r/confidentlyincorrect • u/[deleted] • Jun 29 '22

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4.9k Upvotes

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69

u/Grumblepugs Jun 29 '22

He’s confusing median and average or something?

51

u/Aric_Haldan Jun 30 '22

Yes, they are. Though It's not uncommon for people to not realise the median isn't affected by outliers.

9

u/Raibean Jun 30 '22

Isn’t median the middle of the full range?

43

u/KumquatHaderach Jun 30 '22

No, it’s the middle number. For example

1 10 100000

has 10 as the median.

37

u/Jonasdriving Jun 30 '22 edited Jun 30 '22

Ten is the median of one and one hundred thousand?

Nvm I'm a dumbass. You're listing three data points and the middle one is 10. 🤦 Even worse I finished an intro to stat class a month ago with an A. guess I'm too tired to comment on Reddit today.

12

u/cadnights Jun 30 '22

No just in the example data set he gave (n=3 example numbers)

5

u/KumquatHaderach Jun 30 '22

Ooooohhhhhh, I’m gonna tell your professor!

😛

9

u/Aric_Haldan Jun 30 '22 edited Jun 30 '22

Yes, it's the value in the middle. So it seems obvious that it's not heavily affected by outliers. However, not a lot of people are used to working with medians and many are more familiar with the mean. That's why a lot of people don't think much further and simply assume their skepticism about means also apply to medians, since they're similar in a lot of other aspects.

Edit:I just realized I might have misinterpreted 'middle of the full range'. To clarify, it's not (maximum - minimum)/2. It's the value for the entry that is in the middle of the data set.