Question

1. Manuel decides he needs a new skateboard to get to school on time. He has researched online and at local stores

and found the following prices:
$75, $30, $44, $75, $198

What is the

Mean:
Median:
Mode:
Is it:
Essential or Discretionary?

Which data value best represents the data?

Explain:

Answer 1

Answers:

• Mean = 84.4
• Median = 75
• Mode = 75
• The median best represents the data.

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Step-by-step explanation

To find the mean, add up the values and divide by the sample size.

mean = (75+30+44+75+198)/5 = 422/5 = 84.4

The mean is 84.4 exactly without any rounding done to it.

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To get the median, we need to sort the data from smallest to largest

75, 30, 44, 75, 198

sorts to

30, 44, 75, 75, 198

The middle most value is in the third slot. This value is 75.

Therefore, the median is 75

The mode is 75 because it's the most frequent value. It's a coincidence that the median and mode are the same value. This won't always happen.

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Take note of the large outlier 198. This large outlier pulls on the mean to be larger than it should be. Because of this, the median is the better representation of the data. The median is not affected by outliers.

Also note that mean > median, which tells us the data is skewed to the right. This is known as "positively skewed".

I'm not sure how to answer the "essential or discretionary" portion. I think the skateboard is discretionary, but I'm not 100% sure.