Q 3.38 a) Determine the mode of the dat... [FREE SOLUTION]

Chapter 3: Q 3.38 (page 103)

a) Determine the mode of the data.
b) Decide whether it would be appropriate to use either the mean or median as a measure of center. Explain your answer.
Robbery Locations. The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation publish a compilation on crime statistics for the United States in Crime in the United States. The following table provides a frequency distribution for robbery type during a one-year period .

Short Answer

Expert verified

a) street highway.

b) No, it would not be appropriate to use either the mean or the median as a measure of center.

Reason: The mean or median cannot be determined for categorical variables. Here, the given variable "network" is categorical. The mean and median can be found when the data is quantitative type. For qualitative data (categorical), mode is the only measure of center.

Step by step solution

Step 1. Given information.

We have given data for robbery type during a one-year period .

Step 2. To find mode.

The greatest frequency is the mode of the data set.

The mode of the data is Street/highway.

Step 3. Decide either the mean or median as a measure of center.

The given data is inappropriate to use either the mean or the median as the measure of the center because the data is quantitative.

Reason: For categorical variables, the mean or median cannot be determined. The supplied variable "network" is categorical in this case. When the data is quantitative, the mean and median may be found. The only way to determine the centre of qualitative data (categorical) is to use the mode.