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raccoon

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27. Thank you! I saw that thread myself. I've had the discussion about

Reply to Donald Ian Rankin (Original post)

Sun May 31, 2015, 07:28 AM

May 2015

mean and median with a math professor not too long ago.

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Maths 101: the mean vs the median [View all] Donald Ian Rankin May 2015 OP

Good reminder... cyberswede May 2015 #1

Reading the link reminds me of just how sorry our education system is, or how some folks just Hoyt May 2015 #2

So when Walmart brags that the Average (mean) worker TexasBushwhacker May 2015 #3

That might actually be a situation where the mode is worth looking at. N.T. Donald Ian Rankin May 2015 #4

Indeed TexasBushwhacker May 2015 #6

It depends on the data set Trekologer May 2015 #35

A LOT of people seem to not understand these concepts. MoonRiver May 2015 #5

I'd settle to have many stopping using "loose" in place of "lose." Nuclear Unicorn May 2015 #32

Well that's another discussion. MoonRiver May 2015 #34

Thank you for throwing the mode in at the end Warpy May 2015 #7

Mode doesn't really work for income Recursion May 2015 #15

Think you have an exasperation related typo Moliere May 2015 #8

Thank you. Fixed. Donald Ian Rankin May 2015 #21

One of my pet hates is "XXXXX is growing exponentially". Nye Bevan May 2015 #9

The weakness with that thread isn't the difference between mean vs median. lumberjack_jeff May 2015 #10

Which is why corporations and their fluffers loved NAFTA and are slobbering over the TPP. Ikonoklast May 2015 #43

One of the few things that stuck with me from my Ed. Research class is 'the mean follows the tail' Gidney N Cloyd May 2015 #11

Right, and looking at the median alone can obscure changes in the tail. Gormy Cuss May 2015 #16

The variance is a good clue there Recursion May 2015 #19

It's acceptable so long as that curve is maintained. Gormy Cuss May 2015 #20

I like values at quintiles. Donald Ian Rankin May 2015 #25

True. In principle those are just "expanded medians", if you will Recursion May 2015 #29

But it can still skew the the results, depending on what the middle number is. Exilednight May 2015 #12

One of the reasons 1939 May 2015 #13

No, that's not quite right. Donald Ian Rankin May 2015 #22

Most of the skewed distributions 1939 May 2015 #41

For all practical purposes, sure. Donald Ian Rankin May 2015 #42

For all practical purposes 1939 May 2015 #44

One other thing to add, in something as large and complex as the U.S. economy, it's Exilednight May 2015 #14

Depends on what you mean by income. 1939 May 2015 #45

Several problems arise. Exilednight May 2015 #46

So 1939 May 2015 #47

It's befuddled economists for a very long time. It's not that Exilednight May 2015 #48

lies, damn lies, and statistics. KG May 2015 #17

Bill Gates is volunteering one afternoon at the soup kitchen central scrutinizer May 2015 #18

You've still got typos muriel_volestrangler May 2015 #23

Fixed, I think. Donald Ian Rankin May 2015 #24

That was all that I could see (nt) muriel_volestrangler May 2015 #26

Thank you! I saw that thread myself. I've had the discussion about raccoon May 2015 #27

Plenty of GD posts are mean. joshcryer May 2015 #28

It seems to be the mode of operation here Recursion May 2015 #30

Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency? Donald Ian Rankin May 2015 #31

So, what you're saying is -- on average, numbers tend to be mean. Nuclear Unicorn May 2015 #33

They could also be irrational Trekologer May 2015 #36

Well, of course they're irrational. You have to count all just to get sum. Nuclear Unicorn May 2015 #39

So to be useful in comparing what is happening economically hootinholler May 2015 #37

The skew isn't quite that, but it's pretty close. Donald Ian Rankin May 2015 #38

And though you did not explicitly say it (but did imply it) rock May 2015 #40