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Which measure of centre is generally better when a data set contains extreme values?
AThe mode, since it ignores the total
BThe mean, since it uses every value
CThe median, since outliers do not move it
DThe range, since it uses only two values
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. The median, since outliers do not move it
1. The mean adds every value, so one very large or very small value drags it along.
2. The median depends only on the position of the middle observation, not on how extreme the tails are.
3. The median is therefore the better summary of the centre when outliers are present.
_Source: OpenStax Introductory Business Statistics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 2 "Descriptive Statistics", section 2.3 Measures of the Center of the Data_
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