Question

2012 housing prices (thousands of dollars)
a report states the average selling price is almost $520,000. which measure of center was most likely used for the report?

Explanation:

Step1: Understand measure - center concepts

Mean is the sum of all values divided by the number of values. Median is the middle - value when data is ordered. Mode is the most frequently occurring value.

Step2: Analyze box - and - whisker plot

The box - and - whisker plot shows the distribution of housing prices. In a skewed distribution (which seems to be the case here as the whiskers are of different lengths), the mean is affected by extreme values.

Step3: Determine the measure

Since the mean is sensitive to extreme values and can be pulled in the direction of outliers, and the report gives an average value of $520,000$, it is most likely the mean that was used as the measure of center.

Answer:

mean