Final answer:
The statistic that provides protection against outliers in a distribution with heavier tails than the normal distribution is the median.
Step-by-step explanation:
In a symmetric distribution with heavier tails than the normal distribution, the statistic that gives some protection against outliers is the median.
The median is the value that separates the upper and lower halves of the data, and it is not affected by extreme values or outliers. It provides a better representation of the central tendency of the data when there are outliers present.
To estimate the population mean diameter based on the median, you would use the median of the sample as a point estimate.