A commuter travels many miles to work each morning. She has timed this trip 5 times during the last month. The time (in minutes)required to make this trip was 44,39,41,35,and 41. What is the mean absolute deviation for this sample data?
A) 0
B) 12
C) 3
D) 2.4
E) 1.2

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To find the mean absolute deviation (MAD), we first need to calculate the mean of the sample data:

Mean = (44+39+41+35+41)/5
Mean = 40

Next, we find the absolute deviation for each observation, which is the absolute value of the difference between each observation and the mean:

|44-40| = 4
|39-40| = 1
|41-40| = 1
|35-40| = 5
|41-40| = 1

Then, we find the average of these absolute deviations:

(4+1+1+5+1)/5 = 12/5

Therefore, the mean absolute deviation is 2.4, which is option D.

A Commuter Travels Many Miles to Work Each Morning