Twelve randomly chosen students were asked how many times they had missed class during a certain semester, with this result: 2, 1, 5, 1, 1, 3, 4, 3, 1, 1, 5, 18. For this sample, which measure of center is least representative of the "typical" student?
A)Mean
B)Median
C)Mode
D)Midrange

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The midrange is the average of the maximum and minimum values in the data set, which in this case is (18+1)/2 = 9.5. However, the value of 18 is an outlier and is much larger than the rest of the values. Therefore, the midrange is not a good measure of center for this sample as it is heavily influenced by the extreme value. The mean, median, and mode are all better measures of center for this data set.

Twelve Randomly Chosen Students Were Asked How Many Times They