Mean Absolute Deviation Worksheet

Mean Absolute Deviation

Read each question carefully and provide your answers in the space provided. Show all your work for calculations.

1. Define Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) in your own words and explain what it tells us about a data set.

2. Calculate the Mean Absolute Deviation for the following data set: {5, 8, 10, 12, 15}

Step 1: Find the mean of the data set. Mean =  

Step 2: Find the absolute deviation of each data point from the mean:

|5 - Mean| =  

|8 - Mean| =  

|10 - Mean| =  

|12 - Mean| =  

|15 - Mean| =  

Step 3: Find the average of these absolute deviations. MAD =  

3. A data set has a MAD of 2.5. What does this indicate about the data points?

4. Two basketball players, Player A and Player B, have the following points per game over 5 games:

Player A: {18, 22, 20, 19, 21}

Player B: {10, 30, 15, 25, 20}

Calculate the MAD for each player and determine who is more consistent.

Show your work for Player A:

Show your work for Player B:

Conclusion:  

5. A higher Mean Absolute Deviation always indicates that the data points are more spread out.

6. A company manufactures light bulbs. They tested two batches of bulbs for their lifespan in hours.

Batch 1: {980, 1020, 990, 1010, 1000}

Batch 2: {900, 1100, 950, 1050, 1000}

Calculate the MAD for each batch and explain which batch shows more consistent lifespan.

MAD for Batch 1:  

MAD for Batch 2:  

Explanation: