Question

Based on the data, should Jasper use the mean or the median to make an inference about the house values in his neighborhood?
He should use the mean because it is in the center of the data.
He should use the median because it is in the center of the data.
He should use the median because there is an outlier that affects the mean.
He should use the mean because there are no outliers that affect the mean.

Answer 1

House Value
A $150,000
B $175,000
C $200,000
D $167,000
E $2,500,000
here is the data

Answer 2

@Ann1987

Answer 3

This is a perfect example of why real estate prices are usually described with the median.

It is common for areas to have one or two houses whose prices are way out of line with the typical house. Using the mean allows these "outliers" to have too much influence on the central tendency.

The one house in that group that is worth $2.5 million is not representative, so averaging it in by using the mean would give a false impression of the actual typical price of the houses there.

Use the median.
It prevents an extreme outlier from distorting the information.

The mean of all 5 houses is $638,400 <-- way too high
But the median is only $175,000.
This is a more accurate description of the "typical" house.
The mean of the first four houses is $173,000 <-- close to the median

Answer 4

soo.... its close to the median whats the ansewer?

Answer 5

@ann1987

Answer 6

He should use the median because there is an outlier that affects the mean.