Question

The number of bagels sold daily for two bakeries is shown in the table. Bakery A Bakery B 53 34 52 40 50 36 48 38 53 41 47 44 55 40 51 39 Based on these data, is it better to describe the centers of distribution in terms of the mean or the median? Why? Select the correct answer below.

Answer 1

You are given the number of bagels sold daily for bakeries A and B and are shown in the table above. Based on the above data, it is better to describe the centers of distribution in terms of the mean than the median. This is because all of the data from bakery A and B have values that are near the average and no data sample have possible outliers. For instance,

bakery A
mean (A) = [53 + 34 + 52 + 40 + 50 + 36 + 48 + 38]/8 = 43.88

Bakery B
mean (B) =  [53 + 41 + 47 + 44 + 55 + 40 + 51 + 39]/8 = 46.25

Even if bakery A and B has the 38 and 39 as the lowest data respectively, they are still near the average data.