Which statement best describes the effect of extreme values on the range?

Which statement best describes the effect of extreme values on the range?

• A. The range includes extreme values but is distorted by them
• B. The range is unaffected by extreme values
• C. The range equals the interquartile range
• D. The range is the mean

Answer: (A)

The range is the distance between the largest and smallest values, so extreme values directly influence it. Because it relies only on the two endpoints, outliers pull the minimum or maximum further away, making the range larger and potentially giving a distorted sense of how spread out most data are. For example, if most values cluster around 5 but there’s an outlier at 100, the range becomes 95, which doesn’t reflect the typical spread of the bulk of the data. So the statement that the range includes extreme values and is distorted by them best captures this behavior. In contrast, the range is not unaffected by extremes, it is not the same as the interquartile range, and it is not the mean.

The range is the distance between the largest and smallest values, so extreme values directly influence it. Because it relies only on the two endpoints, outliers pull the minimum or maximum further away, making the range larger and potentially giving a distorted sense of how spread out most data are. For example, if most values cluster around 5 but there’s an outlier at 100, the range becomes 95, which doesn’t reflect the typical spread of the bulk of the data. So the statement that the range includes extreme values and is distorted by them best captures this behavior. In contrast, the range is not unaffected by extremes, it is not the same as the interquartile range, and it is not the mean.