Lesson 4

Go to page 133 of the textbook and read “Healthy Weight and Measures of Central Tendency.” This reading will introduce you to a way of determining “average” or “healthy” weight for a person 18 years of age or older.

 

While reading, keep in mind the following questions:

• Why is there a need to determine the average or healthy weight for a person?
• Which measure of central tendency is closely related to the body mass index (BMI)?

What is your BMI?

 

Calculate your BMI using either the method in the textbook or the BMI Nomogram.

 

CREDIT: Health Canada. Body Mass Index Nomogram

 

Calculating BMI is an example of average that is slightly different from the other measures of central tendency. In this lesson you will be looking at what measures work best for any given set of data.

 

Lesson Outcomes

 

At the end of this lesson you will be able to

• explain the advantages and disadvantages of each measure of central tendency
• explain how measures of central tendency and outliers are used to provide different interpretations of data

Lesson Question

 

You will investigate the following question:

• Which measure of central tendency is the best for a given set of data?

Assessment

 

Your assessment may be based on a combination of the following tasks:

• completion of the Lesson 4 Assignment (Download the Lesson 4 Assignment and save it in your course folder now.)
• course folder submissions from Try This and Share activities
  

Materials and Equipment

 

You will need

• calculator