What is the arithmetic mean of 18, 44, 7, 63, 29, 51, 82?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → 42
The arithmetic mean is the sum of the values divided by the number of values.
Sum \(=18+44+7+63+29+51+82=294\)
Number of values \(=7\)
Mean \(=294\div7=42\)
The arithmetic mean is 42.
Why the other options are incorrect
Option (1) 49 — Incorrect. This divides the sum 294 by 6 instead of by 7.
Option (2) 44 — Incorrect. This is the median (the middle value in order), not the mean.
Option (4) 36.75 — Incorrect. This divides the sum 294 by 8 instead of by 7.