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.

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.

vane11 · Answer

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 zero because more than half of credit card debts are zero.

I want to say D but Im not 100% sure

anonymous · Answer

I believe the answer is B. The mean of a set of numbers is equal to their sum divided by the number of values there were, so if we have a HUGE outlier, that'll effect the mean a lot. The median of a set of numbers is the most central value in that set. So it won't be greatly effected by an outlying value.

anonymous · Answer

median is not the same as the "mean" 
go with D

anonymous · Answer

the median of 
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100
is still 0

anonymous · Answer

also seems unlikely that a household can have negative credit card debt 
is that like visa owes you money?

vane11 · Answer

It was D

anonymous · Answer

does seem likely, doesn't it?