Understanding the Athlete Participation Data

The question asks us to find the country that had the second highest total number of athletes participating in the Annual Sports Event during the year 2017. The provided table shows the distribution of male (M) and female (F) athletes from five countries (A, B, C, D, and E) across different years.

Calculating Total Athletes for Each Country in 2017

To answer the question, we need to calculate the total number of athletes (Male + Female) for each country in the year 2017. We will extract the data for 2017 from the table and sum up the male and female participants for each country.

Analyzing and Ranking Total Athlete Numbers in 2017

Now that we have the total number of athletes for each country in 2017, let's list them in descending order to find the highest and second highest totals.

Total Athletes in 2017, ranked from highest to lowest:

• Country D: 735
• Country B: 730
• Country E: 650
• Country A: 540
• Country C: 510

From the ranked list, we can see that:

• The highest total number of athletes in 2017 was 735 from Country D.
• The second highest total number of athletes in 2017 was 730 from Country B.

Therefore, the country with the second highest number of athletes in the year 2017 was Country B.

Conclusion

Based on the calculations of total athletes for each country in 2017, Country B had the second highest participation. The process involved extracting the data for the specified year, summing male and female athletes for each country, and then ranking these totals to identify the second highest value and its corresponding country.

The final answer is B.

Revision Table: Annual Sports Event Athletes

Let's quickly review the total athlete counts for 2017:

Comparing these values: 735 (D) > 730 (B) > 650 (E) > 540 (A) > 510 (C). The second highest is indeed from Country B.

Additional Information: Data Interpretation Skills

Data interpretation questions require careful reading of tables and charts to extract relevant information. Key steps often include:

• Identifying the specific year or category requested.
• Locating the corresponding data points in the table or chart.
• Performing necessary calculations (like sums, differences, averages, percentages) using the extracted data.
• Comparing results and drawing conclusions based on the calculations.
• Ensuring all parts of the question are addressed.

Practicing with different types of data representations (tables, bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs) helps improve data interpretation skills for competitive exams.