The mean weight of 25 students in a class is 58 kg. The mean weight of a second class of 29 students is 62 kg. How do you find the mean weight of all the students?

1 Answer
Dec 15, 2016

The mean or average weight of all the students is 60.1 kg rounded to the nearest tenth.

Explanation:

This is a weighted average problem.

The formula for determining a weighted average is:

color(red)(w = ((n_1 xx a_1) + (n_2 xx a_2))/(n_1 + n_2))w=(n1×a1)+(n2×a2)n1+n2

Where ww is the weighted average,

n_1n1 is the number of objects in the first group and a_1a1 is the average of the first group of objects.

n_2n2 is the number of objects in the second group and a_2a2 is the average of the second group of objects.

We were given n_1n1 as 25 students, a_1a1 as 58 kg, n_2n2 as 29 students and a_2a2 as 62 kg. Substituting these into the formula we can calculate ww.

w = ((25 xx 58) + (29 xx 62))/(25 + 29)w=(25×58)+(29×62)25+29

w = (1450 + 1798)/54w=1450+179854

w = 3248/54w=324854

w = 60.1w=60.1