The measures of central tendency and dispersion in mathematics textbooks for the final years of elementary education

This article analyses the activities related to measures of central tendency (MCT), measures of dispersion (MD), and their relationships in Brazilian mathematics textbooks intended for the final years of elementary school (6th to 9th grades) approved by PNLD 2020, with the proposed statistical literacy by Gal (2002) as a basis. A page-by-page document analysis was carried out on all 11 collections. We found 1.237 activities. The arithmetic mean and amplitude were the most frequently measured. The nature of the quantitative variable stands out in relation to the qualitative one, and fictitious data is quantitatively greater than real data. The connection between MCTs and MDs is scarcely explored in textbooks. Understanding their link is fundamental for decision making, forming critical citizens, and promoting statistical literacy.