To determine whether the distribution of the number of siblings is symmetrical or skewed, I would analyze the gathered data for any outliers or extreme values. For instance, if most classmates have 0-3 siblings and a few have 8-10, the distribution would be right-skewed. In this case, the median would be a better measure of center than the mean, as it is less affected by outliers.
Assuming the numbers gathered are: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 8, the mean would be calculated as follows: Mean = (0 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 8) / 8 = 19 / 8 = 2.375.
The median, when organized, is the average of the 4th and 5th numbers in the sorted list (2 and 2), which is 2.
In this scenario, the best measure of center would be the median, which is 2, due to the skewness of the data.