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Earl Truss wrote: for the median, not for the average
They don't have to be different. 
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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They're only guaranteed to be the same in a normal distribution; if you think humans are normal I think we know where all of Nagy's missing Gin went to. 
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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But it's a bell curve, so they're the same
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If only. 
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True, since the average is heavily weighted toward the wrong end.
#SupportHeForShe If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
Only 2 things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein
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Good point!
Though you are confusing layman's language with specialist language.
Admitedly the fuzzy layman's language might be a source of many cognitive error, so it might be a mistake worth fighting for! 
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Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's correct.
Super Lloyd wrote: Though you are confusing layman's language with specialist language.
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Mmm....
My argument has nothing do with correctness!
It is related to the fact that words mean different things to different people!
Let me a find an example that you might be able to understand more easily...
For example: 1 mile is.... 1.6km or 1.8km depending whether you ask a landlubber or a sailor.
Neither meaning is correct or incorrect. It just highlight that words mean different things to different people in different context.
And that is my point. Mathematical average is not the same as every day English average.
Neither is particularly truer than the other. They are just the same word for different (though seemingly related) concept.
I hope this will help you understand that language is a subtle and contextual tool!
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Laymen don't say "median".
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Exactly my point!
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Yeah, well, George Carlin was a comedian, not a statistician... The exact quote, I believe, is:
"Think of how smart the average person is, and then realize that half of them are dumber than him."
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Well, I'm not a statistician either, I'm a mathematician.
I got into a lot of trouble once for referring to the "human factors" department as "ship B". I've always been in ship C.
Ian Shlasko wrote: Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
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Earl Truss wrote: I got into a lot of trouble once for referring to the "human factors" department as "ship B".
Do you really mean to say that the HR people in your company are literate?!
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
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Daniel Pfeffer wrote: Do you really mean to say that the HR people in your company are literate?!
Somebody needs to catch up on their HHG2G 
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Ian Shlasko wrote: Somebody needs to catch up on their HHG2G
That's precisely my point; they actually read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and know what ark B was full of.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
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I think someone complained to our manager and then had to explain why they were offended.
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Thank you.
People can take it up with him. I wouldn't expect a timely response, however.
TTFN - Kent
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It's not quite as simple as that.
Average[^]
Quote: In colloquial language, an average is the sum of a list of numbers divided by the number of numbers in the list. In mathematics and statistics, this would be called the arithmetic mean. However, the word average may also refer to the median, mode, or other central or typical value. In statistics, these are all known as measures of central tendency.
However, we do usually mean the first and in that context you are right.
Kevin
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Best Buy. Their online store caused my family's bank account to be locked out twice, both times because of thousands of requests for authorization within one minute. This seems to have been a problem for at least two months, and nothing has been done about it.
I found lots of complaints about the company related to this.
Hell, I may just stop going to Best Buy completely!
And the second incident was TWENTY FOUR #*$&%($) HOURS AFTER I CANCELED THE [REDACTED] ORDER AND GOT A *$&*#(@* CONFIRMATION EMAIL!
SCREW YOU, BEST BUY!
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism.
Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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I think you're doing it wrong.
Best Buy is where you go to check-out the picture quality on the new 4K TV or sound quality of the new Sony surround sound reciever.
Amazon is where you actually place the order online! 
Contrary to popular belief, nobody owes you anything.
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That's where I went after the fiasco. Only Amazon from now on.
The price was ~$600 less than Best Buy's price. And BB was having a sale!
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism.
Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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Brisingr Aerowing wrote: The price was ~$600 less than Best Buy's price. And BB was having a sale!
It's amazing how cheap your prices can be when your company doesn't pay any tax.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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IYDMA, where are you living? To cut shipping costs Amazon's largely given up on parking its warehouses in a few low tax flyover states and is building them close to major cities and charging sales tax in 30 states[^] as a result. Oddly enough, IIRC Amazon's changed from opposing an internet sales tax to advocating for it. A more cynical person might suspect they've decided that if they have to suffer the administrative burden of collecting it; so should all of their competitors.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Brisingr Aerowing wrote: And BB was having a sale!
No, they weren't. Best Buy only says it's a sale. It's always their normal prices: MSRP.
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