• lugal@sopuli.xyz
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    6 months ago

    There are different definitions of average and one is median

    • dream_weasel
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      6 months ago

      And at least two are not median. So at least two could have more or less than half below average instead of exactly half. Hence the use of a more specific term. On average, the colloquial use of “average” doesn’t lead to the conclusion of half a population being below average.

      • lugal@sopuli.xyz
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        6 months ago

        No, it wasn’t wrong because it didn’t specify which average was meant. If it was “arithmetic average”, it would be wrong.

        • Lemmeenym@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          It would still be right. The test results are reported on a normalized curve so all measures of central tendency are all equal.

          • lugal@sopuli.xyz
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            6 months ago

            “I have a ball”
            “So you have a red ball?”
            “No, it’s green”
            “If you don’t specify then the statement needs to hold for all balls to be correct.”

            And by the way: for the given plot, it is correct for all averages

            • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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              6 months ago

              More like

              “Balls are orange”
              “That’s wrong”
              “Ah but basketballs are balls and they are orange, gotcha”
              “No, you just said balls, that’s too generic, if you meant basket balls you should have said basket balls.”

                • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  6 months ago

                  Doesn’t matter for the issue at hand, that’s just a question of language relating to the example. A different example:

                  “A set always has a maximal element under the larger-than relation for numbers”
                  “That’s wrong”
                  “Ah but any set of natural numbers has a maximal element, that is also a set, gotcha”
                  “No, you just said set, that’s too generic, if you meant any set of natural numbers you should have said that.”

                  • lugal@sopuli.xyz
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                    6 months ago

                    “You’re as stubborn as my brother”
                    “But your younger brother isn’t stubborn at all”
                    “I was talking about my older brother”