If you have 10 people, 8 have an intelligence score of 1, 1 has a score of 5 and 1 has a score of 10. The average is 2.3 which means that 80% of the people are below average.

The median is the only thing that is going to guarantee 50%.

[–] bouh@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago

On a bell curve the average and mean are the same. Your example isn't a bell curve. Many things will be a bell curve.

[–] candybrie@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

People who don't know that average can be mean, median or mode depending on the context crack me up.

[–] DrDr@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Average is the mean, not median or mode. This doesn't change on context. Average is always mean.

[–] SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 year ago

Average is always mean.

Just like the average person

[–] candybrie@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

No. It's not.

a single value (such as a mean, mode, or median) that summarizes or represents the general significance of a set of unequal values

Source

Depending on the context, the most representative statistic to be taken as the average might be another measure of central tendency, such as the mid-range, median, or mode.

Source

[–] theFibonacciEffect@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago

Yes, that statement is made under the assumption of large sample sizes (where the central limit theorem applies)