Question

each of the 5 cats in a pet store was weighed. here are their weights (in pounds).
9,8,5,5,16
find the mean and median weights of these cats.
if necessary, round your answers to the nearest tenth.
(a) mean: pounds
(b) median: pounds

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate the mean

To find the mean, we sum all the weights and divide by the number of cats. The weights are 9, 8, 5, 5, 16. The sum is \(9 + 8 + 5 + 5 + 16 = 43\). There are 5 cats, so the mean is \(\frac{43}{5} = 8.6\).

Step2: Calculate the median

First, we order the weights from least to greatest: 5, 5, 8, 9, 16. Since there are 5 values (an odd number), the median is the middle value, which is the 3rd value. So the median is 8.

Answer:

(a) Mean: 8.6 pounds
(b) Median: 8 pounds