Center and spread

What happens to an average when one observation goes off the rails?

Interactive laboratory 01

One outlier, three different stories

The first four observations stay at 40, 45, 50, and 55. Adjust the fifth to see how summary statistics respond. Values represent thousands of dollars.

Mean50.0
Median50.0
Sample standard deviation7.9

At first the mean and median agree. Move the fifth observation to see what changes.

Read the accompanying lesson →