Math: Define average for me

[DCal430]

You are are wrong. The median is an average. The average refers to the number that best approximates the dataset. That isn't always the mean. If you want a number that minimizes absolute deviance than often times that would be the median and not the mean. The median is an average and every statistics class I have taken has stated this.

 

[brblx]

...because that's statistics.

you could also just round the fucking mean.

 

[brblx]

wikipedia WHY DO YOU EXIST?!?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average#Mode_and_median

 

[DCal430]

Just because in common langauge people use to mean one thing doesn't mean it is correct.

I often find people using odds to mean the same thing as probability in common language but it is still wrong. The odds of getting a heads when flipping a coin isn't 1/2 it is 1.

 

[DrPizza]

And, wikipedia is correct in this instance.

i.e if you have 50 people who make $100 a week, 49 people who make $110 a week, and 1 person who makes $1 million a week, you probably wouldn't use an arithmetic mean to describe "the average worker makes... " Well, I guess that actually you may use the arithmetic mean if your motivation was to show "And the cost of living is $150 a week, so the average salary is more than enough to cover the cost of living."

 

[brblx]

And, wikipedia is correct in this instance.

i.e if you have 50 people who make $100 a week, 49 people who make $110 a week, and 1 person who makes $1 million a week, you probably wouldn't use an arithmetic mean to describe "the average worker makes... " Well, I guess that actually you may use the arithmetic mean if your motivation was to show "And the cost of living is $150 a week, so the average salary is more than enough to cover the cost of living."

what i was trying to point out is that common useage is average = mean and then mode and median are used on their own. i.e. your example is 'median income' vs what most would call 'average income.'

 

[Rudee]

OP is clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed. Yikes.

 

[DrPizza]

what i was trying to point out is that common useage is average = mean and then mode and median are used on their own. i.e. your example is 'median income' vs what most would call 'average income.'

Most commonly, average = arithmetic mean. You keep missing that word too! There's also a geometric mean (i.e. the geometric mean of 3 and 12 is 6), and a harmonic mean. But you're right - most people using the median as the average, say "median income." Because they're smart enough to do so. And, to avoid ambiguity, most people would say "the arithmetic mean is," or "the median income is," because they're smart enough to want to avoid any ambiguity. But, in the example I pointed out, some people, faced with the data of 50 people earning $100 per week, 49 people earning $110 per week, and one person earning $1 million per week, would report "the average income is over $10,000 per week" which is intentionally deceptive of reporting what the income distribution really looks like.

 

[TecHNooB]

mean, median, mode = average