Question

1. Mean, median, and mode are the three measures of central tendency that we learned about in this class. We use these to describe the center of a distribution. For each of the following examples please identify which measure of central tendency should be used given the situation.

• A negatively skewed distribution
• A platykurtic distribution

Answer 1

(a)

For a negatively skewed distribution, median is the most appropriate measure of central tendency.

Explanation:

Since the distribution is given as skewed, it indicates that the distribution is not symmetrical. So, in such cases where extreme values are present in the data, only median is to be used because median is not affected by extreme values whereas mean is affected by extreme values.

(b0

For a platykurtic distribution, mean is the most appropriate measure of central tendency.

Explanation:

Since the distribution is given as a platykurtic it is a symmetric distribution and so mean the most appropriate measure of central tendency.