Question

employee salary department $40,000 marketing $45,000 marketing $55,000 marketing $45,000 finance $60,000 finance $35,000 operations $50,000 operations $185,000 operations what is the most reasonable measure of the above data sets center? mean, $64,375 median, $47,500 mode, $45,000

Explanation:

Step1: Arrange the data in ascending order

$35000,40000,45000,45000,50000,55000,60000,185000$

Step2: Calculate the mean

Mean = $\frac{35000 + 40000+45000+45000+50000+55000+60000+185000}{8}=\frac{515000}{8} = 64375$

Step3: Calculate the median

Since there are 8 data points (even number), median is the average of the 4th and 5th values.
Median = $\frac{45000 + 50000}{2}=47500$

Step4: Analyze the effect of outliers

The value $185000$ is an outlier. The mean is affected by outliers, while the median is more robust. The mode ($45000$) only represents the most frequently - occurring value but may not represent the "center" well when there are other values spread out.

Answer:

Median, $47,500$