A sample of single persons receiving social security payments revealed these monthly benefits: $826, $699, $1,087, $880, $839 and $965. How many observations are below the median?
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A. B. C. D. E.B
Order the sample: 699, 826, 839, 880, 965, 1087. The median is somewhere between 839 and 880. So there are three observations below the median.
To determine the number of observations below the median, we first need to arrange the data in ascending order. The given sample of single persons receiving social security payments is as follows:
$699, $826, $839, $880, $965, $1,087
To find the median, we need to locate the middle value. In this case, there are six observations, so the middle value would be the average of the third and fourth observations.
Median = ($839 + $880) / 2 = $859.50
Now, we can compare each observation to the median and count the number of observations below it.
$699 | Yes $826 | Yes $839 | Yes $880 | No $965 | No $1,087 | No
Out of the six observations, three are below the median. Therefore, the correct answer is B. 3.