Question

in one recent year, the mean price of all new homes sold in the united states was $371,100. the median price, on the other hand, was $207,000. what is most likely to account for the large discrepancy in these two measures of average?

choose the correct answer.

the people calculating the mean probably included more expensive houses than those calculating the median.
there must have been a mistake made in calculating at least one of the measures of average.
there were some really cheap homes sold, which brings the median down without really affecting the mean that much.
there werent enough houses sold for these measures of average to give us a true picture.
there were some very, very expensive homes sold, which brings the mean up without really affecting the median that much.

Explanation:

Mean is affected by extreme values, while median is not. A higher mean than median suggests high outliers (very expensive houses) increasing the mean without impacting the median much.

Answer:

There were some very, very expensive houses sold, which brings the mean up without really affecting the median that much.