Statistics - finding the mean

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fairy111
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Mean Statistics
Fairy111
Messages
72
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



From the data:
x=-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
y= 1 5 4 7 10 8 9 13 14 13 18

These values are in a table, ie -5 corresponds to 1, -4 to 5 and so on.
I have to find:
Sxx=Sum of [x(i) - mean of x]^2

Sxy=Sum of [x(i) - mean of x][y(i) - mean of y]

Im not sure how to do this. Whats the mean of x?

Homework Equations


The Attempt at a Solution

 
Physics news on Phys.org
Fairy111 said:

Homework Statement



From the data:
x=-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
y= 1 5 4 7 10 8 9 13 14 13 18

These values are in a table, ie -5 corresponds to 1, -4 to 5 and so on.
I have to find:
Sxx=Sum of [x(i) - mean of x]^2

Sxy=Sum of [x(i) - mean of x][y(i) - mean of y]

Im not sure how to do this. Whats the mean of x?

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution


The mean is just the arithmetic average of the numbers. In this case, since there are 11 values for each of x and y, add the numbers and divide by 11.
 
x is not a variable, the numbers are just -5, -4, -3 ...3,4,5
so when you add them up you'l just get zero.
This is what is confusing me.
 
If x is -5, 4, ..., 4, 5, then it's pretty darn variable! What do you think "variable" means?

Is said before that the mean is the average: sum divided by 11. What is 0/11? Why is that confusing?

It is true here that you x values form an arithmetic sequence with an odd number of values: and the mean of such a sequence is the middle value.
 
HallsofIvy said:
It is true here that you x values form an arithmetic sequence with an odd number of values: and the mean of such a sequence is the middle value.

Did you mean Mean or Median?
 
microguy said:
Did you mean Mean or Median?
In this situation the mean and the median are the same.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top