Average value
In colloquial language, an average is the sum of a list of numbers divided by the number of numbers in the list.Most of the time this is used in finding a number. In mathematics and statistics, this would be called the arithmetic mean. In statistics, mean, median, and mode are all known as measures of central tendency.
The most common type of average is the arithmetic mean. If n numbers are given, each number denoted by ai (where i = 1,2, …, n), the arithmetic mean is the sum of the as divided by n or
The arithmetic mean, often simply called the mean, of two numbers, such as 2 and 8, is obtained by finding a value A such that 2 + 8 = A + A. One may find that A = (2 + 8)/2 = 5. Switching the order of 2 and 8 to read 8 and 2 does not change the resulting value obtained for A. The mean 5 is not less than the minimum 2 nor greater than the maximum 8. If we increase the number of terms in the list to 2, 8, and 11, the arithmetic mean is found by solving for the value of A in the equation 2 + 8 + 11 = A + A + A. One finds that A = (2 + 8 + 11)/3 = 7.
Along with the arithmetic mean above, the geometric mean and the harmonic mean are known collectively as the Pythagorean means.
The geometric mean of n positive numbers is obtained by multiplying them all together and then taking the nth root. In algebraic terms, the geometric mean of a1, a2, …, an is defined as
Geometric mean can be thought of as the antilog of the arithmetic mean of the logs of the numbers.
Example: Geometric mean of 2 and 8 is
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