For his Math class, Jason scored 88, 80, 93 and 95 on his tests so far. Will he be able to get an average of 90 and above if his last test score is 90? explain why

Question

sshaskka

Answer 1

So the focus of this question has to do with average, which is important to note that it tends to be the most middle term in a set of values (and the formula represents this which will be covered in a bit).

When understanding the definition of average, you can look at the values given and guestimate where the average score would fall. The average is greatly influenced by where every value falls. So just looking at the numbers, we can see that the average will fall pretty much in the middle, between 88 and 93, around/really close to 90. Now does that show and confirm whether it IS 90? No, because you're just guessing there, where it could be a range of numbers to choose from to call the average. And that's where the formula comes in.

Recall that the formula to find the average of a set of values is: (sum of the values) / total number of values

In this case, we will add up all the values and then divide it by the total number. Since we need to see if we do or do not get the average 90, we will include the last test score 90 --

average = (88 + 80 + 93 + 95 + 90) / 5 = 89.2

So we see there that we do not get the average 90 with the last test score being 90. Therefore, we can definitively say that Jason would not get the average 90 if he were to make a grade of 90 on the last test.

(NOTE: if you set up the average formula as set equal to - or greater than - 90 and solve for the last test score, you can see what's the lowest score he can make to actually get an average of 90)

Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions. Peace :)