Ontario Mathematics Proficiency Practice Test

To find the mean of a set of numbers, the process involves adding all the numbers together to obtain a total sum and then dividing that sum by the count of the numbers in the set. This method provides the average value, which represents the central point of the data set.

Calculating the mean is essential in statistics because it gives a clear indication of the dataset’s overall trend and can help identify patterns or benchmarks. The sum reflects the total impact of all the values, while dividing by the total number of entries ensures that the average accurately represents all numbers included.

The other choices reflect methods that do not result in the mean: multiplying all numbers together does not yield a measure of central tendency; subtracting the smallest number from the largest gives a range, which simply indicates the spread of the numbers; and taking the highest number in the set focuses solely on one value rather than representing the entire dataset.