The amount spent on textbooks for the fall term was recorded for a sample of five hundred university students. The mean expenditure was calculated to be $500 and the median expenditure
Was calculated to be $425. Which of the following interpretations of the mean is correct?
A)50% of the students sampled had textbook costs equal to $500
B)The most frequently occurring textbook cost in the sample was $500
C)The average of the textbook costs sampled was $500
D)50% of the students sampled had textbook costs that were less than $500

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The mean expenditure being $500 indicates that when all the textbook costs are added together and divided by the number of students (500 in this case), the average cost comes out to $500. This does not necessarily imply anything about the distribution of costs around this average, such as the percentage of students paying exactly $500 or less than $500, or the most frequently occurring cost.

The Amount Spent on Textbooks for the Fall Term Was