If a new monthly rent of $950 is added, what can be inferred regarding the new mean?

When a new monthly rent of $950 is introduced into a dataset of existing rents, the mean of this dataset will be affected. The mean (average) of a set of numbers is calculated by summing all the values and then dividing by the number of values.

If the new rent of $950 is greater than the current mean of the existing rents, the overall mean will increase. Even if the new rent is lower than the existing mean, as long as there are existing rents in the dataset, adding the new rent value can still lead to an increase in the overall mean because it increases the total number of rents considered in the calculation, which plays a significant role in shifting the mean.

Moreover, regardless of the current mean, adding a new data point will shift the mean towards the new value. Since the new rent is a fixed value (in this case, $950), the mean will be influenced by this addition. Therefore, it can be inferred that the new mean will definitely increase unless all existing rents were lower and the new rent is incorporated into a larger set where it weighs more favorably.

Thus, the assertion that the mean will definitely increase upon adding the new rent is accurate, assuming that the new rent is not an outlier