Before a national athletics championship, Tara and Emek reviewed performance data from relay candidates collected over several training sessions. Instead of choosing runners based on their fastest individual times, they compared distributions of results and examined summary statistics such as the mean, median, and spread of each athlete's performances. They noticed that some runners were slightly slower on average but far more consistent. Using this evidence, they selected the relay team with the strongest overall reliability. Their data-driven decision helped the team perform steadily and achieve an excellent result at the championship.
Challenges
Challenge 1 of 5
Challenges
Challenge 1 of 4
Hint
Consistency is related to how close the times are to one another.
Tara and Emek compared two relay runners. Runner A's times (in seconds) were 52, 53, 52, 53, and 52. Runner B's times were 49, 52, 55, 52, and 54. Which runner is more consistent?
Runner A because the times have a smaller spread.Runner B because the fastest time is lower.Runner B because the average is higher.Both runners are equally consistent.Correct! Runner A has a much smaller spread, so the performances are more consistent.
Look at the variation in the times, not just the fastest performance.
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Hint
Arrange the times in order and identify the middle value.
One relay candidate recorded training times of 48, 50, 49, 51, and 52 seconds. What is the median training time, in seconds?
Correct! The median training time is 50 seconds.
Order the data first, then find the middle observation.
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Hint
When averages are equal, compare the spread of the data.
Two relay candidates have the same mean training time of 51 seconds. Candidate X has a range of 2 seconds, while Candidate Y has a range of 8 seconds. Based on Tara and Emek's approach, which candidate would be preferred for a reliable relay team?
Candidate Y because a larger range means more improvement.Candidate X because the smaller range shows more consistent performances.Candidate Y because both candidates have the same mean.Neither candidate because the mean alone determines reliability.Correct! A smaller range indicates greater consistency and reliability.
Think about which athlete has less variation in performance.
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