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When the Mode is Better Than the Mean

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1) When is "mode" the better measure?

Think about what you have learned and how you can relate it to your profession, your daily life, or a realistic hypothetical situation.

2) Then, create (invent) a realistic small dataset that can be best described by mode and poorly described by mean.

3) List the dataset.

4) What does the mode tell us about the data?

5) Why is the mean a poor measure for this data?

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Solution Summary

This solution provides an explanation for how the mode can be a better representation of a dataset than the mean. Included is a practical example illustrating a scenario in which the mode is superior.

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1. Mode is a better measure than the mean when you have a set of data with one or a few outliers that significantly skews the mean from the rest of the data. An outlier skewing the data will result in a mean that does not convey reliable information about the rest of the dataset. For example, if you are looking at a small company where most of the employees are making a similar amount except for the CEO (who ...

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