Question

a student is designing an experiment about cell size in organisms of different sizes. her hypothesis is that larger organisms will have larger cells. she collects cheek cells from five different students in her class and estimates their size under the microscope. her results can be seen below.

student	height (in cm)	cheek cell size (in μm)
b	172	82
c	190	97
d	158	98
e	179	88

what is the average size of the cheek cells observed in her experiment?
multiple choice
○ 98μm
○ 90μm
○ 88.2μm
○ 441μm

Explanation:

Step1: Identify data values

The cheek - cell sizes are 76μm, 82μm, 97μm, 98μm, 88μm.

Step2: Use average formula

The formula for the average (arithmetic mean) of a set of numbers \(x_1,x_2,\cdots,x_n\) is \(\bar{x}=\frac{x_1 + x_2+\cdots+x_n}{n}\). Here \(n = 5\), \(x_1=76\), \(x_2 = 82\), \(x_3=97\), \(x_4=98\), \(x_5=88\).

Step3: Calculate sum of values

\(76 + 82+97+98+88=441\).

Step4: Calculate the average

\(\bar{x}=\frac{441}{5}=88.2\)μm.

Answer:

C. 88.2μm