Question

Which data set can you add to the data shown to increase the median of the data? 5 13 11 14 7
A. {2, 19}B. {6, 12, 16} C. {6, 11, 15} D. {3, 4, 14}

Answer 1

Anyone?

Answer 2

the median is the point at which half the data values are smaller, and half are larger. the median of our original data

5 13 11 14 7
5 7 11 13 14
is 11
We need to add a set of data which will cause the middle value to be higher. We can do that by putting in more data points > the median than less than the median

Answer 3

Which of the options has more data points > 11 than < 11?

Answer 4

b?

Answer 5

let's check:

5, 13, 11, 14, 7, 6, 12, 16
5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16
median is now between 11 and 12, so we have successfully increased the median.

Answer 6

or a

Answer 7

hm

Answer 8

adding C didn't change the median, nor did A — they both contributed equal numbers of points to the left and right of the median.

Answer 9

the actual values don't matter, just that they are larger or smaller than the median. Adding a single data point of 19 changes the median by the same amount as adding a single data point of 19 million....

Answer 10

This is why the median is a better figure when looking at housing prices in an area than the mean, which can be thrown off by a few atypically high or low prices.

Answer 11

for example, if you have 3 houses sell for $100,000 each, 1 for $90,000, and 1 for $1,000,000, the median is $100,000. That gives you a much better idea of what you might pay in that neighborhood than the mean, which is $224,000 — not really representative of any of the sales prices!