Question

what do i use for \average\? - extra credit initial post: reply to this thread with 3 different scenarios...one scenario where you would prefer to use the mean as the measure of center, one scenario where you would prefer to use the median, and one with mode. scramble them up and label them as (a), (b), and (c). your scenarios should be different than what your peers have already posted. this initial post is due on saturday by midnight. an example initial post might look like: a - data is collected on the favorite flavor of ice cream of students at abc elementary school b - data is collected on the annual salary of all employees at xxx accounting firm c - data is collected on the heights of 5th graders at abc elementary school follow-up reply: starting on sunday, pick a set of 3 scenarios written by one of your classmates, and reply to their thread (do not reply to this original post), with your determination as to which letter goes with mean, which goes with median, and which goes with mode. for full credit, you should explain why you made the choice you did in each case. if someone has already written a reply to a thread, then you should pick a different thread that hasnt yet received a reply. (if you think the original post has an error and that it uses one of these measures more than once and another one not at all, you can state that and explain your thinking.) your threaded reply is due on wednesday. concluding reply: look at what your classmate wrote on your thread, and let them know if they got it right or wrong. if they didnt get the same choices as you got for each letter, kindly (using constructive criticism) explain the error in their thinking or the error in your thinking! your final reply is due on saturday note: your instructor will try to respond to all initial posts that didnt have a reply on thursday after the follow-up post is due. if yours was accidentally missed, please email your instructor so that you can earn full credit for the assignment. your instructor may choose to answer correctly, or may choose to make an error in his/her response to see if youd catch it. please look over the follow-up reply from an instructor with as much skepticism as you would those from your peers.

Explanation:

To complete the initial post, we can create three scenarios as follows:

Scenario A (Mode)

• Description: Data is collected on the type of pet (dog, cat, fish, etc.) owned by families in a neighborhood.
• Reason for Mode: The mode is the most frequently occurring value. In this case, we want to know which pet is the most common among the families. Since we are interested in the most popular category (the type of pet), the mode is the appropriate measure of center.

Scenario B (Mean)

• Description: Data is collected on the test scores (out of 100) of students in a math class.
• Reason for Mean: The mean is calculated by summing all the values and dividing by the number of values. For test scores, which are typically evenly distributed (assuming no extreme outliers), the mean gives a good representation of the average performance of the class. It takes into account all the scores and provides a balanced measure of the central tendency.

Scenario C (Median)

• Description: Data is collected on the prices of homes in a city.
• Reason for Median: Home prices can have extreme outliers (e.g., a very expensive mansion in a neighborhood of moderately priced homes). The median is the middle value when the data is ordered from least to greatest. It is not affected by extreme values, so it provides a better measure of the typical home price in the city compared to the mean, which could be skewed by the expensive outliers.

Now, we scramble and label them:

• A: Data is collected on the type of pet owned by families in a neighborhood. (Mode)
• B: Data is collected on the test scores of students in a math class. (Mean)
• C: Data is collected on the prices of homes in a city. (Median)

Answer:

To complete the initial post, we can create three scenarios as follows:

Scenario A (Mode)

• Description: Data is collected on the type of pet (dog, cat, fish, etc.) owned by families in a neighborhood.
• Reason for Mode: The mode is the most frequently occurring value. In this case, we want to know which pet is the most common among the families. Since we are interested in the most popular category (the type of pet), the mode is the appropriate measure of center.

Scenario B (Mean)

• Description: Data is collected on the test scores (out of 100) of students in a math class.
• Reason for Mean: The mean is calculated by summing all the values and dividing by the number of values. For test scores, which are typically evenly distributed (assuming no extreme outliers), the mean gives a good representation of the average performance of the class. It takes into account all the scores and provides a balanced measure of the central tendency.

Scenario C (Median)

• Description: Data is collected on the prices of homes in a city.
• Reason for Median: Home prices can have extreme outliers (e.g., a very expensive mansion in a neighborhood of moderately priced homes). The median is the middle value when the data is ordered from least to greatest. It is not affected by extreme values, so it provides a better measure of the typical home price in the city compared to the mean, which could be skewed by the expensive outliers.

Now, we scramble and label them:

• A: Data is collected on the type of pet owned by families in a neighborhood. (Mode)
• B: Data is collected on the test scores of students in a math class. (Mean)
• C: Data is collected on the prices of homes in a city. (Median)