Shawn: This was a pretty hard test, but it was structured just like the last one. There were 100 questions each worth one point. As usual, the professor didn't give out any partial credit. The good news is that nobody missed every single question. At least I scored above the mean, but sadly by less than two points.
Simon: That's the format for every test. But for THIS test, no two of us got the same score. My score, for example, was exactly twice the lowest score.
Sally: Yes, yes. But don't you find it more interesting that our mean score was a whole number, yet none of us actually scored exactly the mean. As for my score, I'm just glad I did better than Seth.
Seth: Bah! Whole number means happen all the time. What's REALLY intriguing is that the standard deviation of our scores (remember, we're the entire population taking the exam) was also a whole number. That's much less likely!
Steven: You want rare? What if I told you that if you were to discard the highest and lowest scores and calculate the mean and standard deviation for that population of four, then not only would both STILL be whole numbers but the mean wouldn't change AT ALL and the standard deviation would be reduced by exactly a factor of three. Can you believe it? It's true!
Sylvia: Steven's just jealous because I got a perfect score and he got the lowest score.
Stella thought about this information and then went to the professor (who heard the entire conversation) and told her what each student's score was. The professor was so impressed that Stella got an A without having to take a makeup exam.
Can you duplicate Stella's feat? What score did each of the six test takers receive?
NOTE: This problem can be solved without spreadsheets or computers, although solutions that use those devices are also welcome.
