Median not average
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If only. :sigh:
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If only. :sigh:
True, since the average is heavily weighted toward the wrong end.
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From today's Insider email: The Most Exclusive Website lets only one person view it at a time "Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are stupider than that." This is only true for the median, not for the average. So there.
Good point! Though you are confusing layman's language with specialist language. Admitedly the fuzzy layman's language might be a source of many cognitive error, so it might be a mistake worth fighting for! ;P
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From today's Insider email: The Most Exclusive Website lets only one person view it at a time "Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are stupider than that." This is only true for the median, not for the average. So there.
Yeah, well, George Carlin was a comedian, not a statistician... The exact quote, I believe, is: "Think of how smart the average person is, and then realize that half of them are dumber than him."
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Good point! Though you are confusing layman's language with specialist language. Admitedly the fuzzy layman's language might be a source of many cognitive error, so it might be a mistake worth fighting for! ;P
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Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's correct.
Super Lloyd wrote:
Though you are confusing layman's language with specialist language.
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Yeah, well, George Carlin was a comedian, not a statistician... The exact quote, I believe, is: "Think of how smart the average person is, and then realize that half of them are dumber than him."
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Well, I'm not a statistician either, I'm a mathematician. I got into a lot of trouble once for referring to the "human factors" department as "ship B". I've always been in ship C.
Ian Shlasko wrote:
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
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Yeah, well, George Carlin was a comedian, not a statistician... The exact quote, I believe, is: "Think of how smart the average person is, and then realize that half of them are dumber than him."
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Thank you. People can take it up with him. I wouldn't expect a timely response, however.
TTFN - Kent
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Good point! Though you are confusing layman's language with specialist language. Admitedly the fuzzy layman's language might be a source of many cognitive error, so it might be a mistake worth fighting for! ;P
All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar DirectX for WinRT/C# since 2013! Taking over the world since 1371!
Laymen don't say "median".
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Well, I'm not a statistician either, I'm a mathematician. I got into a lot of trouble once for referring to the "human factors" department as "ship B". I've always been in ship C.
Ian Shlasko wrote:
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Earl Truss wrote:
I got into a lot of trouble once for referring to the "human factors" department as "ship B".
:omg: Do you really mean to say that the HR people in your company are literate?!
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill
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Laymen don't say "median".
Exactly my point! ;P
All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar DirectX for WinRT/C# since 2013! Taking over the world since 1371!
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From today's Insider email: The Most Exclusive Website lets only one person view it at a time "Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are stupider than that." This is only true for the median, not for the average. So there.
It's not quite as simple as that. Average[^]
Quote:
In colloquial language, an average is the sum of a list of numbers divided by the number of numbers in the list. In mathematics and statistics, this would be called the arithmetic mean. However, the word average may also refer to the median, mode, or other central or typical value. In statistics, these are all known as measures of central tendency.
However, we do usually mean the first and in that context you are right.
Kevin
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Earl Truss wrote:
I got into a lot of trouble once for referring to the "human factors" department as "ship B".
:omg: Do you really mean to say that the HR people in your company are literate?!
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill
Daniel Pfeffer wrote:
Do you really mean to say that the HR people in your company are literate?!
Somebody needs to catch up on their HHG2G :)
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Daniel Pfeffer wrote:
Do you really mean to say that the HR people in your company are literate?!
Somebody needs to catch up on their HHG2G :)
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Ian Shlasko wrote:
Somebody needs to catch up on their HHG2G
That's precisely my point; they actually read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and know what ark B was full of.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill
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Earl Truss wrote:
for the median, not for the average
They don't have to be different. ;)
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
They're only guaranteed to be the same in a normal distribution; if you think humans are normal I think we know where all of Nagy's missing Gin went to. :laugh:
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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Ian Shlasko wrote:
Somebody needs to catch up on their HHG2G
That's precisely my point; they actually read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and know what ark B was full of.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill
Ahhh, gotcha.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Earl Truss wrote:
I got into a lot of trouble once for referring to the "human factors" department as "ship B".
:omg: Do you really mean to say that the HR people in your company are literate?!
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill
I think someone complained to our manager and then had to explain why they were offended.
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Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's correct.
Super Lloyd wrote:
Though you are confusing layman's language with specialist language.
Mmm.... My argument has nothing do with correctness! It is related to the fact that words mean different things to different people! Let me a find an example that you might be able to understand more easily... For example: 1 mile is.... 1.6km or 1.8km depending whether you ask a landlubber or a sailor. Neither meaning is correct or incorrect. It just highlight that words mean different things to different people in different context. And that is my point. Mathematical average is not the same as every day English average. Neither is particularly truer than the other. They are just the same word for different (though seemingly related) concept. I hope this will help you understand that language is a subtle and contextual tool! ;P
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