6. Which is the best measure of central tendency for the type of data below-the mean, the median, or the mode? Explain.
Hours of sleep each night
A. Median; there will be outliers
B. Range; there are no outliers
C. Mode; the data are non-numeric
D. Mean; the outliers are limited
Can you please help me figure this out? Thanks
I forgot to mention, I think that the answer is B.
First of all, range is not a measure of central tendency. Since hours are numerical, eliminate C. However, since the data is not given, we cannot know if there are a significant number of outliers on one side (skewed distribution) or not. If so, median. If not, mean.
The mean acts as a fulcrum (balance point) for the distribution, so it is biased by outliers on one side.
Okay thank you. I usually good at this stuff, but this is the first time they gave me a question like this. Thanks again for the help.
Okay, I took the test and although it's too late is might help in the future. My test is different, so I'll try to explaint he best I can to avoid mix- ups.
1. What data are represented by the stem and leaf plot below?
A)37, 38, 39, 41, 43, 47, 52, 54
2. Find the mode and median of the data in the stem and leaf plot.
C)54;73
3.The stem and leaf plot below could NOT represent which of the following?
D) the height of NBA basketball players, in meters
4. Make a histogram for drivers' ages using the data from the table below.
C)The graph with ages 17-19 on 8, 20-22 on 7, 23-25 on 9, and 26-28 on 4
5. In a recent survey of middle school students about pizza topping, it was found that 25 students like pepperoni pizza, 31 like bannana peppers pizza, and 5 liked both pepperoni and bannana peppers on their pizza.If 66 students were surveyed, how many students do not like bannana peppers on their pizza?
D)35
6. Which is the best measure of central tendency for the type of data below-the mean, median or the mode? Explain.
D)Mean;the outliers are limited
7. The back to back stem and leaf plot shows the ages of patients seen by two doctors in a family clinic one day.What is the difference between the age of the oldest patient seen by Doctor 1 by oldest patients by Doctor 2?
C)6
8) This one is typed, and mine hasn't been graded yet. But because I hate when people don't post a response, I'll come back and put the answer. Hope this helps!
To determine the best measure of central tendency for the type of data given (hours of sleep each night), we need to consider the characteristics of the data and the purpose of the analysis.
The mean represents the average value of the data. It is calculated by summing up all the values and dividing by the total number of observations. The mean is sensitive to extreme values, also known as outliers, which can skew the results.
The median refers to the middle value in a dataset when it is arranged in ascending or descending order. The median is less affected by outliers than the mean because it only considers the middle value, disregarding extreme values.
The mode, on the other hand, represents the value that occurs most frequently in the dataset. It is suitable for non-numeric data, where distinct categories or groups are present.
Given that the data in question is "hours of sleep each night," which should be numeric data, option C, mode, is not appropriate since the data is non-numeric.
Regarding the remaining options, the presence or absence of outliers should guide our choice. If there are outliers present in the dataset, option A, median, would be the most suitable measure of central tendency. The median minimizes the impact of outliers because it is calculated based on the middle value.
Conversely, if there are no outliers or the outliers are limited (as stated in option D), the mean can provide a representative value for central tendency.
Therefore, the best measure of central tendency for this dataset would be the median (option A) if there are outliers, or the mean (option D) if there are no outliers or limited outliers present in the data.