I was helping a friend interpret some results on a physics website. The website included a statement about the average.
I thought it might be helpful to cite the definition from a possibly more authoritative source, wikipedia
here is the entry for Average on wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AverageI was puzzled by the interpretation of things like the median as an average . I have over the years criticized some written documents where the median was reported but labelled as the average.
cut/paste from the wikipedia
For example, the average
personal income is often given as the median-the number below which are 50% of personal incomes and above which are 50% of personal incomes-because the
mean would be misleadingly high by including personal incomes from a few
billionaires---------------------
I think that the average is, the average. not a median or other summary statistic. .
that aside the wiki does have some very interesting history of the etymology of the word average, referring to origins from arabic and 12th century Genoa Latin etc. :)
- Is the wikipedia wrong about referring to a median, mode etc. as an average?
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Chris Barker, Ph.D.
2022 Statistical Consulting Section
Chair-elect
Consultant and
Adjunct Associate Professor of Biostatistics
www.barkerstats.com---
"In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds."
-Steve Lacy
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