Question

answer the questions below.
(a) the 9 participants in an experiment had the following reaction times (in milliseconds):
775, 777, 783, 790, 800, 811, 814, 828, 1126.
which measure should be used to summarize the data?
mean median mode
(b) charmaine wants to determine which letter appears the most often in her favorite poem.
which measure should she use?
mean median mode
(c) the 9 members of the dance team each bought new shoes. here are the prices they paid:
$54, $57, $58, $59, $60, $61, $62, $63, $65.
which measure should be used to summarize the data?
mean median mode

Explanation:

• For part (a):
• The data set has an outlier (\(1126\)). The median is less affected by outliers compared to the mean. The mode is not suitable as there are no repeated values (all reaction - times are unique except in the sense of no - repetition here).
• For part (b):
• The mode represents the most frequently occurring value. Since Charmaine wants to find the letter that appears most often (the most frequent value), the mode is the appropriate measure. The mean and median are not relevant for categorical (letter - based) frequency data.
• For part (c):
• The data set is relatively symmetric (no extreme outliers). The mean is a good measure to summarize the central tendency of a symmetric data set. The median could also be used, but when the data is symmetric, the mean is a common and intuitive choice. The mode is not suitable as all shoe - price values are unique.

Answer:

a. Median
b. Mode
c. Mean