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Question

Using data from 1944 through 2000, the histogram shows the number of years that had a particular number of hurricanes reaching the East Coast of the U.S. For example, in 14 of those years there was exactly one hurricane each year that reached the East Coast of the U.S. What is the median number of hurricanes per year reaching the East Coast from 1944 through 2000?

Accepted Answer

Based on the histogram, we can make an educated guess that the median number of hurricanes per year reaching the east coast will be around 2 or 3 (simply because there are a large number of years for which no hurricanes or only one hurricane reached the east coast). To this end, we begin by calculating the number of years in which three to seven hurricanes reached the east coast: 12 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 21. There are 5 + 14 = 19 years in which zero or one hurricanes reached the east coast. Thus, the median number of hurricanes per year reaching the east coast is 2.