Question

the distribution of ages of runners in a marathon is approximately normal. the oldest participant was 80 and the youngest was 13. which of the following statements is true of the mean and median ages of the runners? the mean is less than the median. the mean is greater than the median. the mean and median are approximately equal. the actual ages of all runners are needed to decide.

Explanation:

Step1: Recall property of normal distribution

In a normal - distribution, the data is symmetrically distributed around the center.

Step2: Recall relationship between mean and median

For a symmetric distribution, the mean (the arithmetic average) and the median (the middle - value when data is ordered) are approximately equal. Since the distribution of ages of runners is approximately normal, the mean and median ages of the runners are approximately equal.

Answer:

The mean and median are approximately equal.