Choosing a Measure of Center Worksheet Download
Free 6th Grade math worksheets on Choosing a Measure of Center. Each worksheet has 10 problems with an answer key and are ideal for teachers and homeschooling. You can download the PDF, create a set of flash cards or set it up for online learning.
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About this worksheet
Each worksheet has 10 problems choosing whether the mean, the median, the mode, or all three best describe a set of data.
A question like this has no answer key unless the data is built to give it one. Any five numbers have a mean, a median and a mode, and on most sets two of the three describe the data about equally well - so the question becomes a matter of taste. Every set here is built to make exactly one measure defensible and then checked before it is printed: values spread evenly with nothing repeating, or one value far above the rest, or one value repeated across most of the list, or a symmetric set where all three measures are the same number. That fourth kind is why one of the choices is that all three describe it equally - without it a student learns that one measure always wins. Sheets can be customized, turned into flash cards, or assigned for online learning.
Student objectives
- Decide which measure of center best describes a set of data.
- Recognize when one very large value makes the median the better choice.
- Recognize when a repeated value makes the mode the most descriptive.
Everyday practice
- Look at a list of scores and say which number represents it best.
- Spot the one value that would pull an average away from the rest.
- Find the number that repeats in a short list.