Question

a reporter collected data on the purchase prices, in thousands of dollars, of 72 cars sold in a region. the following histogram summarizes the reporters data. for a presentation on the data collected, the reporter used the median of the distribution to describe the typical purchase price. which of the following might explain the use of median to describe the typical purchase price? a there is an outlier between $80,000 and $85,000. medians are resistant to outliers, while means are not. b the number of observations that fall within a given interval is known. however, within each interval, the actual values are not known. c the distribution is left skewed. d the values represented in the histogram are in the thousands.

Explanation:

Median is a measure of central - tendency that is not affected by outliers. In the histogram, there is a possible outlier in the $80,000 - 85,000$ range. The mean is sensitive to outliers, while the median is resistant. This makes the median a better choice for describing the typical value when outliers are present.

Answer:

A. There is an outlier between $80,000$ and $85,000$. Medians are resistant to outliers, while means are not.