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Descriptive Statistics practice questions — GCSE Maths

12 free multiple-choice problems on descriptive statistics, ordered to match GCSE Maths difficulty, each with a full worked solution. No account needed — and there's a fresh problem set every day.

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Problem #3574 International
Mediumstatistics-data-analysis
A survey of households records the number of pets in each household: The population variance of the number of pets per household is:

Problems & worked solutions

Problem #3574 International

Problem 1 Descriptive Statistics

A survey of 10 households records the number of pets in each household:

Pets01234Households12421

The population variance of the number of pets per household is:

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. 1.2✓ correct
  2. B. 2
  3. C. 2.4
  4. D. 3.2
  5. E. 5.2

Total frequency: f=1+2+4+2+1=10.

Weighted total: fx=01+12+24+32+41=0+2+8+6+4=20, so

xˉ=2010=2

Weighted squared deviations, using d=x2:

f(xxˉ)2=14+21+40+21+14=12

Dividing by the total frequency 10:

σ2=1210=1.2

Problem #3573 International

Problem 2 Descriptive Statistics

A set of 8 numbers has mean 12. When one of the numbers is removed, the remaining 7 numbers have mean 13. The number that was removed is:

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. 5✓ correct
  2. B. 20
  3. C. 1
  4. D. 12
  5. E. 13

The eight original numbers add up to:

8×12=96

The seven numbers that remain add up to:

7×13=91

The two totals contain exactly the same numbers except for the one that was deleted, so that number is the gap between them:

9691=5

As a check, 5 lies below the original mean of 12, so deleting it pulls the mean of what is left upwards — consistent with the new mean of 13.

Problem #0942 US SAT

Problem 3 Descriptive Statistics

The variance of {2,4,4,6} (population formula, divide by N=4) is:

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. 2✓ correct
  2. B. 4
  3. C. 83
  4. D. 1

Mean xˉ=2+4+4+64=4.

Squared deviations: (24)2+(44)2+(44)2+(64)2=4+0+0+4=8.

Variance =84=2.

Problem #3575 International

Problem 4 Descriptive Statistics

Every value in the list 4, 8, 10, 12, 16 is decreased by 3, and each result is then halved. The population standard deviation of the new list is:

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. 2✓ correct
  2. B. 4
  3. C. 8
  4. D. 0.5
  5. E. 3.5

Original mean: xˉ=4+8+10+12+165=505=10.

Deviations 6,2,0,2,6 give

σ2=36+4+0+4+365=805=16,σ=4

The new list is 0.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 6.5, with mean 17.55=3.5. Its deviations are 3,1,0,1,3, so

σnew2=9+1+0+1+95=4

Subtracting 3 moved the mean by 3 as well, so every deviation was unchanged; halving each value halved every deviation, so the standard deviation is halved:

σnew=42=2

Problem #0940 US SAT

Problem 5 Descriptive Statistics

The mean of the data set {2,4,4,6,9} is:

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. 4
  2. B. 5✓ correct
  3. C. 6
  4. D. 4.5

Sum =2+4+4+6+9=25.

Mean =255=5.

Problem #3571 International

Problem 6 Descriptive Statistics

The table shows the number of goals a football team scored in each of its 20 matches this season.

| Goals scored | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Number of matches | 3 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 1 |

The modal number of goals is:

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. 1✓ correct
  2. B. 7
  3. C. 2
  4. D. 4
  5. E. 1.5

The frequencies are 3, 7, 5, 4 and 1, and they total 3+7+5+4+1=20, matching the 20 matches played.

The largest frequency is 7, and it sits in the column headed 1: the team scored exactly 1 goal in 7 matches, more often than any other score. No other score is reached that many times, so the modal value is unique.

mode=1

Problem #3384 International

Problem 7 Descriptive Statistics

The variance of the values 1,2,3 is:

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. 13
  2. B. 23✓ correct
  3. C. 2
  4. D. 63

Mean: xˉ=1+2+33=2.

Squared deviations:

(12)2+(22)2+(32)2=1+0+1=2

So σ2=23.

Problem #3383 International

Problem 8 Descriptive Statistics

The arithmetic mean of the values 2,4,6 is:

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. 3
  2. B. 5
  3. C. 4✓ correct
  4. D. 12

With n=3 values:

xˉ=2+4+63=123=4

Problem #3385 International

Problem 9 Descriptive Statistics

The standard deviation of a statistical series is equal to:

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. the square of the variance
  2. B. the square root of the variance✓ correct
  3. C. the mean of the series values
  4. D. the sum of the values divided by n

By definition, the standard deviation σ is the square root of the variance σ2:

σ=σ2

The mean and the sum divided by n denote the arithmetic mean, not the standard deviation.

Problem #0009 International

Problem 10 Descriptive Statistics

The dataset {2,4,4,6,9} has mean m and median M. Compute m+M.

Show answer & worked solution
  1. A. 8
  2. B. 9✓ correct
  3. C. 10
  4. D. 11

Mean: (2+4+4+6+9)/5=25/5=5. Median (middle of the sorted set): 4. So m+M=5+4=9.

2 more Descriptive Statistics questions in the app

Also covered in Descriptive Statistics practice across every exam.

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