When should one of mean, mode, and median be used over the other
In: 15
The method of averaging needs to be relevant and representative of the data you have.
Let’s say you’re comparing incomes in a group of 10 people: 0, 0, 5k, 20k, 50k, 60k, 80k, 100k, 120k, 1m.
The mode is 0 – which doesn’t make any sense.
The mean is 1,445,000 / 10 = 144.5k – also doesn’t make sense as only one person earns the mean or above.
The median is 55k – which makes the most sense – half of the people earn above and half below this number.
Often, interested groups will misrepresent the data by deliberately selecting a misleading average.
For example, an article trying to demonstrate prosperity would say “the average income is $144.5k!” Which, while true, is misleading.
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