"Skewed right," also known as positively skewed, refers to the shape of a probability distribution where most of the data points are concentrated on the left side, with a tail extending towards the right. This means that the majority of values are lower, with a few higher values that stretch the distribution to the right.
In a skewed right distribution:
- The mean is typically greater than the median, as the extreme high values pull the mean up.
- The mode (the most frequently occurring value) is usually less than both the median and the mean.
- Examples of real-world phenomena that can exhibit right skewness include income distribution, where most people earn lower incomes, while a few high earners can significantly raise the average income.
Visually, a right-skewed distribution will have a bulk of its data on the left and a longer tail on the right side.