Question

Below are the annual salaries of the ten employees of a small company:
$25,000
$45,000
$55,000
$25,000
$35,000
$1,000,000
$35,000
$45,000
$55,000
$25,000


If the CEO's salary of $1,000,000 is taken out of the list, what would happen to the mean and median?

Responses

A The mean and median become equal.The mean and median become equal.

B The mean and median stay the same.The mean and median stay the same.

C The mean and median get further apart.The mean and median get further apart.

D The mean and median get closer together.

Answer 1

D. They get closer together.

Calculation: With the CEO included the mean = 1,345,000/10 = $134,500 and the median = (35,000 + 45,000)/2 = $40,000.
Without the CEO the mean = 345,000/9 ≈ $38,333.33 and the median = the 5th value = $35,000.

The distance between mean and median drops from $94,500 to about $3,333, so they get closer.