Databricks Certified Data Analyst Associate — Question 35

In which of the following situations will the mean value and median value of variable be meaningfully different?

Answer options

• A. When the variable contains no outliers
• B. When the variable contains no missing values
• C. When the variable is of the boolean type
• D. When the variable is of the categorical type
• E. When the variable contains a lot of extreme outliers

Correct answer: E

Explanation

The correct answer is E because extreme outliers can skew the mean significantly while leaving the median largely unaffected, leading to a meaningful difference between the two measures. The other options (A, B, C, D) either imply a lack of variability or consist of data types that do not affect the mean and median in such a way.