Measures of Average: U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau reports the median family income in itssummary of census data.
a) Why do you suppose it uses the median instead of themean?
b) What might be the disadvantages of reporting the mean?
Measures of Variation: MP3 Player Life Span
A company selling a new MP3 player advertises that the playerhas a mean lifetime of 5 years. If you were in charge of qualitycontrol at the factory, would you prefer that the standarddeviation of lifespans of the players you produce be 2 years or 2months? Why?
