Question 3: A table shows the number of books borrowed by 8 learners from a library. (a) Is the data discrete or continuous? Explain. (b) Arrange the data in ascending order. (c) Calculate the mean. (

The scores arranged in ascending order are: $\boxed{\mathbf{3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}}$.

3.3 Step 1: Sum all the data values.

There are 8 data values.

$\text{Mean} = \frac{\text{Sum of values}}{\text{Number of values}}$.

The mean of the data collected is $\boxed{\mathbf{5.125}}$.

3.4 Step 1: Ensure the data is arranged in ascending order.
The ordered data is: 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

There are 8 data points, which is an even number.

The middle values are the 4th and 5th values.
The 4th value is 4.
The 5th value is 5.

The median is $\boxed{\mathbf{4.5}}$.

3.5 Step 1: Identify the frequency of each data value in the ordered list.
The ordered data is: 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

• 3 appears once.
• 4 appears three times.
• 5 appears once.
• 6 appears once.
• 7 appears once.
• 8 appears once.

The value 4 appears most frequently (3 times).
The mode is $\boxed{\mathbf{4}}$.

3.6 The mode best represents the data.
This is because the data represents discrete counts (number of books), and the mode (4) indicates the most frequent number of books borrowed by the learners. It shows what the majority of the group did, which is often a useful representation for discrete data.