Question

Which measure of central tendency should be used when there is an outlier

Answer 1

The median is usually the measure of central tendency that should be used when there is an ordinal or askewed data

Answer 2

Answer with explanation:

There are three measure of central tendency which is used to evaluate data

1. Mean

2. Median

3. Mode

→Mean is equal to sum of all the observation divided by total number of variate in data set.

→Median is Middle most variate in the data set when arranged in ascending or descending order.

→Mode is that variate which occurs maximum number of times in the data set.

⇒When there is outlier , you can use mean or median ,because it considers all the variate in data set.

Consider the data set

A=2,3,4,5,6,

⇒Mean of A

`=(2+3+4+5+6)/(5)\\\\=4`

⇒Median =Middle most value of data set

As Total number of observation is odd

So, Median=4

⇒Suppose , a variate , 10 is added to data set.

So, Mean of A

`=(2+3+4+5+6+10)/(6)\\\\=5`

Median =Middle most value of data set

As Total number of observation is even.

So, Median

`\rightarrow(4+5)/(2)\\\\=4.5`

→ Median is less affected by an outlier than mean.

So,→ Median is better measure of central tendency when there is an outlier.