Statistics Rant
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The set of "as simple as possible" solutions frequently has no overlap with the "as complicated as needed" solutions. That is frequently a result of different people determining the two subsets.
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So many articles that give statistics refer to the median of this and the median of that. Why does no one give averages anymore? And no, a median is not the same as an average. I suspect that more and more writers *think* that median = average.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
I was always taught that "average" is a generic term that can indicate any of mean, median, or mode. The Oxford dictionary definition tends to support that though is even more vague about the meaning of "average". However the Open University[^] seems to agree. Personally it therefore really winds me up when so-called "academic" papers refer to "average", as it doesn't supply enough information. Maybe in the US "average" has taken on the meaning of "mean", but what term do you then use to encompass mean, median and mode?
Telegraph marker posts ... nothing to do with IT Phasmid email discussion group ... also nothing to do with IT Beekeeping and honey site ... still nothing to do with IT
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I was always taught that "average" is a generic term that can indicate any of mean, median, or mode. The Oxford dictionary definition tends to support that though is even more vague about the meaning of "average". However the Open University[^] seems to agree. Personally it therefore really winds me up when so-called "academic" papers refer to "average", as it doesn't supply enough information. Maybe in the US "average" has taken on the meaning of "mean", but what term do you then use to encompass mean, median and mode?
Telegraph marker posts ... nothing to do with IT Phasmid email discussion group ... also nothing to do with IT Beekeeping and honey site ... still nothing to do with IT
DerekT-P wrote:
but what term do you then use to encompass mean, median and mode?
Lies? :-\
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
