Carcass wrote:
The arithmetic mean of 300 measurements is 72, and the arithmetic mean of 200 additional measurements is 64.
Quantity A |
Quantity B |
The arithmetic mean of the 500 measurements |
68 |
A)The quantity in Column A is greater.
B)The quantity in Column B is greater.
C)The two quantities are equal.
D)The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
A combined average of two sets is the sum of all measurements over the total number of measurements.
The sum of
300 measurements of the data set with arithmetic mean
72 is
300⋅72=21600.
The sum of
200 measurements of the data set with arithmetic mean
64 is
200⋅64=12800.
Thus the sum of all measurements is
21600+12800=34400 and the total number of measurements is
500.
The arithmetic mean of the
500 measurements is
34400500=68.8, which is greater than
68.
Hence, A is greater than B.
Therefore, A is the right answer.