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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Management Accounting · Summarising and analysing data

A frequency distribution of daily machine breakdowns shows: 0 breakdowns on 10 days, 1 breakdown on 20 days, 2 breakdowns on 15 days, and 3 breakdowns on 5 days. What is the mean number of breakdowns per day?

The mean is 1.3 breakdowns per day. Weighting each value by its frequency gives 65 total breakdowns over 50 days. Averaging the values 0 to 3 without weighting would wrongly give 1.5.

  1. A1.5
  2. B1.0
  3. C1.3Correct
  4. D1.2

Explanation

Total days = 10 + 20 + 15 + 5 = 50. Total breakdowns = 0 + 20 + 30 + 15 = 65. Mean = 65 / 50 = 1.3. Using a simple average of the four values (0+1+2+3)/4 = 1.5 ignores the frequencies.

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