If the underlying distributions are known to be symmetric, we can use the Wilcoxon rank-sum test to compare two independent populationmeans.This is so because:
◦
the rank-sum test is designed as a test of two independent means.
◦
the mean and the median have the same value for all symmetric distributions.
◦
the mean is the parameter that is usually evaluated when using nonparametric procedures.
◦
the difference in two population means will always be normally distributed and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test is used to test normally distributed variables.