Question

Largest Deserts in the World
Desert	Area (km2)
Sahara (Africa)	8,800,000
Gobi (Asia)	1,300,000
Australian Desert (Australia)	1,250,000
Arabian Desert (Asia)	850,000
Kalahari Desert (Africa)	580,000
Chihuahuan Desert (North America)	370,000
Takla Makan Desert (Asia)	320,000
Kara Kum (Asia)	310,000
Namib Desert (Africa)	310,000
Thar Desert (Asia)	260,000

Earth Science: The table lists the world's 10 largest deserts.
(a) What are the mean, median and mode of the areas listed ?
(b) How many times the size of the Gobi Desert is the Namib Desert ?
(c) What Percentage of the deserts listed are in Asia ?
(d) What percentage of the total area of the deserts listed is in Asia ?

Answer 1

(a) Total area of 10 deserts,

$$= 8800000 + 1300000 + 1250000 + 850000 + 580000 + 370000 + 320000 + 310000 + 310000 + 260000$$

$$= 14350000 \,km^2$$

$$\therefore Mean = \dfrac{114350000}{10} km^2 = 1435000 \,km^2$$

Here, $$n = 10$$ (even)

$$\therefore Median = \left ( \dfrac{580000 + 370000}{2} \right ) = \dfrac{950000}{2}$$

$$= 475000 \,km^2$$

since, area $$= 310000 \,km^2$$

(b) area of Gobi desert $$= 1300000$$ square km

Area of Namib Desert $$= 3100000$$ square km

Now,

$$\Rightarrow x = \dfrac{1300000}{3100000} = 4.19$$

Therefore, size of the Gobi desert is $$4.19$$ times the Namib Desert.

(c) Total number of Desert $$= 10$$

5 deserts listed in Asia

$$\therefore Percentage = \dfrac{5}{10} \times 100 = 50\%$$

(d) total area of Deserts listed in Asia,

$$= 1300000 + 850000 + 320000 + 310000 + 260000 = 3040000 \,km^2$$

Total area of all Deserts $$= 14350000$$ sq. km

Percentage of Desert in Asia

$$= \dfrac{3040000}{14350000} \times 100 = 21.1\%$$