The weights of 15 students in a class are given as 25, 30, 32, 30, 42, 45, 48, 50, 52, 51, 42, 38, 40, and 42. What is the mode of the given data?

Analysis

The question asks for the mode of a given set of data. In statistics, the mode is defined as the value that appears most frequently in a data set.

Concept

To find the mode, follow these steps:

1. List all the unique numbers present in the data.
2. Count how many times each number appears (the frequency).
3. Identify the number with the highest frequency.

Step-by-Step Solution

First, let's list the weights provided: 25, 30, 32, 30, 42, 45, 48, 50, 52, 51, 42, 38, 40, 42.

Note: You mentioned there are 15 students, but only 14 weights were listed. Let's count the frequency of the numbers provided:

• 25: appears 1 time
• 30: appears 2 times
• 32: appears 1 time
• 42: appears 3 times
• 45: appears 1 time
• 48: appears 1 time
• 50: appears 1 time
• 52: appears 1 time
• 51: appears 1 time
• 38: appears 1 time
• 40: appears 1 time

Comparing the frequencies:

• 30 appears 2 times.
• 42 appears 3 times.

Since 42 has the highest frequency, it is the mode of the data set.

Conclusion

The number 42 appears more frequently than any other value in the list.

Exam Tip

When dealing with a long list of numbers in an exam, always arrange them in ascending order (from smallest to largest) first. This makes it much easier to spot the frequency of each number and prevents you from accidentally skipping a value.