In health class, Mr. Lu had his students weigh their own backpacks and note the weight. This line plot shows the weights of the students' backpacks.

Question

Backpacks
6
8
10
12
14
Weight (pounds)
Complete the sentences.
The distribution of backpack weights is best described as
. So, the
is a more appropriate measure of center than the

Answer 1

The distribution of backpack weights is best described as skewed (or symmetric, uniform, etc., depending on the actual data depicted on the line plot). So, the median is a more appropriate measure of center than the mean.

If the distribution is skewed, the median is better because it is less affected by extreme values. If the distribution is symmetric, both the mean and median would be appropriate. Please adjust the terms based on what the actual line plot indicates.