GRE Prep Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
What is the median number of theaters in which the movies in
[#permalink]
21 Mar 2018, 23:42
21 Mar 2018, 23:42
1
2
Bookmarks
00:00
Question Stats:
68% (02:27) correct
31% (01:23) wrong based on 22 sessions
Hide Show timer Statistics
What is the median number of theaters in which the movies in the table were shown?
A)3792.0
B)3910.0
C)3958.5
D)3987.3
E)4028.0
A)3792.0
B)3910.0
C)3958.5
D)3987.3
E)4028.0
Attachments
g603165_11img01.gif [ 13.4 KiB | Viewed 3707 times ]
Sherpa Prep Representative
Joined: 15 Jan 2018
Posts: 147
Given Kudos: 0
Re: What is the median number of theaters in which the movies in
[#permalink]
02 Apr 2018, 18:02
02 Apr 2018, 18:02
2
Expert Reply
To find the median, we must first sort the data, and then find whatever is in the middle. This is common knowledge. But how do you sort 10 terms quickly? One idea is to pick a number and then count how many pieces of data are above it, and how many are below it. Then if we had 4 above and 6 below, we could easily adjust from there. Sorting all the data is really unnecessary; we merely need the middle, or middle 2 terms.
A quick scan of the Number of Theaters column shows us that some are above and some are below 4,000. Knowing the GRE, it's highly likely that a nice round number will divide the data cleanly in half. A quick count confirms this to be true; there are 5 movies above 4,000, and 5 below.
We can quickly determine the middle two pieces of data by finding the highest number in the 3,000s and the lowest number in the 4,000s: 3,792 and 4,028, respectively. In an even number of data points, the median is exactly midway between the middle two data points. The easiest way to find that is to simply average them. These two numbers are conveniently easy to add, getting us 7,820. Divide it in two to get the average, which is the median, which is 3,910, which is answer choice B.
A quick scan of the Number of Theaters column shows us that some are above and some are below 4,000. Knowing the GRE, it's highly likely that a nice round number will divide the data cleanly in half. A quick count confirms this to be true; there are 5 movies above 4,000, and 5 below.
We can quickly determine the middle two pieces of data by finding the highest number in the 3,000s and the lowest number in the 4,000s: 3,792 and 4,028, respectively. In an even number of data points, the median is exactly midway between the middle two data points. The easiest way to find that is to simply average them. These two numbers are conveniently easy to add, getting us 7,820. Divide it in two to get the average, which is the median, which is 3,910, which is answer choice B.
Re: What is the median number of theaters in which the movies in
[#permalink]
09 Sep 2018, 15:09
09 Sep 2018, 15:09
1
Start out by arranging from lowest or highest. Since there are 10 terms, the first step you know is median will be (5th term + 6th term)/2. So as soon as you reach 6th term, just add 5th and 6th term and divide by two. This saves time, as you dont have to list all out.
