define weighted mean how to calculate it explain
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Explanation:
When we do a simple mean (or average), we give equal weight to each number.
Here is the mean of 1, 2, 3 and 4:
weighted average equal
Add up the numbers, divide by how many numbers:
Mean = 1 + 2 + 3 + 44 = 104 = 2.5
Weights
We could think that each of those numbers has a "weight" of ¼ (because there are 4 numbers):
Mean = ¼ × 1 + ¼ × 2 + ¼ × 3 + ¼ × 4
= 0.25 + 0.5 + 0.75 + 1 = 2.5
Same answer.
Now let's change the weight of 3 to 0.7, and the weights of the other numbers to 0.1 so the total of the weights is still 1:
weighted average more weight
Mean = 0.1 × 1 + 0.1 × 2 + 0.7 × 3 + 0.1 × 4
= 0.1 + 0.2 + 2.1 + 0.4 = 2.8
This weighted mean is now a little higher ("pulled" there by the weight of 3).
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