Here's a breakdown:
* Individual Scores: These are the scores for each component or criterion being evaluated. For example, if you're grading a student's performance, individual scores might be for homework, quizzes, midterms, and finals.
* Weights: These are numbers (often percentages or proportions) that represent the importance of each individual score. A higher weight means the component contributes more to the overall weighted score. For example, the final exam might be weighted at 40% while homework is only 10%.
* Calculation: The weighted score is calculated by multiplying each individual score by its weight, and then summing the resulting products.
Example:
Let's say a student's grades are:
* Homework: 80% (weight: 10%)
* Quizzes: 75% (weight: 20%)
* Midterm: 85% (weight: 30%)
* Final: 90% (weight: 40%)
The weighted score calculation would be:
(80% * 10%) + (75% * 20%) + (85% * 30%) + (90% * 40%) = 8 + 15 + 25.5 + 36 = 84.5%
The student's final grade is 84.5%, reflecting the higher importance given to the midterm and final exam scores.
Weighted scores are used in many contexts, including:
* Academic grading: As shown in the example above.
* Performance evaluations: Assessing employee performance across multiple dimensions.
* Investment portfolio analysis: Calculating overall portfolio performance considering the weighting of different assets.
* Credit scoring: Determining creditworthiness based on various factors.
* Search engine ranking: Determining the relevance of a webpage based on multiple factors.
In essence, weighted scores provide a more nuanced and accurate representation of overall performance or value when the components involved don't carry equal importance.