Lesson 4

Discover

 

In Focus you found your BMI. How could that number mislead someone to think that they are healthy or unhealthy? When considering the health of a person, many factors have to be considered—cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and hereditary patterns are just a few. Choosing just one number may give misconceptions of what is actually the case.

 

The following is a case in which it’s difficult to describe a situation with a single number.

 

Month	Average Depth of Snow on Ground (in cm)
January	19
February	21
March	16
April	3
May	0
June	0
July	0
August	0
September	0
October	1
November	5
December	12

Source: http://www.livingin-canada.com/climate-edmonton.html

 

Try This 1

 

Look at the set of data showing the monthly average depth of snow in Edmonton. Answer the following questions.

1. Which measure of central tendency (mean, median, or mode) would make it appear that Edmonton often has snow on the ground?
2. Which measure would make it seem like Edmonton rarely has snow on the ground?
3. Would any of the central tendencies you have learned provide you with a clear picture of how much snow fall there really is in Edmonton?

Save your responses in your course folder.