1. **State the problem:** We need to find the mean (average) number of newspapers collected by the students. 2. **Formula for mean:** The mean is calculated by summing all the values and dividing by the number of values. $$\text{Mean} = \frac{\text{Sum of all numbers}}{\text{Number of values}}$$ 3. **List the numbers:** 88, 99, 93, 89, 90, 79, 91, 99 4. **Calculate the sum:** $$88 + 99 + 93 + 89 + 90 + 79 + 91 + 99 = 728$$ 5. **Count the number of values:** There are 8 students. 6. **Calculate the mean:** $$\text{Mean} = \frac{728}{8}$$ 7. **Simplify the fraction:** $$\frac{\cancel{728}}{\cancel{8}} = 91$$ 8. **Final answer:** The mean number of newspapers collected is **91**.