{"id":8217,"date":"2011-12-21T10:01:09","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T18:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/?p=8217"},"modified":"2019-01-09T19:59:12","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T03:59:12","slug":"gre-statistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-statistics\/","title":{"rendered":"GRE Statistics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Below are the essentials to statistics on the GRE math section. These concepts are essential, so make sure you master them before walking into the test!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Mean<\/h2>\n<p>The mean is another way of saying average. To find the average add up the number of elements in the set and divide by the number of elements. For instance, let\u2019s say I am counting the average number of push-ups my friends can do:<\/p>\n<p>John: 10<\/p>\n<p>Ray: 15<\/p>\n<p>Cyrus: 22<\/p>\n<p>Sue: 33<\/p>\n<p>I find the total: <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-content\/plugins\/wpmathpub\/phpmathpublisher\/img\/math_993_799804066d0e47bdbd104bd0d7c98a28.png\" style=\"vertical-align:-7px; display: inline-block ;\" alt=\"10+15+22+33=80\" title=\"10+15+22+33=80\"\/>. I then divide by the number of elements. In this case, I have four friends. <m>80\/4=20, which is the average number.<\/p>\n<p>Another concept is range. The range of my friends&#8217; push-ups above\u00a0would be the difference between the greatest and the smallest: 33\u201310=23.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<br \/>\n<h2gtMedian<\/h2gt\nThe median is the middle number in a list of numbers arranged in ascending order.\n\nFor instance, in the list 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, the number 5 is in the middle. Hence it is the median.\n\nA little confusion arises when you have an even set of numbers. 3, 4, 4, 7, 9, 10. In this case 4 and 7, the innermost numbers, cannot both be medians. So we end up taking their average: [pmath](4+7)\/2 = 5.5<\/m>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Mode<\/h2>\n<p>Set A: {2, 2, 2, 4, 5.5, 7, 7}<\/p>\n<p>The number that shows up most in a list of numbers is the mode. Because the number two \u00a0shows up the most frequently it is known as the mode. A list can have more than one mode, so if we were to add another 7 to the list above, 2 and 7 would both be the mode. However, if each number shows up only once, then we say that a set either has no mode or that every number in the set is a mode (for the GRE don\u2019t really worry about this last part\u2014I just want to make sure I dot my mathematical &#8220;i&#8221;s).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Standard Deviation<\/h2>\n<p>This one frightens many people, and understandably so. The good news is the GRE will rarely test you on finding the exact standard deviation on a list of numbers. (That fun task is reserved for stats 101 courses). Instead, the GRE wants you to have a sense of standard deviation.<\/p>\n<p>Set A: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7<\/p>\n<p>Set B: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8<\/p>\n<p>Both sets have the same average. Notice how the spread in Set B is greater than that in Set A. Or, put another way, the numbers in Set A are clumped more closely together. The closer the spread (or the \u201cclumpier\u201d) the numbers, the lower the standard deviation.<\/p>\n<p>The standard deviation for Set A is approximately 1.4 and that for Set B is approximately 2.3.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Distribution curve<\/h2>\n<p>This post is about <a title=\"Normal Distribution on the GRE\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/normal-distribution-on-the-gre\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">normal distribution<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The above are intended as primer for statistics you&#8217;ll be seeing in GRE questions. In all likelihood they will probably get you to about the 50% level. However, if you are looking to score higher, esp. in the top 10%, then you will definitely want to practice with difficult questions. But don&#8217;t fret so much, as there aren&#8217;t <a title=\"How Many Statistics Questions are on the GRE?\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/how-many-statistics-questions-are-on-the-gre\/\">so many statistics questions on the GRE<\/a>. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<h4>Special Note:<\/h4>\n<p>To find out where geometry sits in the &#8220;big picture&#8221; of GRE Quant, and what other Quant concepts you should study, check out our post entitled:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/what-kind-of-math-is-on-the-gre-breakdown-of-quant-concepts-by-frequency\/\">What Kind of Math is on the GRE? Breakdown of Quant Concepts by Frequency<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Below are the essentials to statistics on the GRE math section. These concepts are essential, so make sure you master them before walking into the test! &nbsp; Mean The mean is another way of saying average. To find the average add up the number of elements in the set and divide by the number of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,25],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[12264],"class_list":["post-8217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data-analysis","category-math"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>GRE Statistics - Magoosh GRE Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For the GRE, statistics may not be the hardest thing that you face. However, it is important that you feel confident with these basic concepts!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/gre-statistics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GRE Statistics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the GRE, statistics may not be the hardest thing that you face. 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He's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/education\/best-colleges\/slideshows\/10-test-prep-tips-for-sat-and-act-takers\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> US News<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mba.com\/exams-and-exam-prep\/gmat-exam\/why-take-the-gmat-in-2021-when-many-schools-are-test-optional\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> GMAC<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessbecause.com\/news\/gmat\/3263\/mba-admissions-gre-challenges-gmat\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Business Because<\/a>.\r\n"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8217"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=8217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}