Question

the number of bagels sold daily for two bakeries is shown in the following table:

	bakery a	bakery b
	52	16
	51	34
	33	35
	57	12
	12	9
	45	36
	46	17

based on these data, is it better to describe the centers of distribution in terms of the mean or the median? why? select the correct answer below.

• mean, because the presence of an outlier affects the data
• mean, because the distribution is symmetric for both bakeries
• median, because there are outliers that affect both data sets
• median, because the distribution for both bakeries is not symmetric

Explanation:

To determine if mean or median is better, we analyze the data. For Bakery A, values are 15, 52, 51, 33, 57, 12, 45, 46. For Bakery B, values are 15, 16, 34, 35, 12, 9, 36, 17. Looking at Bakery A, there are relatively large values (51, 52, 57) compared to some smaller ones (12, 15), and Bakery B has a small outlier (9) and some lower values. Outliers (or skewed data) affect the mean more than the median. The option "Median, because there are outliers that affect both data sets" makes sense as outliers in both sets would skew the mean, so median is a better measure of center.

Answer:

Median, because there are outliers that affect both data sets