College

Forty boys sat a test marked out of 50. Their mean mark was 29.625, and the standard deviation was 10.897.

Forty girls also sat the same test. Their mean mark was 30, and the standard deviation was 6.5.

Compare the performance of boys and girls.

Answer :

We are given the following information:

- For the boys:
- Number of boys: $n_{\text{boys}} = 40$
- Mean mark: $\bar{x}_{\text{boys}} = 29.625$
- Standard deviation: $\sigma_{\text{boys}} = 10.897$

- For the girls:
- Number of girls: $n_{\text{girls}} = 40$
- Mean mark: $\bar{x}_{\text{girls}} = 30.0$
- Standard deviation: $\sigma_{\text{girls}} = 6.5$

We can follow these steps to compare their performance:

1. **Calculate the Total Marks (Optional):**
Although the problem does not require the total marks for comparison, it is useful to see the overall performance of each group.
- Total marks for boys:
$$\text{Total}_{\text{boys}} = n_{\text{boys}} \times \bar{x}_{\text{boys}} = 40 \times 29.625 = 1185.0$$
- Total marks for girls:
$$\text{Total}_{\text{girls}} = n_{\text{girls}} \times \bar{x}_{\text{girls}} = 40 \times 30.0 = 1200.0$$

2. **Compare the Mean Marks:**
The mean mark is a measure of the average score obtained by the students.
- The boys have a mean of $29.625$.
- The girls have a mean of $30.0$.
Since $30.0$ is slightly higher than $29.625$, we can say that on average, the girls scored a bit more than the boys.

3. **Compare the Standard Deviations:**
The standard deviation provides an idea about the spread or consistency of the marks.
- The boys have a standard deviation of $10.897$.
- The girls have a standard deviation of $6.5$.
A lower standard deviation indicates that the marks are more closely clustered around the mean. Hence, the girls were more consistent in their scores compared to the boys.

4. **Conclusion:**
Based on the analysis:
- The girls have a slightly higher mean mark of $30.0$ compared to the boys' mean of $29.625$.
- The girls also have a lower standard deviation ($6.5$ vs. $10.897$), meaning their scores were more consistent.

Therefore, we conclude that the girls performed slightly better and more consistently than the boys.

Final Answer: Girls performed slightly better than boys due to a higher mean ($30.0$ vs. $29.625$) and a lower standard deviation ($6.5$ vs. $10.897$).