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Which measure of central tendency is most impacted by outliers?

Question

Which measure of central tendency is most impacted by outliers?

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Solution

The measure of central tendency that is most impacted by outliers is the mean.

Here's why:

  1. The mean, also known as the average, is calculated by adding up all the numbers in a data set and then dividing by the count of those numbers.

  2. If there is an outlier (a number that is significantly higher or lower than the other numbers in the data set), it can greatly affect the sum of the numbers, and therefore the mean.

  3. For example, consider the data set [1, 2, 3, 4, 100]. The mean of this set is (1+2+3+4+100)/5 = 22. The number 100 is an outlier and it significantly increases the mean.

  4. On the other hand, the median (the middle number when the data set is ordered from least to greatest) and the mode (the number that appears most frequently) are not as affected by outliers. In the above example, the median is 3 and the mode is any of the numbers since they all appear only once, and these measures are not affected by the outlier 100.

So, the mean is the measure of central tendency most impacted by outliers.

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