MLS-C01 Exploratory Data Analysis Practice Question
A data analyst is examining the distribution of a continuous variable and notices that its histogram is heavily skewed to the right. Which transformation should the analyst apply to make the distribution more symmetrical?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Logarithmic transformation (log).
Logarithmic transformation compresses the long tail of right-skewed data, making the distribution more symmetrical. Option A (Box-Cox with lambda=2) is actually a square transformation, which would exacerbate right skewness. Option C (standardization) only centers and scales the data without altering the shape. Option D (square root) can reduce moderate right skew but is less effective than log for severe skewness.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Box-Cox transformation with lambda=2.
Why it's wrong here
Box-Cox with lambda=2 would increase skewness.
- ✓
Logarithmic transformation (log).
Why this is correct
Log transformation reduces right skewness.
- ✗
Standardization (z-score).
Why it's wrong here
Standardization does not change distribution shape.
- ✗
Square root transformation.
Why it's wrong here
Square root is less effective for right skewness.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This MLS-C01 question is part of Courseiva's 1,672-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MLS-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the MLS-C01 exam.