Question

2012 housing prices (thousands of dollars)
a report states the average selling price is almost $520,000. which measure of center was most likely used for the report?
mean
median
mode

Explanation:

The mean is affected by extreme values. In a box - and - whisker plot, if there are outliers on the high end, the mean will be pulled in the direction of those outliers. The median is the middle value and the mode is the most frequently occurring value. Since the value of $520,000$ seems to be influenced by the spread and possible outliers in the data (as seen from the box - and - whisker plot), the mean is the most likely measure of center used as it can be skewed by extreme values.

Answer:

mean