Doesn’t using mode just make a lot more sense? You are much more likely to be the mode than you are likely to be average in the mean class

[Originally said average in the title, fixed thanks to jbrains]

  • xmunk
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    10 months ago

    When you have a qualitative measure on an axis mode can get really weird. Let’s say we have a dance class with 3 13 year olds, 4 14 yos, 5 15 yos, 4 16 yos, 5 17 yos, 3 18 yos, and a group of six retirees that signed up as a lark for someone’s birthday and are all 72 years old.

    That dance class is mostly composed of teenagers but the mode is 72 year olds. I think mode is a terrible measure but it’s very close to what we’d like to phrase as “mostly” the issue is that it’s very strict about bucket boundaries while we humans like to group things arbitrarily.

    • xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      This sample also shows why the median is often more representative than the mean.