Monday, October 24, 2011
Effect of Outliers on Mean and Median
Outliers, are numbers that stray from the "most popular" area of data. This could be a number that is very low, very very high, or negative, as long as it does not fit in with the general data area. These numbers affect the mean because mean is the average of all numbers on the graph no matter where they lie. An extremely large number in a group of single digit data provides an inaccurate understanding of the mean of the data. This can also be a technique in advertising to make a certain product look more popular, less expensive, etc. Outliers have a fairly dramatic affect on the mean of a set of data but do not have much affect on median. They will not change the median of a data set any more or less than another number would. For more information, keep up with what we're doing in class on Mr. Fisch's Algebra Blog.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Nice link. :-)
ReplyDeleteNice explanation. A few suggestions.
1. Include some specific data to illustrate your points. From what you've written, I don't have a complete understanding of how it affects the mean and the median.
2. When you say "they will not change the median of a data set any more or less than another number would" - why? Can you expand on that?