alleryStart learning →When a distribution is skewed to the right, the mean is usually:
AGreater than the median
BSmaller than the median
CExactly the median
DEqual to the mode
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Greater than the median
1. A long right tail contains a few unusually large values.
2. Those values pull the arithmetic mean upward while barely moving the median.
3. When the distribution is skewed to the right, the mean is often greater than the median.
4. That gap between the two centres is itself a signal of skew.
_Source: OpenStax Introductory Statistics 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 2 'Descriptive Statistics', sections 2.1-2.7_
Keep practising Descriptive Statistics
Browse all Descriptive Statistics questions for AP Statistics, or explore more Statistics topics.
Related questions
Complete the shape ruleTrue or false: describing dataMatch each statistic to its meaningResistant to outliers?Centre, spread or location?When first looking at a graph of data, you should look for an overall pattern and any:Measures of location, as opposed to centre or spread, are quartiles and:Alongside stemplots and box plots, the third standard display for one variable is the: