Final answer:
The mean being less than the median indicates the data is negatively skewed. Therefore, the shape of the data would be negatively skewed.
Step-by-step explanation:
In analyzing the shape of data distribution using the mean and median, we can determine whether the data is symmetric, positively skewed, or negatively skewed. Since the mean (23) is less than the median (42), this indicates that the distribution is negatively skewed. This happens because the mean is affected more by the lower values on the left side of the distribution, pulling it lower than the median.
In a symmetric distribution, the mean and median will be very close or the same. For negatively skewed data, the mean will be less than the median, and for positively skewed data, the mean will be greater than the median. Since the mean is less than the median in this case, we can conclude that the data is negatively skewed. Therefore, the correct answer here would be option b) Negatively skewed.