The problem asks to calculate the mean and median of the weights of five cats, given their weights as: 7, 16, 6, 9, and 6 pounds. Let's solve each step.

Step (a): Calculate the Mean

The mean is calculated by summing all the values and dividing by the total number of values.

$\text{Mean} = \frac{7 + 16 + 6 + 9 + 6}{5} = \frac{44}{5} = 8.8 \, \text{pounds}$

So, the mean weight is 8.8 pounds.

Step (b): Calculate the Median

To calculate the median, we first need to arrange the weights in ascending order:

$6, 6, 7, 9, 16$

The median is the middle number in a sorted list. Since there are 5 numbers, the middle number is the third one, which is 7 pounds.

Thus, the median weight is 7 pounds.

Final Answers:

• (a) Mean: 8.8 pounds
• (b) Median: 7 pounds

Would you like further details or have any questions about these calculations?

Here are 5 related questions to expand your knowledge:

1. How would the mean change if a sixth cat weighing 10 pounds were added?
2. What is the mode of the weights in this dataset?
3. How do outliers (like the 16-pound cat) affect the mean and median?
4. How would the median be calculated if there were an even number of cats?
5. What is the range of the cat weights?

Tip: The median is less sensitive to extreme values (outliers) than the mean, making it a better measure of central tendency for skewed data.