The total time spent by the athlete was 24 minutes, if two of the miles took 10 minutes, then the other two took 14.

14/2 yields an average of 7 miles per minute

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Question

Fred has had three algebra tests so far and has one left before he gets a final grade. He wants an "A" in the class, and so he needs at least a 90% average test grade to get an "A". His previous test scores have been 96%, 86%, and 94%. What is the lowest score he can get on his fourth test to get an "A" in the class?

Answer

The following equation can be set up in order to solve for the score on the fourth test, x. The left side of the equation is the average of all of his tests. This is then set equal to 90%, the average test score which guarantees him an A: (96+86+94+x) / 4 = 90. Solving for x, we get x = 84%.

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Question

A student has scored 93, 87, and 94 on three of his four exams. In order to maintain a 90 average or above in the class, what is the lowest this student may score on the fourth exam?

Answer

In order to have an average of 90 over four exams, that means the sum of all the students scores must total to at least 360.

So far, the student has a total sum of 274 points.

360 - 274 yields 86, the minimum score needed to maintain an average of 90 or higher

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Question

Jill has received $200 on her birthday each year for four consecutive years. For the next two years she received $700 in total. For this 6-year period, what was her average yearly amount of birthday money she received?

Answer

We add $200 times the four years, giving us $800. We then add $700 for the following two years, giving a total of $1,500. We divide this by 6 years, giving us an average of $250 per year.

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Question

Janice, Candice, Sharon, and Helen have an average height of 65 inches. Janice is the shortest at 55 inches, and Helen is the tallest at 70 inches. What is the average height of Candice and Sharon?

Answer

First we find the average height for Janice and Helen, (55 + 70)/2 = 62.5. The average of the height for Candice and Sharon must complement this to achieve the overall average of 65. We can solve for their average by doing (62.5 + x)/2 = 65.

Solving this equation yields an average height of 67.5 inches.

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Question

The mean of five numbers is 40. The mean of the smallest two numbers is 25. What is the mean of the other three numbers?

Answer

The equation for the mean of a group of numbers is to find the sum of all of the numbers and then divide by how many numbers are in the group. This means that if we know the mean and how many numbers are in the group, we can find the sum of those numbers.

(sum of all five numbers) / 5 = 40 --> sum of all five numbers = 200

(sum of two smallest numbers) / 2 = 25 --> sum of two smallest numbers = 50

Subtracting the sum of the two smallest numbers from the sum of all five gives us the sum of the remaining three. We can then divide by three to find the mean of those three remaining numbers.

200 – 50 = 150

150 / 3 = 50

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Question

Angela scores 17, 19, 13, 24, and 14 points in the first five games of a seven-game basketball season. If the scoring leader in Angela’s league averages 18 points per game, how many points must Angela score in the final two games combined to end the season with the highest scoring average in the league AND have a higher scoring average than any other player?

Answer

Since a given player’s scoring average can be determined by dividing the sum total of points scored by the number of games, we can determine the total points of the scoring leader by multiplying the average points per game by the total number of games. 18 x 7 = 126. Angela would have to score 1 more point than the current scoring leader. Angela’s current total is 87 points; therefore, she must score 40 (87 + 40 = 127) over the course of the final two games to have the highest average points per game in the league.

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Question

What is the mean of the following set of numbers: 13, 15, 100, 54, 345, rounded to the nearest 1’s place?

Answer

mean = sum of all values divided by the number of values.

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Question

A thermometer reads an average of 47.5 °F on a Sunday, rises 2.9 degrees on Monday, and drops 1.7 degrees on Tuesday. What is the average reading of the thermometer on Tuesday?

Answer

Use 47.5 as a baseline value to add and subtract the subsequent drops on Monday and Tuesday. Thus, 47.5 + 2.9 = 50.4 (Monday); 50.4 - 1.7 = 48.7 (Tuesday).

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Question

Gradechart

On the chart above, what was the class average for Exam 2? Round to 1 decimal point.

Answer

Average = (Sum of Grades) / (# of Grades)

= (85+93+65+70+90+72+65+86+93) / 9

= 719 / 9 = 79.9

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Question

Jenny just got her spring report card. She earned 3 As, 2 Bs and one C. If the values assigned to grades are 4 points for an A, 3 points for a B, and 2 points for a C, what is her GPA, rounded to the nearest tenth?

Answer

GPA is the average of the grade points.

GPA = (3*4 + 2*3 + 1*2) / 6 = 3.33

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