Problem
The values of 11 houses on Washington Street are shown in the table.a. Find the mean value of these houses in dollars.
b. Find the median value of these houses in dollars.
c. State which measure of central tendency, the mean or the median, best represents the values of these 11 houses. Justify your answer.
Solution:
a. Mean:100000 + 5(175000) + 4(200000) + 700000 = 225,000
11

b. Median: 100000, 175000, 175000, 175000, 175000, 175000, 200000, 200000, 200000, 200000, 700000
Median can be seen to be 175000.
OR simply find where the middle (6th value) occurs: 175000

c. Best: The median best represents the values of the homes since the mean value has only one home price higher than the mean.