Use measures of center to draw inferences about populations - HiSET

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Question

Janice will take twelve tests in her political science class, worth one hundred points each. Her score for the term will be the arithmetic mean of the best ten.

She has taken eleven tests already; her scores, in order, are:

74, 79, 60, 77, 54, 80, 81, 60, 66, 68, 71

How high will Janice have to score on the twelfth test in order to get a "C" in the course, which is defined to be a mean of 70 points?

Note: Assume that no extra credit is given on any test.

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Answer

First, we test to see if she is already assured of a 70 average. The worst-case scenario for Janice is that she will score 0 points on the twelfth test,. If this happens, her grade will be the mean of the ten best tests so far. She will drop the 0 and the fifth score, 54, so her average will be the sum of the other ten tests divided by 10:

Janice is already assured of a mean of at least 70, since any score can only raise her grade.

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