Question

Luc collects data on the shoe size of all the boys in his class. he finds that shoe sizes are similar, except one very large datapoint. which measure of central tendency should luc use to best describe his population?

a) median
b) mean
c) t-value
d) range

Answer 1

Luc should use the median as the measure of central tendency for his data on shoe sizes, as it is not influenced by the one large outlier and best represents the central trend of the data. Option a

Step-by-step explanation:

When analyzing the shoe sizes of boys in Luc's class, the data presents one very large outlier. In such cases, the mean can be greatly affected by such an extreme value and may not accurately represent the central tendency of the overall data. As Luc observed, the data are similar except for the one outlier.

Therefore, the most appropriate measure of central tendency in this scenario would be the median, which is the middle value of the data set when ordered from smallest to largest and is not influenced by the extreme value. The mode could also be considered if there is a size that occurs more frequently than others.

However, in this case, since we're interested in the measure of center that best describes the general tendency of the data without being swayed by the outlier, the median is the preferred option. Option a.