A report says that "the median credit card debt of American households is zero." We know that many households have large amounts of credit card debt. In fact, the mean household credit card debt is close to $8000. Explain how the median debt can nonetheless be zero.

Multiple choice:
A) The median debt can nonetheless be zero because it is not a resistant measure.
B) The median debt is zero because the distribution is left-skewed.
C) The median debt is zero because the first and the third quartiles are probably equal.
D) The median debt is 0 because more than half of credit card debts

Question

A report says that "the median credit card debt of American households is zero." We know that many households have large amounts of credit card debt. In fact, the mean household credit card debt is close to $8000. Explain how the median debt can nonetheless be zero. 

Multiple choice:
A) The median debt can nonetheless be zero because it is not a resistant measure.
B) The median debt is zero because the distribution is left-skewed. 
C) The median debt is zero because the first and the third quartiles are probably equal.
D) The median debt is 0 because more than half of credit card debts

hunus · Answer

If the median is the middle value in a data set, half of the data lies below it and half of the data lies above it.

So if the median of credit card debt is zero, what do you think that means about the data?