Question

movie length (minutes)
describe the shape of the graph. although the mean cannot be determined from the graph, can an approximation of the mean be determined? explain.

Explanation:

The graph appears to be a box - and - whisker plot. The shape can be described by noting the position of the median (inside the box), the length of the box (inter - quartile range), and the length of the whiskers. For an approximation of the mean, in a symmetric distribution, the mean and median are close. Since we know the median (the line inside the box) and some information about the spread, if the distribution seems relatively symmetric, we can use the median as a rough approximation of the mean. If it is skewed, we consider the direction of the skew. If right - skewed, the mean is usually greater than the median; if left - skewed, the mean is usually less than the median.

Answer:

The shape of the graph (box - and - whisker plot) can be described by analyzing the position of the median, length of the box and whiskers. An approximation of the mean can be made. If the distribution is symmetric, the median can be used as a rough approximation. If skewed, adjust based on the direction of skew (mean > median for right - skew, mean < median for left - skew).