Question

The five employees at a store are each paid $5.50, $6, $10, $6.50, and $6 per hour respectively. When one of the employees being paid $6 asks his boss for a raise, which measure of central tendency will BEST support his request to be paid more?

Answer 1

Mean

Explanation:

The most common measures of central tendency are mode, median and mean.

The mode of the data set is the value that is repeated the most. In this case, the mode is $6 (appears twice), which does not support the raise claim of the employee.

The median is the central value of the data set. In this case, the median is also $6 (third highest value), which does not support the raise claim of the employee.

The mean of the salaries is:

`m=(5.50+6+10+6.50+6)/(5)\\m=\$6.80`

Since the mean is greater than the employee's current wage, it would best support his request to be paid more.