Doesn’t using mode just make a lot more sense? You are much more likely to be the mode than you are likely to be average in the mean class

[Originally said average in the title, fixed thanks to jbrains]

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    It all depends on how it is distributed, discretely or continuously, and mode tends to fail the most often which is why it’s rarely used.

    If you asked a random group of people what their annual salary was, you may get many answers of “zero” or something round like “100k/six figs,”, which would become the mode which doesn’t accurately represent a middle value.

    If you ask a group of working people (to remove zero) to give their last year’s post-tax salary to the nearest cent as close as possible, then there is a good possibility there is no mode, as everyone has a different exact salary, due to taking different benefits, hours, tax obligations and so on.