What was the mean number of languages spoken per person?

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
\begin{tabular}{c}
Number of \\
languages
\end{tabular} & Frequency \\
\hline
1 & 7 \\
\hline
2 & 8 \\
\hline
3 & 5 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}



Answer :

To find the mean number of languages spoken per person, follow these steps:

### Step 1: Understand the Data
The table provides the number of languages spoken and the frequency of people who speak that number of languages.

| Number of languages | Frequency |
|---------------------|-----------|
| 1 | 7 |
| 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 5 |

### Step 2: Calculate the Total Number of People
To find the total number of people, sum the frequencies.

[tex]\[ \text{Total number of people} = 7 + 8 + 5 = 20 \][/tex]

### Step 3: Calculate the Total Number of Languages Spoken
To find the total number of languages spoken, multiply each number of languages by its corresponding frequency and sum these products.

[tex]\[ \text{Total number of languages spoken} = (1 \times 7) + (2 \times 8) + (3 \times 5) \][/tex]

Calculate each term:
[tex]\[ 1 \times 7 = 7 \][/tex]
[tex]\[ 2 \times 8 = 16 \][/tex]
[tex]\[ 3 \times 5 = 15 \][/tex]

Now sum these values:
[tex]\[ 7 + 16 + 15 = 38 \][/tex]

### Step 4: Calculate the Mean Number of Languages Spoken Per Person
To find the mean, divide the total number of languages spoken by the total number of people.

[tex]\[ \text{Mean number of languages spoken per person} = \frac{\text{Total number of languages spoken}}{\text{Total number of people}} = \frac{38}{20} = 1.9 \][/tex]

Therefore, the mean number of languages spoken per person is [tex]\(1.9\)[/tex].