Average is the sum of all numbers in your series, divided by the number of items in your series.

For example, it might be useful to a teacher to evaluate who in her class is performing better than expected, or worse than expected. It can also be used to evaluate how well her class is learning what she’s taught. For example, if you had only 10 students in the class, and the test grades were 64, 83, 79, 82, 84, 85, 82, 83, 97, and 81, then you would sum those 10 numbers together (for a total of 820), and divide that by 10 (for an average of 82).

In this situation, the teacher might be inclined to say that she would expect any student to score somewhere near an 82 on the test. You can see by looking at each number in the sample, that some scored over 82, and some scored under. If someone were scoring far below that level, that student needs additional help. Someone far above that level would be doing exceptionally well. This would be a helpful example.

An example of when this can be misleading? Any situation where you have a small number of items in your sample (I used a class size of 10 – using 30 student scores would be a much more accurate example), or anytime when your sample includes a value that is extraordinarily low or high. If the first student in the example above had had a test score of 35, for instance, instead of 64, the average would actually calculate to be lower than 82 – in this instance it would be 79. This is misleading, because if you look at the sample of numbers, only one student, the one who scored 35, actually scored less than the average. One other student scored the actual average of 79, and the remaining 8 students scored higher.

In order to be a useful (rather than misleading average), the majority of items in your sample should be somewhere near your average, with a comparable number above and below it. In the first example, five students scored above the average, and five scored at or below the average.

What Does Average Mean

The average is found when you add up all the numbers that answer a certain problem or question and that number is then divided by the total number of answers. This gives you the average. (ex. the answer to a question is 1,2,3. Added together you get 6 which is then divided by 3 giving you an average of two). This can be helpful when the numbers are close in range but if you have 1 or 2 numbers that are very off from your other numbers it can skew the answer. (Sometimes people throw out the highest and lowest answers to alleviate this problem.)

Average is VERY simple. It’s like, a 2 step problem and I suck at math, but average is cake. If you’re finding the average of something like: 23, 43, 54, 55, 93, 57 What you would do is just ADD up every number, then DIVIDE it by how many numbers you added, in this case it would obviously be divided by six. That’s it!

Average is like a “C” grade. It is in the middle and covers the range that most people or things fit into. It can be used as a descriptor that suggests something is more or less like evry other object of it’s kind. The word has some negative conotations when it is used to describe one’s performance. It means that one performed okay, but not especially well or poorly.

Average is an inherently vague term. Average can refer to the mean, median, or mode. Mean in a sample set of data is calculated by adding the value of the data set and then dividing by the number of occurences within the data set. I.E. If you have 3 numbers then add them and divide them by 3. Median is the middle point within a data set. I.E. in the set (5, 10,15) 10 is the median. Mode is the most frequent number appearing within the set. I.E. in the set (10, 11, 11, 12) 11 is the mode. In typical conversation all three are used interchangeably. You must first distinguish which “Average” one is referencing. If a source references “average” annual income they may use any of the above definitions to skew the data in their favor.

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RE:
What does average mean?
Hi! I am in AP Statics, with NO book, and this is my last year, and I just cant afford to fail…so any help would be greatly appreciated…the question is… What does average mean? Show an example of how it is helpful; and one example of how it can be misleading. Thank you in advance!!

you may have a hard time in Ap Stats if you do not know what average means. Not trying to be mean or rude but most people know what that means. if you are trying to have a good GPA, which i am guessing you are because you are taking an Ap class, maybe dropping down to honors would be a smarter choice and your GPA would still remain high.

Average is the middle range; the problem is with a skewed survey pool, the average could be lower or higher than expected

Half is greater and half is less.

The average house in Sacramento sold for $392,252 in April. (Half sold for more; half sold for less.) The deception is that it includes condominiums, slum properties, foreclosures and mansions.

-MM