Not always, but a lot of times people pick the number that supports their conclusion. For example, worker pay. If you want to make it seem higher, include the executives and do a mean average. Life expectancy works the same way. It's not that adults typically died at age 30, it's the number is a mean and includes child deaths which was a lot at the time. If you have 4 people, 2 are 60 and 2 died at birth, the mean age is 30. (60 + 60 + 0 + 0) / 4 = life expectancy of 30.
Sidenote-- is average === mean the standard lexicon now?
When I was in grade school we learned that average was a generic term for mean, median, or mode. So when I see average conflated with median in discussion (as it often is), I assume it's intentional. But others seem to interpret it as a synonym of mean.
lotsofpulp|4 years ago
Clubber|4 years ago
rory|4 years ago
When I was in grade school we learned that average was a generic term for mean, median, or mode. So when I see average conflated with median in discussion (as it often is), I assume it's intentional. But others seem to interpret it as a synonym of mean.
MontyCarloHall|4 years ago
[0] https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/gs-live/uploads%2F1527022...
lotsofpulp|4 years ago
https://cdn.dqydj.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/inflation-m...
Source:
https://dqydj.com/individual-income-by-year/
tedheath123|4 years ago