Chapter 2: 140SE (page 142)
Discuss the conditions under which the median is preferred to the mean as a measure of central tendency.
Short Answer
When there is skewness in the data set.
/*! This file is auto-generated */ .wp-block-button__link{color:#fff;background-color:#32373c;border-radius:9999px;box-shadow:none;text-decoration:none;padding:calc(.667em + 2px) calc(1.333em + 2px);font-size:1.125em}.wp-block-file__button{background:#32373c;color:#fff;text-decoration:none}
Learning Materials
Features
Discover
Chapter 2: 140SE (page 142)
Discuss the conditions under which the median is preferred to the mean as a measure of central tendency.
When there is skewness in the data set.
All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.
Get started for free
Answer the following questions about the variability of data sets:
a.What is the primary disadvantage of using the range to compare the variability of data sets?
b.Describe the sample variance using words rather than a formula. Do the same with the population variance.
c.Can the variance of a data set ever be negative? Explain. Can the variance ever be smaller than the standard deviation? Explain.
Cable TV subscriptions and 鈥渃ord cutters.鈥 Has the increasing popularity of smartphones and video streaming over the Internet affected cable and satellite TV subscriptions? This was one of the questions of interest in a recent Pew Research Center survey (December 2015). Telephone (both landline and cell phone) interviews were conducted on a representative sample of 2,001 adults living in the United States. For this sample, 1,521 adults reported that they currently receive cable or satellite TV service at home, 180 revealed that they have never subscribed to cable/satellite TV service at home, and the remainder (300 adults) admitted that they are 鈥渃ord cutters,鈥 i.e., they canceled the cable/satellite TV service. The results are summarized in the Minitab pie chart shown.
a. According to the pie chart, what proportion of the adults in the sample currently have a cable/satellite TV subscription at home? Verify the accuracy of this proportion using the survey results.
b. Now consider only the 1,821 adults in the sample that have at one time or another subscribed to cable/satellite TV service. Create a graph that compares the proportions of adults who currently subscribe to cable/satellite TV service with the proportion who are 鈥渃ord cutters.鈥
Question: Misleading graph.Consider the following graphic, similar to one produced by the Silicon Alley Insider, an online publication for business news. The graph attempts to show the increasing trend in annual revenue produced by Craigslist compared to the decrease in newspaper classified ad sales.

a.Why might the graph be misleading? [Hint:Focus on the units of measure on the two verticalaxes.]
b.Redraw the graph, but use the same units of measure for both Craigslist revenue and newspaper ad sales. What conclusions can you draw from the redrawn graph?
Explain how the relationship between the mean and median provides information about the symmetry or skewness of the data鈥檚 distribution.
Calculate the variance and standard deviation for samples where
a.n= 10, 鈭x2 = 84, 鈭x= 20
b.n= 40, 鈭x2 = 380, 鈭x= 100
c.n= 20, 鈭x2 = 18, 鈭x= 17.
What do you think about this solution?
We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.