Homework Wed 9/24

As a class, we discussed Resistance To Outliers, pg 36, #6. After finding the mean of 13 and median of 4 for a set of numbers {1,2,3,4,5,6, 70} containing an outlier, then modifying the set of data to one with no outlier {1,2,3,4,5,6,7}, but a symmetric distribution, we found that the mean and median were both 4.

This led to the discovery that:

* the Mean is a measure of center that is sensitive to changes in outliers
* the Median a measure of center that is not very sensitive (resistant) to changes in outliers

We used the graphing calculator to sort lists (ascending or descending order) and to find the mean and median.

For homework, find four data sets using only six single digit numbers from the set {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} so that:

a) Mean = Median (mode different)
b) Mean > Median
c) Mean < Median
d) Mean = Median = Mode

Bonus for those whose mean and median have the largest difference between them.

We also registered for http://www.aleks.com and for homework finish the pretest.