total of percentages

jlw11

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Apr 13, 2011
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I need to find out the total number of percentages. I have 5 percentages(62%, 98%, 91%, 98%, & 98%) and I need to figure out how to get 1 total for the above numbers. Do I add them all up then divide by 5??? I have no clue. Someone please explain, because I'm going to have to do this next quarter to.
 
jlw11 said:
I need to find out the total number of percentages. I have 5 percentages(62%, 98%, 91%, 98%, & 98%) and I need to figure out how to get 1 total for the above numbers. Do I add them all up then divide by 5??? I have no clue. Someone please explain, because I'm going to have to do this next quarter to.

There are several ways to answer your question, depending on your purpose and what information is available to you.

First, do you understand the differences between mean, median, and mode?

Second, do you know that there are a number of different means?

Third, do you have the five totals from which the five percentages were computed? Does the total of those totals have any meaning?
 
jlw11 said:
I need to find out the total number of percentages. I have 5 percentages(62%, 98%, 91%, 98%, & 98%) and I need to figure out how to get 1 total for the above numbers. Do I add them all up then divide by 5??? I have no clue. Someone please explain, because I'm going to have to do this next quarter to.

Can you please post the original "problem"?
 
Hello, jlw11!

Some clarification is requested.


I need to find out the total number of percentages.
. . The phrase "total number of percentages" is puzzling.

I have 5 percentages: 62%, 98%, 91%, 98%, and 98%.
And I need to figure out how to get 1 total for the above numbers.
. . Again, the phrase "total for the numbers" is vague.

Do I add them all up then divide by 5? . Probably not!

To make my point, I will give some rather silly examples . . . please don't be insulted.


\(\displaystyle \text{Suppose the five percentage are from five }unrelated\text{ categories:}\)

. . \(\displaystyle \begin{array}{cc}\text{Percentage of cars with CD players on the Massacusetts Turnpike:} & 62\% \\ \text{Percentage of people on "The Biggest Loser" who lost 100 pounds:} & 98\% \\ \text{Percentage of customers who used credit cards at Starbucks today:} & 91\% \\ \text{Percentage of James Patterson books that were Best Sellers:} & 98\% \\ \text{Percentage of people who regularly ignore statistical data like these:} & 98\% \end{array}\)

\(\displaystyle \text{If you found the "average" of these percentages, would it have any measning?}\)



\(\displaystyle \text{Suppose you ran three math workshops and gave an exam ... with these results:}\)

. . \(\displaystyle \begin{array}{c|ccc} & \text{Class} & \text{Number} & \text{Percent} \\ \text{Group} & \text{size} & \text{passed} & \text{passed} \\ \hline \text{A} & 50 & 20 & 40\% \\ \text{B} & 20 & 15 & 75\% \\ \text{C} & 10 & 5 & 50\% \\ \hline \end{array}\)

\(\displaystyle \text{If you average the percents, you get: }\;\frac{40\% + 75\% + 50\%}{3} \;=\;\frac{165\%}{3} \;=\;55\%\text{ passed.}\)
. . \(\displaystyle \text{But this is wrong!}\)

\(\displaystyle \begin{array}{c}\text{There were: }\:50+20+10 \:=\:80\text{ students,} \\ \text{and: }\:20+15+5\:=\:40\text{ of them passed.}\\ \text{Therefore: }\:\frac{40}{80} \,=\,50\%\text{ passed.} \end{array}\)


\(\displaystyle \text{Moral: \,Never }never\text{ NEVER average percentages!}\)

 
This is for a patient satisfaction survey result that is measured each quarter. The goal for us is for everyone to check off in the box "always" so the info below is the percent of people out of all the people we gave the survey to who answered "always."

Qtr 4 (10/10-12/10) Qtr 1 (1/11-3/11)
data was data was
Ease of scheduling appointment 49% 62%
Courtesy/Respect by provider 97% 98%
Provider explained things in a way you could understand 92% 91%
Rooms clean 95% 98%
Would recommend 94% 98%

The goal in our department is to have an 80% or greater total score when you combine all the percentages for that quarter together. So the question I'm being asked is for Qtr. 1 did we get an 80% or higer and if so what was the amt.

Thanks so much for all your help. And no, unfortunatly I don't know all that mean, medium stuff. I'm a complete idiot when it comes to math, so I appreciate all your help. Thank you!! :)
 
jlw11 said:
This is for a patient satisfaction survey result that is measured each quarter. The goal for us is for everyone to check off in the box "always" so the info below is the percent of people out of all the people we gave the survey to who answered "always."

Qtr 4 (10/10-12/10) Qtr 1 (1/11-3/11)
data was data was
Ease of scheduling appointment 49% 62%
Courtesy/Respect by provider 97% 98%
Provider explained things in a way you could understand 92% 91%
Rooms clean 95% 98%
Would recommend 94% 98%

The goal in our department is to have an 80% or greater total score when you combine all the percentages for that quarter together. So the question I'm being asked is for Qtr. 1 did we get an 80% or higer and if so what was the amt.

Thanks so much for all your help. And no, unfortunatly I don't know all that mean, medium stuff. I'm a complete idiot when it comes to math, so I appreciate all your help. Thank you!! :)

I am warning you that the answer I am about to give MAY NOT SATISFY people because the question as posed has many possible answers.

First, if the number of people who answered the different questions is the same, that eliminates one difficulty. To have everyone who fills out the form answer every question almost never happens on questionaires, but if the number who answered each question is about the same, we can ignore THAT difficulty and get an answer that is approximately correct. (To see what the difficulty would be if the numbers of answers to each question are very different, imagine 620 people out of a thousand said they easily scheduled an appointment, but 98 out of a hundred said the rooms were clean. (69% + 98%) / 2 = 83.5%%, but only 718 people out of 1000 (71.8%) gave an acceptable grade.)

Second, does anyone care whether the answers to the different questions are of equal importance? If each question is considered equally important and the number of people who answered each question is about the same, then, yes, just add up the percentages and divide by 5. That will probably satisfy whoever is asking you to do this work.

I will tell you, however, that I think the number is stupid. Not your fault. If people ask you dumb questions, they will get dumb answers.

In another life, what would have impressed me about the numbers is the improvement in the positive responses about ease of scheduling from quarter to quarter, not an average that blends answers about all sorts of disparate things.
 
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