By Team Aakash Byju's | 18th December 2022
Give one example of a situation in which
(i) The mean is an appropriate measure of central tendency.
(ii) Not the mean but the median is an appropriate measure of central tendency.
If the data are close to each other, then the mean is the best measure of the centre.
If some observations in the data are far from one another, then the median is the best measure of the centre.
Mean
Median
Consider the data that has the list of heights of plants in a garden.
It can be noticed that almost all the plants have heights close to each other.
60 cm, 64.3 cm, 76.1 cm, 65.8 cm, 73 cm.
Hence the heights of plants in a garden can be an example situation where finding the mean is an appropriate measure of central tendency.
60 cm, 64.3 cm, 76.1 cm, 65.8 cm, 73 cm.
Mean = (60+64.3+76.1+65.8+73) ÷ 5 = 67.84 cm.
Consider the observations of marks obtained by 10th-grade students.
Note that, 41 and 98 are too far from one another.
41, 46, 51, 48, 55, 58, 69, 85, 98
Mean
Here finding the median would be the appropriate measure of central tendency.
41, 46, 48, 51, 55, 58, 69, 85, 98 (Arranged in ascending order) Median = 55
41, 46, 51, 48, 55, 58, 69, 85, 98