Statistics/Summary/Averages
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Averages
[edit | edit source]An average is simply a number that is representative of data. More particularly, it is a measure of central tendency. There are several types of average. Averages are useful for comparing data, especially when sets of different size are being compared. It acts as a representative figure of the whole set of data.
Perhaps the simplest and commonly used average the arithmetic mean or more simply mean which is explained in the next section.
Other common types of average are the median, the mode, the geometric mean, and the harmonic mean, each of which may be the most appropriate one to use under different circumstances.