Question

The data set shows the high temperatures during a week in August:

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
103         101         99            100               89          99          98


When calculating the average high temperature for the week, Mrs. Ortiz said that Thursday's data should be excluded because a cold front moved through that day.

Evaluate this claim by selecting the statement that best reflects why the reasoning is either correct or flawed. (1 point)


A)The reasoning is flawed. Even though Thursday's temperature is an outlier, it occurred during that week and there is no reason to exclude it.

B)The reasoning is flawed. Thursday's temperature is not an outlier.

C)The reasoning is correct. Thursday's temperature is an outlier, and excluding it will lower the mean.

D)The reasoning is correct. Thursday's temperature is not an outlier, but it should be excluded because it was the coolest day of the week

Answer 1

C. The reasoning is correct. Thursday's temperature is an outlier, and excluding it will lower the mean.

An outlier is an observation point that is distant from other observations. It may be due to variability in the measurement or it may indicate experimental error; the latter are sometimes excluded from the data set.