Calculate the mean deviation of the set of numbers 7, 3, 14, 9, 7, and 8.
Answer Details
To find the mean deviation of a set of numbers, we first need to find the mean (average) of the set.
Mean = (7+3+14+9+7+8) / 6 = 48/6 = 8
Next, we need to find the deviation of each number from the mean. To do this, we subtract the mean from each number:
(7-8), (3-8), (14-8), (9-8), (7-8), (8-8)
-1, -5, 6, 1, -1, 0
Notice that some of the deviations are negative and some are positive. To avoid canceling out the deviations that are opposite in sign, we take the absolute value of each deviation:
1, 5, 6, 1, 1, 0
Finally, we find the mean of these absolute deviations:
Mean Deviation = (1+5+6+1+1+0) / 6 = 14/6 = 7/3
Therefore, the mean deviation of the given set of numbers is 7/3.