At the Silver City Middle School field day, a favorite event is the obstacle course. Sophie was happy that she finished it in 62 seconds. Most of the 26 students in her class took over 60 seconds. The median time was 67 seconds, and the interquartile range was about 14 seconds. The fastest student in the class finished in 54 seconds.What is a typical obstacle course time of a student in Sophie's class?(A) 14 seconds(B) 60 seconds(C) 62 seconds(D) 67 seconds
Q. At the Silver City Middle School field day, a favorite event is the obstacle course. Sophie was happy that she finished it in 62 seconds. Most of the 26 students in her class took over 60 seconds. The median time was 67 seconds, and the interquartile range was about 14 seconds. The fastest student in the class finished in 54 seconds.What is a typical obstacle course time of a student in Sophie's class?(A) 14 seconds(B) 60 seconds(C) 62 seconds(D) 67 seconds
Calculate Median Time: To determine a typical time for the obstacle course, we should consider the median time, as it represents the middle value in a data set when the values are arranged in ascending order. The median is less affected by outliers and skewed data than the mean, making it a better measure of the typical value in this context.
Identify Typical Time: Given that the median time was 67 seconds, this would be the best representation of a typical time for the obstacle course. The median is the value that separates the higher half from the lower half of the data set, which means that half of the students finished in less than 67 seconds and the other half took longer.
Evaluate Other Options: The other options provided, such as 14 seconds (which is the interquartile range and not a measure of central tendency), 60 seconds (which is mentioned as the time most students took over, but not a specific measure of central tendency), and 62 seconds (Sophie's time, which is not necessarily representative of the class), are not appropriate choices for a typical time.
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