Question

How do you choose between mean and median as the best measure for the center of a distribution

Answer 1

The mean is often the default measure of center because it includes every data point, ie its more representative. However, if you have outliers then the mean will be skewed toward the outlier. For example, with home prices, very expensive houses will make the mean larger than it should be if you focused on the main cluster of data. This is why the median home price is often measured and reported (rather than the mean home price).