Question 1 of 5
The mean of the five numbers , , , , and is compared with the mean of the five numbers , , , , and . Which statement must be true?
Explanation
For the first set, the mean is . For the second set, the mean is , so the mean increases. Now compare the medians. In each ordered set, the middle value is the third number: . So the median stays the same. Therefore, the statement that must be true is that the mean increases, but the median stays the same.
Concept summary
Changing one value in a data set can affect the mean and range without changing the median. The mean depends on all values, while the median depends on the middle position in the ordered list.