The number of Americans on Medicare is increasing as expected with the aging baby boomer population. The following table shows the number of Americans on Medicare in 2005 and 2009 for eight U.S. states. The numbers listed are in thousands.

a. Calculate the mean number of Americans on Medicare in these eight states for both 2005 and 2009. How would you characterize the difference in the number of Americans on Medicare between 2005 and 2009? Does the mean adequately represent the central tendency of the distribution of Americans on Medicare in each year for these eight states? Why or why not?
b. Recalculate the mean for each year after removing Florida, Illinois, and New York from the table. Is the mean now a better representation of central tendency for the remaining five states? Explain.

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2005 740 125 3,008 1,674 691 185 2,758 807 2009 State Alabama Delaware Florida Illinois Minnesota New Hampshire New York Washington 828 3,289 1,806 217 2,937 938