TEAS Test Math Prep Related

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Which measure for the center of a small sample set would be most affected by outliers?

  • A. Mean
  • B. Median
  • C. Mode
  • D. None of the above
Correct Answer: A

Rationale: The mean is calculated by summing all values in a dataset and then dividing by the total number of values. Outliers, which are data points significantly different from the other values, can greatly impact the mean because they affect the sum. The mean is sensitive to extreme values, making it the measure for the center of a small sample set most affected by outliers. The median, on the other hand, is not influenced by outliers as it represents the middle value when the data points are ordered. The mode is the value that appears most frequently in the dataset and is not directly influenced by outliers. Therefore, the correct answer is the mean, as it is highly influenced by outliers in a small sample set.