To find the mean number of hours students spent on math homework, we need to calculate the average.
To do this, we will add up the total number of hours spent by all the students and then divide it by the total number of students.
Number of students who spent 1 hour = 8
Number of students who spent 2 hours = 6
Number of students who spent 3 hours = 4
Number of students who spent 4 hours = 2
Number of students who spent 5 hours = 1
Total number of hours = (8 * 1) + (6 * 2) + (4 * 3) + (2 * 4) + (1 * 5)
= 8 + 12 + 12 + 8 + 5
= 45
Total number of students = 8 + 6 + 4 + 2 + 1
= 21
Mean number of hours = Total number of hours / Total number of students
= 45 / 21
≈ 2.14 hours
Therefore, the mean number of hours students spent on math homework is approximately 2.14 hours. (Option a)