When working with scientific data, the average of a data set is called the
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Answers
The average is a simple term with several meanings. The type of average to use depends on whether you’re adding, multiplying, grouping or dividing work among the items in your set.
Quick quiz: You drove to work at 30 mph, and drove back at 60 mph. What was your average speed?
Hint: It’s not 45 mph, and it doesn’t matter how far your commute is. Read on to understand the many uses of this statistical tool.
Examples of the average, median, mode, geometric mean, harmonic mean
But What Does It Mean?
Let’s step back a bit: what is the “average” all about?
To most of us, it’s “the number in the middle” or a number that is “balanced”. I’m a fan of taking multipleviewpoints, so here’s another interpretation of the average:
The average is the value that can replace every existing item, and have the same result. If I could throw away my data and replace it with one “average” value, what would it be?
One goal of the average is to understand a data set by getting a “representative” sample. But the calculation depends on how the items in the group interact. Let’s take a look.
The Arithmetic Mean
The arithmetic mean is the most common type of average:
\displaystyle{average = \frac{sum}{number}}