Question

chucky grabbed 12 items in the grocery store that each had a different price and had a mean cost of about $7.41. one of the items was an entire wheel of cheese that cost $39.99. chucky then decided to put the wheel of cheese back and only buy the other 11 items. how will removing the wheel of cheese affect the mean and median? choose 1 answer: a both the mean and median will decrease, but the median will decrease by more than the mean. b both the mean and median will decrease, but the mean will decrease by more than the median. c both the mean and median will increase, but the median will increase by more than the mean. d both the mean and median will increase, but the mean will increase by more than the median.

Explanation:

Step1: Understand the concept of mean

The mean is the sum of all values divided by the number of values. The expensive wheel - of - cheese is pulling the mean up. Removing it will decrease the sum of values and the number of values. Since the cheese is much more expensive than the other items, the mean will decrease significantly.

Step2: Understand the concept of median

The median is the middle value when the data is arranged in ascending or descending order. With 12 items, the median is the average of the 6th and 7th ordered values. When we remove one item (the expensive cheese), we now have 11 items, and the median is the 6th ordered value. Since the cheese is an out - lier (a very high value), and it is likely to be one of the largest values in the set, removing it will not change the median as much as it changes the mean.

Answer:

B. Both the mean and median will decrease, but the mean will decrease by more than the median.