Question Video: Evaluating the Arithmetic Mean between Two Numbers Mathematics

Video Transcript

Evaluate the arithmetic mean between negative 77 and 24.

In order to calculate the arithmetic mean of a set of numbers, we divide the sum of the values by the number of values. In this question, we need to add negative 77 and 24 and then divide the answer by two. Negative 77 plus 24 is equal to negative 53. This means that the arithmetic mean is equal to negative 53 over two. We could also write this as the decimal negative 26.5.

An alternative method to calculate the arithmetic mean would be to consider a number line, in this case, between negative 77 and 24. The mean would be the midpoints between these two values. We know that to get from negative 77 to zero, we need to add 77. We need to add another 24 to get to 24. This means that the difference between negative 77 and 24 is 101. We need to add 101 to get from negative 77 to 24. A half of 101 is 50.5. This means that the midpoint of negative 77 and 24 will be 50.5 greater than negative 77 and 50.5 less than 24. This is equal to negative 26.5 or negative 53 over two as previously calculated.