Center & Spread
📋 What it is
Mean, median and mode describe the "middle"; range describes the spread.
🗣️ Coach says
When you have lots of numbers, you summarise them. Mean is the balancing average, median is the middle value in order, mode is the most common. Range (biggest − smallest) tells you how spread out they are.
🧠 Memory hook
Mean = add-then-share. Median = the MIDDLE (sort first!). Mode = MOST common. Range = spread.
😂 Giggle
Why was the protractor always invited to parties?
Because it knew all the right angles!
😲 Whoa!
A single outlier can drag the mean far off, but the median barely moves — which is why house prices are usually reported as a median.
✅ Quick check: Find the median of 3, 7, 5.
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
5 — put them in order (3, 5, 7); the middle value is 5.
The median is the middle number once the list is sorted.
🪄 Trick question: To find the median, do you need the numbers in order first?
Careful — think it through, then reveal.
Yes — always sort them first, then take the middle value.
The median is meaningless without ordering the data first.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Collect 5 numbers (ages, shoe sizes) and find their mean, median, mode and range.