Average/Median

Vixen · 23 Feb 2008 at 17:13

markyp23 said:
I was taught it in 1st/2nd year. Average in primary school at some point. It is definitely in the standard grade exam.

You're a lot younger than me, so it's possible it has been added since I left. I'm pretty sure it wasn't in my standard grade exams.

Fraggr · 23 Feb 2008 at 17:14

We learned it in year 6 I think - about 10/11 years old. The amount of times we have used it since then I don't think it'll ever be able to be forgotten.

chiggz · 23 Feb 2008 at 17:17

manoz said:
Isn't there another one that doesn't begin with M. I forgets, didn't like A-Level statistics very much.

Range - Lowest sub'd from Highest; hardly used from my A-Level Statistics experience.

Edit: is it correct to say 'lowest subtracted by highest' or 'highest subtracted by lowest'? :S

Nvm, after re-reading, I choose the 2nd

manoz · 23 Feb 2008 at 17:23

chiggz said:
Range - Lowest sub'd from Highest; hardly used from my A-Level Statistics experience.

Edit: Is it corrent to say 'lowest subtracted by highest' or 'highest subtracted by lowest'? :S

That is one, but I remember another one that used some forumla, I hated doing it and that's why I remember it. Just forgot the name and the formula

dowie · 23 Feb 2008 at 17:34

markyp23 said:
OK fair enough everyone should know what the mean is.

I'm in my final year (of school) and I doubt many of my mates (at all) could tell what the median is.

unless you go to one of those inner city schools full of ferral children from the local estate I'd find it hard to believe

either that or the eduction system in this country is even worse than I'd assumed

chiggz · 23 Feb 2008 at 17:39

manoz said:
That is one, but I remember another one that used some forumla, I hated doing it and that's why I remember it. Just forgot the name and the formula

Standard Deviation? Can't remember what it was used for though..

manoz · 23 Feb 2008 at 17:45

chiggz said:
Standard Deviation? Can't remember what it was used for though..

That's it! omg the horror...

Fraggr · 23 Feb 2008 at 17:59

chiggz said:
Standard Deviation? Can't remember what it was used for though..

Used for finding the spread/dispersion of data.

Mr Joshua · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:03

neil3k said:
Im astonished.

Me too, it's "I'm".

Edinho · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:09

chiggz said:
Standard Deviation? Can't remember what it was used for though..

Roughly the spread that make up the averages.

10,10,11,10,10,10,10,10 Average = 10 will give an SD <1

Average 20, 5, 5, 1, 20 for the sake of arguement gives the same average of 10 but the SD will be >>1

SexyGreyFox · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:11

I did a Numeracy Level 2 exam on tuesday (passed 40/40) and it was the first time I'd ever heard of Mean, Median, Range and Modal.
We had a paper telling us what they meant the week before so I was OK.

clv101 · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:22

Knowing the meaning of the words average, mean and median is as much English as maths. Regular, simple words that everyone should understand.

Tefal · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:31

clv101 said:
Knowing the meaning of the words average, mean and median is as much English as maths. Regular, simple words that everyone should understand.

but average can mean median or mean, or even mode :/

clv101 · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:41

Yes, well done... your point?

[TR]SweetSpotOz · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:43

clv101 · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:48

I use the three words average, mean and median at least weekly and not work related stuff. For example when considering entering a large bike race, we discus the median time to get a feel for how competitive it is.

I'll grant you mode isn't often used, but the others are pretty normal words as far as I'm concerned.

Tefal · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:49

clv101 said:
Yes, well done... your point?

because you say with english, you should be able to tell, when some one says average if they mean rage, mean, median or mode, which is a rather all order.

Fraggr · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:51

clv101 said:
I'll grant you mode isn't often used, but the others are pretty normal words as far as I'm concerned.

+1

Range is another that people should know, whereas mode, standard deviation, and variance aren't.

dowie · 23 Feb 2008 at 18:56

markyp23 said:
This sort of attitude is annoying. There is no real world application of these words unless they feature in your job.

statements like that are annoying tbh...

there are plenty of real world applications of these without them being a feature of your job - obvious example being the one stated in the OP

being ignorant of maths/stats seems to be acceptable these days - not really a good thing to be ignorant of IMO